Of Thread and Stone│303│A Spy Great-Grandfather, Through an Artist’s Eyes

Script of this episode// A stone from the other side of the world brings a distinct story. For the artist Rayyane Tabet, the heirlooms from his great-grandfather are like a stone thrown into the water, stirring ripples in his mind and opening up a broader world for him. On the surface, his great-grandfather was an assistant to an archaeologist, but in truth, he undertook a mission as a government spy to secretly surveil the archaeologist Max von Oppenheim, who travelled all the way from Germany to Syria. Through family history, Tabet realizes that archaeology is not only an exploration of knowledge, but also a realm affecting power and politics. Oppenheim transported substantial Syrian stone tablets back to Germany in the name of “cultural heritage preservation,” which were bombed during World War II and destroyed into rubble. The outcome of the stone tablets makes the statement “Artifacts are safest when being brought to the West” sound satirical. Hence, Tabet re-depicts the traces of the stone tablets through rubbing, attempting to assemble the appearance of the archaeological site. He also aims to suggest a question: Who are the appropriate ones to preserve and interpret the artifacts? Another clue comes from a gentle heirloom, a wool carpet. It is a gift from Bedouins when his great-grandfather served as the archaeological assistant. The Bedouin are ancient nomadic tribes living in the deserts, bearing a rich and delicate culture. Oppenheim wrote several ethnographical works for them, recording their different inhabited regions and genealogies. Today, the Bedouin still live on the margins of the state and society, and the carpet is not only a memory left by the artist’s great-grandfather, but also a life story of the Bedouin. ----------------------------------------------------- Of Thread and Stone ｜Curator｜TSOU Ting, WANG Han-fang ｜Artists｜Jam WU, Kieren KARRITPUL, Forensic Architecture, CHIU Chen-hung, KAO Ya-ting, CHEONG See-min, Akac Orat, Slavs and Tatars, HUANG Po-chih, Rayyane TABET、jiandyin、Nii Nami