Jumana Manna:
Break, Take, Erase, Tally

September 22, 2022 – April 17, 2023

MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 will present the first major museum exhibition of Jumana Manna (Palestinian, b. 1987) in the United States. On view from September 22, 2022 to April 17, 2023, Break, Take, Erase, Tally brings together nearly 20 works including two recent films, Wild Relatives (2018) and Foragers (2022), along with a series of new and existing sculptures, charting the artist’s multidisciplinary practice that explores the paradoxical effects of preservation practices in agriculture, science, and the law. Across the works in the exhibition, from sculptures to films, the land and its rhythms are explored as the basis for ways of life that have undergone duress while also resisting, evading, and transforming hegemonic power structures.

Focusing on the land in the face of increasing forms of alienation from it, Manna’s films use a range of narrative methods to examine how land-based practices like farming and foraging are embroiled in and struggle against neoliberal and colonial policies and in turn, climate change. Drawing from specific examples, such as the first withdrawal from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2015 in response to the Syrian war—the subject of her film Wild Relatives—Manna underscores the scientific limitations in recovering the loss of biological life, in all of its forms. Additionally, her work visualizes the slow violence of industrial agriculture while asking poignant questions about what kind of future is possible in a precarious present.

Significant support for Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Generous support is provided by The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art and Lise Stolt-Nielsen.

Special thanks to Hollybush Gardens, London.

The presentation of Jumana Manna’s Middle Ghost (Cache Series) in the 46th Ave Public Plaza is made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Press Kit

Images

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View of exhibition Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally on view at MoMA PS1 from September 2022 to April 17, 2023. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Steven Paneccasio

Jumana Manna Middle Ghost (2022), presented in the MoMA PS1 public plaza in collaboration with NYC Parks Art in the Parks program. On view as part of Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally on view at MoMA PS1 from September 22, 2022 to April 17, 2023. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Steven Paneccasio

View of exhibition Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally on view at MoMA PS1 from September 2022 to April 17, 2023. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Steven Paneccasio

Jumana Manna. Foragers (video still). 2022. HD video. Duration: 64’00’’.

Jumana Manna. Old Bread (detail). 2021. Ceramics, plastic bags, galvanized metal.

Jumana Manna. Window with ledge, from Cache (Insurance Policy). 2018. Ceramics, concrete, lime, pigments. 55 x 50 x 81 cm. © Jumana Manna. Image courtesy the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London. Photo: Luca Guadagnini © ar/ge kunst.