Draining of the Tanks (installation view). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Press Release, August 2020

DRAINING OF THE TANKS
ATTEYAT EL ABNOUDY, KRISTIAN BYSKOV, SAM DEROUNIAN, SIGRID HOLMWOOD WITH ALI HUSSEIN AL-ADAWY

In the exhibition Draining of the Tanks featuring new works by artists Kristian Byskov, Sigrid Holmwood, and Sam Derounian, farming, cultivation and the extraction of resources, are examined through the interlinked domination and exploitation of peasants within Europe and of indigenous peoples in the Americas by the European ruling class.

Alongside the newly commissioned works we are proud to present the pioneering Egyptian filmmaker Ateyyat El Abnoudy’s 1975 film The Sandwich following a group of women in a rural village south of Cairo in the centuries-old process of making and baking bread for a sandwich. Curator Ali Hussein Al-Adawy has written a text to accompany the film and contextualize Abnoudy’s practice.

Ateyyat El Abnoudy, The Sandwich, 1975 (Monitor, film 11:52). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sigrid Holmwood, Chopping brazilwood/Rasping brazilwood and Witches and Cannibals, 2020 (Calico mordant print with brazil wood and madder). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sigrid Holmwood, Chopping brazilwood/Rasping brazilwood and Witches and Cannibals, detail, 2020
(Calico mordant print with brazil wood and madder). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sigrid Holmwood, Witches and Cannibals (black and purple), detail, 2020 (Calico mordant printed and dyed with brazil wood and madder). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sigrid Holmwood, Witches and Cannibals (black and purple), 2020 (Calico mordant printed and dyed with brazil wood and madder).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sam Derounian, Industrial and horticultural metaphors, 2020 (Inkjet print in frame). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sam Derounian, No stricture, 2020 (Inkjet print in frame). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sam Derounian, Spinning wheel stricture I, 2020 (Inkjet print in frame).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sam Derounian, Spinning wheel stricture II, 2020 (Inkjet print in frame).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Sam Derounian, Zoetrope stricture, 2020 (Inkjet print in frame).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Kristian Byskov, Body 3, 2020 (Tablet, video animation).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Draining of the Tanks (installation view). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Kristian Byskov, Body 1, 2020 (Steel, monitor, video 3:23).
Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Kristian Byskov, Body 2, 2020 (Steel, cow skin). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Draining of the Tanks (installation view). Photo: Kevin Malcolm.

Draining of the Tanks is the 2nd exhibition in the 2020 programme You Don’t Know - Radical Imaginaries at Vermilion Sands. It’s kindly supported by The Danish Arts Foundation and The Obel Family Foundation.

Draining of the Tanks by Drexciya.

Opening: Saturday August 29, 2-5pm
Exhibition period: August 29 - October 10, 2020.

Covid-19 guidelines will be followed and only a limited number of visitors will be allowed in at a time.