Mounira Al Sohl: The Sea is a Stereo, Paris Without a Sea
image credit: Still from Mounira Al Solh’s The Sea is a Stereo, Paris Without a Sea, 2007-08. Courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut / Hamburg.
June 7 – August 24, 2025
OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, June 7 from 7-10PM
The Sea is a Stereo is an ongoing series of reflections by artist Mounira Al Solh on a group of men who swim at the beach in Beirut every day, regardless of the circumstances—be it rain, wind, or war. Even as we read this, the men might be swimming or preparing to do so. The series consists of various elements: a collection of videos, photo-collages, a lecture, and other materials. Al Solh views these elements as different possibilities for creating The Sea is a Stereo, describing it as “a never-ending work; like the men in Beirut who will never stop swimming.”
Paris Without a Sea, video #2 of the series, focuses on interviews conducted by the artist with the men. Typically, conducting an interview presupposes an interviewer and an interviewee, with the two standing on opposite sides. This video challenges that assumption.
The interviews begin with seemingly basic questions that may appear banal but actually touch on critical sociological and anthropological issues, such as the men’s nicknames. The exaggerated fast pace of the video, along with these surprising questions and answers, sometimes leads the video into the realm of the absurd, where appropriation and performance are key elements. Al Solh has lip-synchronized her voice over the men’s voices, becoming one with them and embodying both the interviewer and the interviewee. Viewers are surprised to hear a soft, feminine voice, as all the men now share the artist’s voice.
The artist has practiced and mastered each man’s accent, allowing her to embody each character she admires. As a result, we wonder: How does a voice represent a person? How does this influence our expectations of hearing others’ voices, given that we never hear our own voice in the same way we hear others’?
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Lebanon; lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam) is a visual artist whose practice spans installation, painting, sculpture, video, drawing, text, embroidery, and performative gestures. Her work delves into equality, while it adopts manners such as micro-history, to bear witness to the impact of conflict and displacement. Al Solh’s work is socially engaged while being political and poetically escapist simultaneously. Her practice utilizes oral documentation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and wordplay to explore themes of memory and loss. Motivated by acts of sharing and storytelling, change, and resistance, Al Solh strives to craft a sensory language that transcends nationality and creed.
The work in the exhibition is courtesy of the artist and SFEIR-SEMLER GALLERY, Beirut / Hamburg.