Art in circulation and translation

Abstract

Where are you going? and where are you coming from? are two guiding questions in the artwork From Where to Where (2010) by Annabel Daou. The questions are imbued with contextual meanings and asked in both English and Arabic. The multilingual answers are presented through two segments: an audio piece that includes people's responses to the questions asked by the artist and a large-scale drawing composed of handwriting on paper. The work documents a variegated series of cross-cultural exchanges and encounters built on layers of translatability through intermedial translation (from audio to handwriting), from one expression to another denoting various meanings to the work's title, and the very foundation of exploring movement and the possibilities of multiple identities. The work was initially shown at the Cairo Biennale in 2010 as part of a group show for the United States' representation of Arab-American artists which sparked a heated debate and raised the question regarding what happens when artworks move from one context to another and what gets translated? This paper shows that focusing on cross-cultural encounters through the medium of the artwork challenges viewers to think about what art signifies and how various encounters and interpretations impacts the work's translatability. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.