Through her militant and contemporary performance of the war in Lebanon, Mona Hatoum confronts the gap that exists between human reality and the everyday representation made of it by governments and the media. The Negotiating Table is a direct reference to Israel's invasion of Lebanon and was produced immediately after the violence. The artist evokes the world of interrogation, torture or negotiation with a minimalist setting, a table surrounded by empty chairs in a dark room, lit only by a lamp. As part of this performance, presented for the first time in 1983 in the SAW Gallery in Ottawa, the artist lies immobile on the table for three hours, wrapped in plastic, with her body stained with blood and covered in viscera and with her face anonymously covered in surgical gauze. This bleeding body evokes the victims of war and the table assumes the form of a sacrificial altar. The artist tends to confront in this way the urgency of a situation of conflict and the lack of reactivity of political leaders in their decision-making. The soundtrack that accompanies the performance suggests the distant presence of the latter: radio extracts evoking the war, as well as the discourses of peace pronounced by Western leaders. Although some of Mona Hatoum's first performances made direct reference to the war in Lebanon, particularly through the soundtrack, this theme often appeared in the background of her works, which accorded a more important presence to the body. However, we find the characteristics of Mona Hatoum's work in this filmed performance: symbolic staging, a distinctive treatment of the body and the direct involvement of the spectator. The performance has no narrative construction; it derives its power from immobility. The spectators are confronted by their own inactivity, passivity and powerlessness, as they stand outside the circle of light. This performance has a strong emotional impact, resulting not only from a raw representation of violence, but also from the artist's physical engagement.

Priscilia Marques