A Meeting with Rana Hamadeh | An event accompanying the exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos”

What?

What is the economy of justice? Why might the present day need to revisit Sophocles and the story of the Theban plague? Do endurance and persistence mean the same thing as survival? These are some of the questions that recur in the work of Rana Hamadeh—a Lebanese artist living in Rotterdam and one of the participants in the exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos.”

Hamadeh works at the intersection of visual arts, sound, and performance. She is interested in the mechanisms of history and law, power relations, military and colonial violence, as well as reproduction, standardization, and the technologies through which societies attempt to measure, organize, and judge reality. Justice is not an abstract concept in her work—the artist examines the systems and languages through which it is established, and asks who can find a place within them and who remains outside their boundaries.

One of the starting points for the conversation will be “Standard_Deviation I”—Hamadeh’s video installation that opens the exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos” at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. The work is part of the “Standard Deviation” series, which the artist has been developing since 2020, in which she explores her research on algorithmic justice, linking it to the contemporary history of labor and strikes.

The artist will be in conversation with the exhibition’s curators, Małgorzata Ludwisiak and Katarzyna Słoboda. The event will provide an opportunity to examine not only the work itself, as presented in Łódź, but also Hamadeh’s broader practice and her analyses of the contemporary world.

The event is part of the Center for Good Conversation and accompanies the exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos.”

Who?

Rana Hamadeh—a visual and sound artist and performer originally from Lebanon, living and working in Rotterdam. She creates long-term projects that take the form of elaborate sound architectures, performances, audiovisual installations, systems, and experimental pedagogical models. In her practice, she analyzes the ways in which knowledge is constructed and technologies of justice, examining categories such as measurement, spectacle, translation, reproduction, and machine standardization.

Her solo exhibitions have been presented at venues including the Secession in Vienna, the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, Nottingham Contemporary, the Kunsthalle Winterthur, and Melly in Rotterdam. She has also participated in numerous international biennials and exhibitions, including the Performa Biennial in New York, the Liverpool Biennial, the Lyon Biennale, and exhibitions at the New Museum in New York. In 2017, she received the Dutch Prix de Rome.

Małgorzata Ludwisiak—independent curator, art historian and critic, expert in museum management, and lecturer. Curator of the Albanian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2026. Previously associated with, among others, the Museum of Art in Łódź, the Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Katarzyna Słoboda—curator, choreography researcher, and dance dramaturg; Ph.D. in the humanities; lecturer in curatorial studies at the Academy of Art in Szczecin. From 2009 to 2022, she was affiliated with the Museum of Art in Łódź. She is the author and editor of publications on contemporary art, choreography, and performative practices.

For Whom?

This event is aimed at people interested in contemporary art, as well as those interested in how art can be used to examine contemporary crises, power dynamics, colonialism, violence, and evolving technologies. No prior knowledge of Rana Hamadeh’s work or the specialized language of contemporary art is required. The conversation can serve as a good introduction to both her artistic practice and the issues addressed by the exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos.”

This event is recommended for people ages 13 and older. Due to the nature of the exhibition, the discussion may include references to global crises and violence.

Why is it worth it?

The exhibition “On the Edge of Chaos” explores the possibility of acting in a reality marked by overlapping crises. A conversation with Rana Hamadeh allows us to delve deeper into one of the most important questions arising from this observation: by what rules do we attempt to restore order to the world, and who, exactly, establishes these rules?

Hamadeh’s work shows that justice does not exist outside of the language, institutions, and technologies through which it is defined. The artist is interested in both historical forms of law and colonial violence, as well as contemporary algorithmic systems that increasingly classify, measure, and make decisions about our lives.

This perspective resonates well with the idea behind the Łódź of many Cultures Festival, which views the coming together of different experiences not merely as a celebration of diversity, but also as an opportunity to discuss inequalities and mechanisms of power. If we want to talk about community, we must also ask about the conditions under which we belong to it: whose experience do we consider the norm, who sets the standard, and by what criteria do we determine what is just.

A conversation with the artist will offer a chance to examine these questions through art that does not so much illustrate contemporary crises as it attempts to create a language that enables a more nuanced understanding of them.

Partner

Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź

Availability

The discussion will be held in English with consecutive interpretation into Polish.

The exhibition is on display at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, whose facilities are fully accessible to people with mobility impairments. All entrances are located on Level “0,” and the buildings are equipped with elevators and restrooms accessible to people with disabilities. It is also possible to arrange for a museum staff member to assist you from the public transportation stop.

Photos

Rana Hamadeh, Standard_Deviation, 2021-202X