Film screening, panel discussion, and public talk

For our events in November, there will also be a screening of Sonia Kennebeck’s award-winning whistleblower documentary, National Bird (2016), executive produced by Wim Wenders and Errol Morris. This will be followed by a panel discussion with artists Tomas van Houtryve and Mahwish Chishty, who are joining us to talk about their artwork in relation to aesthetics and drone warfare.

You can register for the film screening and panel discussion here.

Mahwish Chishty will also be giving a public talk at the University of Sheffield, which you can find more about here.

Biographies

Called ‘one of the leading photographers of his generation,’ Tomas van Houtryve is a conceptual artist, photographer and author. His projects ‘interweave investigative journalism, philosophy and metaphor.’ Van Houtryve has exhibited his work around the world, and has been the recipient of prestigious honours including the Roger Pic Award (2019), CENTER Producer’s Choice Award (2018), CatchLight / Pulitzer Fellowship (2017) and many others. In his project Blue Sky Days (2013), Van Houtryve explored the politics of space and aeriality, photographing civilian scenes in the USA from a drone, presenting domestic life as if the target of a hostile eye.

Mahwish Chishty is a multimedia artist who initially trained as a miniature painter in Pakistan. She has since developed an approach that combines traditional artistic practice with her interest in contemporary politics, particularly the relationship between the US and Pakistan. She writes that her work explores the  ‘juxtaposition of terror with the representation of cultural beauty.’ In 2017, Chishty was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in the same year held a solo exhibition at the Imperial War Museum London. Much of Chishty’s work responds to contemporary drone warfare, often combining the tradition of Pakistani ‘truck art’ with images of military Reaper and Predator drones.

Come join us

Please click on the individual images for more information on each event, and to register your interest on Eventbrite. All events are free. We hope to see you there!