Mali Arun – Paradisus
Foam presents a short film by filmmaker Mali Arun (1987, France) in Foam 3h starting 3 July. In front of the camera a breathtaking landscape in black and white unfolds, teeming with lush vegetation and overwhelming waterfalls. Arun travelled to the seemingly untouched Krka nature reserve in Croatia. What she found there turned out to be far from paradise. The place is overrun by a never-ending stream of tourists who move in large numbers through the landscape, albeit uncomfortably.

Static, without tricks or elaborate artistic interventions, the camera simply registers the discomfort and the detachment with which modern man relates to his once natural habitat. We see tourists 'consume' the landscape en masse, as if it were an amusement park. As the film progresses, it takes on a steadily more oppressive undertone. The overwhelming natural beauty gradually turns into the setting for what increasingly resembles an apocalyptic doom scenario.

Paradisus, 2016 © Mali Arun, Photo: Thomas Ozoux

ABOUT MALI ARUN
The artistic practice of Mali Arun (1987, FR) mostly focuses on video work and photography plays a prominent role. Her work concentrates on how humans navigate the man-made landscape, particularly within and between borders. Arun studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels in Brussels, at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and in Tianjin, China. She won the Grand Prix of the Salon de Montrouge in 2018, and her work has been exhibited in Palais de Tokyo, Phi Center in Montreal, CEAAC in Strasbourg and Art Geneva in Switzerland and her films have been screened at several film festivals. Arun lives and works in Strasbourg and Paris.

Visit and revisit Foam 3h: Mali Arun – Paradisus, other exhibitions and events as Foam Member.

The exhibition was made possible by the Van Bijlevelt Foundation.

Collection La première image. Public commission by the Centre national des arts plastiques and the GREC, produced by the GREC, with the support of Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, City of Amsterdam, Foam Members, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

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Mali Arun – Paradisus