Kunstverein Aughrim presents you are in heaven but suddenly everything begins to burn by Bassam Issa Al-Sabah. The exhibition carries top notes of frankincense, decadence, and oil-spill glamour, undershot with hints of neroli, pink pepper, and the distant memory of nature. Al-Sabah’s work foretells an inescapable dystopia, built on the ruins of capitalism amid total ecological collapse. A new short film at the centre of the show depicts a bleak speculative future, where a lone figure seems to transcend the ravaged landscape by embodying a new fragrance, one that defies extinction. This desolate world leaks from the digital realm back into our present-day bodies through the molecules of scent, the pixels of the moving image, and the decibels of an apocalyptic soundscape.
The fragrance at the centre of this exhibition was developed during a scent-making workshop as part of a Micro Residency at Cow House Studios, convened by the artist in collaboration with Kunstverein Aughrim in May 2024.
Join us from 3–5pm on Saturday 29 June for the Summer Preview with Bassam Issa Al-Sabah, for a chance to smell the new fragrance created specially for the exhibition, as part of a special reception with the artist, amid the local festivities of Aughrim’s Craic in the Granite Music & Arts Festival 2024.
Bassam Issa Al-Sabah: you are in heaven but suddenly everything begins to burn
Jun 29 – Sep 1, 2024
Kunstverein Aughrim
Aughrim, Ireland
