Mdardara (2007), Ziad Antar’s short video films hands from above following each step in the preparation of a traditional Levantine, rice and lentil dish called ‘mdardara’. Antar is concerned with the visual language of video and his reflections are translated into simple, few second or minute projections, often taken in a single shot. Filmed in Super 8, Mdardara‘s stylistic structure verges on an illustrated diagram, offering the image of a gesture of tradition, while using the language of video to comment on the very language of video. As in much of Antar’s works, there is a (most often anonymous) performer. Yet the protagonist is never the subject of the work, and the acts are neither documentary nor narrative role-play. Rather, the act itself creates a self-conscious response in the viewer by offsetting obvious expectations and encouraging humour, in order to ultimately convey a translation, in video, of Antar’s initial idea.
Ziad Antar lives and works between Saida, Lebanon and Paris. He graduated with a degree in agricultural engineering in 2001, and has been working in photography and video since 2002. He completed a one-year residency at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2003, and a one year residency at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. His videos include among others, Tokyo Tonight (2003), WA (2004), Tambourro (2004), Safe Sound (2006), Tank You (2006), Marche Turque (2007) and Mdardara (2007).
