signs and symbols

July 2 - July 15, 2020

Opening Online: Thursday, July 2, 6:00pm
Closing: Wednesday, July 15, 6:00pm

signs and symbols is pleased to present ask me a question that has no answer, a video exhibition by Annabel Daou as part of the gallery’s series of online-only solo presentations of video works.

Daou writes:

"ask me a question that has no answer places echoes of the past in dialogue with the unknown future. The old Singer sewing machine references my grandmother, a Lebanese seamstress who worked in a sweatshop in New York. My feet on the treadle function as a visual metronome. The rhythmic sounds and imagery are interspersed with 8mm footage from the 50s and 60s, and overlaid with recorded voices of people posing unanswerable questions.

"Death, desire, and the mundane are threaded together in this meditation on what lies beyond our visual and epistemological frames of reference. As in several other works that incorporate a multiplicity of intertwining voices, there is a suggestion of intimacy between the individual and collective imagination."

Stills and a text work based on this piece appear in the current issue of Canvas Magazine, This Is Not A Rehearsal.

*Please note that Daou's video will be viewable online from Thursday, July 2 at 6:00pm until Wednesday, July 15 at 6:00pm. Following the end of the exhibition, the video will only be accessible via private link and password. We trust that given our current circumstances, everyone will act in good faith and good will, understanding that these are primary artworks by our artists that are collected and which would otherwise be password protected.

annabel daou’s work takes place at the intersection of writing, speech, and nonverbal communication. Her paper-and-tape constructions, sound pieces, and performances explore the language of power and intimacy. Daou was born and raised in Beirut and lives in Brooklyn. She is currently a Pollock-Krasner resident at ISCP. Her book of fictional prose, The Autobiography of A, will be published in 2020. Daou is currently organizing The Lobby, a temporary public exhibition program. Daou’s work has been shown at The National Museum of Beirut; The Park Avenue Armory, New York; KW, Berlin; The Drawing Room, London; and The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. Public collections include: Baltimore Museum of Art; The Menil Collection; The Brooklyn Museum of Art; The Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul; and The Yale University Art Gallery.