Rayanne Tabet

Home on Neutral Ground, 2011
Site-specific installation, Lahore iteration

Sharjah, U.A.E: On April 18, 1986 India and Pakistan faced off during the final of the Austral Asia Cricket Cup held in the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. On the last ball, with four runs needed to win the game, Javed Miandad scored a six securing Pakistan’s victory and made cricket history.
New York City, U.S.A: On April 18, 1986 On Kawara executed one of his Date Paintings in his studio in New York. In this series spanning nearly 5 decades, the artist would paint the date on which the painting was made on monochromatic canvases of red, blue or gray.
In 2011, Rayyane Tabet presented Home on Neutral Ground at Sharjah Biennale 10. The work looked at the complex history of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. One of the main events in that history was the India v/s Pakistan match on April 18, 1986 where Sharjah operated as a “neutral ground” to host a game between political rivals.
For the Lahore Biennale, Tabet transposes that moment from the past into the present and from Sharjah back to Lahore by way of interventions that reclaim and adapt existing material from that day: Kawara’s painting and a recording from the game dispersed around the city.

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