Urgent Archive Film

A film of artist Issam Kourbaj's exhibition Urgent Archive by Young Shubbak member Chantal Makar

In April 2024, the Foundation for Art & Psychoanalysis collaborated with Shubbak and the Arab British Centre to organise a visit by members of Young Shubbak to artist Issam Kourbaj's exhibiton Urgent Archive, at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge. Since 2011 Issam Kourbaj's artwork has related to the Syrian Crisis and reflects on the suffering of his fellow Syrians and the destruction of his cultural heritage.

Young Shubbak are a collective of 18-26 years old artists, curators, producers and creatives from SWANA and mixed heritage backgrounds. Urgent Archive explored resonant themes of loss, memory and renewal that feature squarely with the creative inquiries of the Young Shubbak members. You can read more about the visit here.

Following the visit, we invited Young Shubbak member Chantal Makar to return to the exhibition and create a film. Filmmaker Stevan Lung has edited the footage to create a film documenting the works in the exhibition.

Watch the film:

About Issam Kourbaj

Issam Kourbaj was born in Syria and trained at the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus, the Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture in Leningrad (St Petersburg) and at Wimbledon School of Art. Since 1990, he has lived and worked in Cambridge, where he has been artist-in-residence, a Bye-Fellow and a lector in Art, at Christ’s College.

Since 2011 his artwork has related to the Syrian Crisis and reflects on the suffering of his fellow Syrians and the destruction of his cultural heritage.

His work has been widely exhibited and collected, and most recently it was featured in several museums and galleries around the world: The Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; the British Museum and the V&A, London; Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; Penn Museum, Philadelphia; Brooklyn Museum, New York; the 2019 Venice Biennale and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.

Dark Water, Burning World is in the permanent collection of the Pergamonmuseu, Berlin, and the British Museum. For the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ Neil MacGregor (the former Director of the British Museum) chose Dark Water, Burning World as the 101st object.

About Shubbak/ Young Shubbak

Shubbak supports and celebrates the diversity of Arab artists' creativity and innovation through its professional, participatory and engagement programmes, national touring and biennial multi-artform festival. Young Shubbak is a collective of 18-26 years old artists, curators, producers and creatives from SWANA and mixed heritage backgrounds who programme multi-art form events that are relevant to young people’s cultural experiences, to promote inclusivity in the arts.

About the Arab British Centre

Arab British Centre works to further understanding of the Arab world in the United Kingdom through cultural and artistic events with a community of like-minded organisations and professionals.