Onassis AiR | Screening and Q&A: In Vitro (2019) & Nation Estate (2012) by Larissa Sansour

Sansour’s work has been shown in film festivals and museums worldwide. In 2019, she represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Biennale and, in 2020, she was the shared recipient of the prestigious Jarman Award. She has shown her work at Tate Modern, MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and the Istanbul Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, KINDL in Berlin, Copenhagen Contemporary in Denmark, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Bildmuseet in Umeå and Dar El-Nimer in Beirut.

Sansour currently lives and works in London, UK.

“In Vitro”, film, 2 channels, 28 mins, Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind, 2019

In an underground compound built in the aftermath of an eco-disaster, two scientists discuss the effects of memory, trauma, exile, and nostalgia.

“In Vitro” is a 2-channel Arabic-language sci-fi short filmed in black and white. It is set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above.

In the hospital wing of the underground compound, the orchard’s ailing founder, 70-year-old Alia, played by Hiam Abbass, is lying in her deathbed, as 30-year-old Alia, played by Maisa Abd Elhadi, comes to visit her. Alia is born underground as part of a comprehensive cloning program and has never seen the town she’s destined to rebuild. The talk between the two scientists soon evolves into an intimate dialogue about memory, exile, and nostalgia. Central to their discussion is the intricate relationship between past, present, and future, with the Bethlehem setting providing a narratively, politically, and symbolically charged backdrop.

“Nation Estate”, film, 9 mins, Larissa Sansour, 2012

“Nation Estate” is a 9-minute sci-fi short film offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. With a mixture of computer-generated imagery, live actors, and arabesque electronica, “Nation Estate” explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood. In Sansour’s film, Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the “high life”.

Each city has its own floor: Jerusalem on the 13th floor, Ramallah on the 14th floor, Sansour’s native Bethlehem on the 21st, and so on. Intercity trips previously marred by checkpoints are now made by elevator. Aiming for a sense of belonging, the lobby of each floor reenacts iconic squares and landmarks.

The story follows the female lead, played by Sansour herself and dressed in a futuristic folklore suit, returning home from a trip abroad and making her way through the lobby of the monstrous building – sponsored and sanctioned by the international community. Having passed the security checks, she takes the elevator to the Bethlehem floor and crosses Manger Square and Church of the Nativity on her way to her apartment where she prepares a plate of sci-fi tabouleh.