Congratulations to Sharjah Biennial 14 artist Marwa Arsanios, who won the Georges De Beauregard International Award for her two-part Who is afraid of ideology? at the 30th FIDMarseille. This year’s edition of the international documentary film festival ran from 9 to 15 July 2019.

In her film Who is afraid of ideology? Part 1 (2017), the artist explores structures of self-governance that have been developed by the Kurdish autonomous women’s movement communes. Who is afraid of ideology? Part 2 (2019), and the accompanying installation, continue her research into Jinwar, a women-only village in the north of Syria, and extend her work to a farming cooperative close to the Syrian border in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley.

Both parts of Who is afraid of ideology? were shown at Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber (SB14), which ran from 7 March through 10 June 2019. Who is afraid of ideology? Part 2 (2019) was commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and co-produced with Onassis Fast Forward Festival 6, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Vooruit Belgium. Who is afraid of ideology? Part 1 (2017) was commissioned by the Walker Art Center with major support from the Bentson Foundation.