MENA Artists at Paris+ par Art Basel 2023: Voices Amid Crisis

The second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel, held at the Grand Palais Éphémère from 18 to 22 October 2023, features 154 galleries from 33 countries. Against a backdrop of heightened security due to the Middle East crisis, MENA artists present works addressing colonization, erasure of histories, and religious discourse. In the main Galeries sector, Selma Feriani Gallery showcases Massinissa Selmani, Malek Gnaoui, Zineb Sedira, Pascal Hachem, and Maha Malluh. Hachem's contorted metal garden tools question land and identity; Gnaoui's 'Broken' series compresses symbols of silenced intellectuals in Tunisia; Malluh's 'Food for Thought' uses 891 cassette tapes of 1980s religious rhetoric. In Galeries Émergentes, Marfa' presents Mohamad Abdouni's archives of Lebanon's subliminals. Outside, the public sculpture garden 'La Cinquième Saison' in Jardin des Tuileries, curated by Annabelle Ténèze, features 26 artists including Meriem Bennani's kinetic 'Windy', Alex Ayed's olive wood dovecote, and Nicène Kossentini's 'The Butterfly'. The fair reflects on how art speaks amid conflict and Euro-centric audiences.