Two Square Meters - A Conversation with Dr. Marco van Coevorden and Ezzam Rahman

About

The title of this event comes from the statistic about how much skin we have on average on our bodies.Salim and Ghita interviewed Dr. van Coevorden as part of their research leading up to this exhibition, and he’ll be joining us this evening for an open discussion about his own work as a dermatologist and the intersections with the topics and thematics of the Dead Skin Cash exhibition. They will also be joined by multi-disciplinary artist Ezzam Rahman, who is known for his interest in the body and the use of common, easily accessible, yet unconventional media in his art practice -- such as dead skin.

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Dr. Marco van Coevorden studied medicine at the University of Groningen, as well as ancient Egyptian history of religion. During his studies, he gained experience in London and Brazil. He specialised in skin and has been a dermatologist since 2006. In addition to his dermatology practice where he practices his specialism in full, Marco has been practicing at his clinic in De Bilt since 2015 where he performs cosmetic treatments and treatments against excessive sweating.

Ezzam Rahman (b.1981, Singapore) works across sculpture, installation, digital and performance, to create works that are often time-based and ephemeral, aiming to pique viewers’ thoughts on the themes of body politics, impermanence, traces, and abjection. As a performance artist, Ezzam has performed extensively both regionally and internationally. He was awarded a joint winner of the Grand Prize for the President's Young Talents 2015 and the People’s Choice Award by the Singapore Art Museum. In 2016, Ezzam was awarded the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award by Yayasan Mendaki and the prestigious Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council, Singapore. In 2021, Ezzam was awarded the Most Promising Award; photography category for PULSE Awards, Thailand and was appointed the artistic director of The Substation, Singapore.

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In the exhibition Dead Skin Cash, artists Ghita Skali and Salim Bayri take dead skin as a starting point to zoom in on the ambiguities within our relationship to flaking epidermis — the tensions between its acceptance and rejection (some keep it, some scrub it away), its proximity and our neglect, our indifference and its unstoppable production, our obsession and care but disgust once it leaves the body.

The exhibition is composed of all new works. A “Dead Skin Cash” information welcome desk gives way to large printed textiles that appear as aerial views of landscapes but which in fact are made of dead skin samples from contributors. Inside empty construction and spa buckets are recorded voices and sounds from the conversations of disgust and amusement with strangers, confusion from nail salons, and a dermatologist's opinions. Upstairs, a ‘classical’ exhibition room displays collages made with found images and collected material. Further in, the video “Semiotics of the Hammam”—a direct response to Martha Rosler’s “Semiotics of the Kitchen”— shows a character trapped in a dry hammam presenting, with irritation, hygiene tools that gradually start to feel like weapons.