Khaled Jarrar: Blood for Sale

October 13-27, 2018
Performance: October 8-12, (corner of Wall St and Broad St, Manhattan)
Opening Reception: October 13, 7-9pm

What is the value of the body as a product when, in the pursuit of war for economic gain, humans become abstract ideas rather than individuals?

Khaled Jarrar presents Blood for Sale, an exhibition at Open Source Gallery in conjunction with a public performance at Wall Street. From October 8-12, during the performance, Jarrar will invite the public to invest in the artist by buying his blood on Wall Street in New York. Following the performance, the artifacts and accompanying documentation will be on view at Open Source through October 27.

Blood for Sale explores the value of a human life as explicitly monetary and, for a price, you can own a share of this artist.

Born in Palestine, Khaled Jarrar enrolled in the Palestinian Presidential Guard as a young man and eventually become Yasser Arafat’s bodyguard. His time as a soldier has informed his work as an artist and Jarrar often uses the subject of Palestine, particularly the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, as a starting point for larger investigations of militarized societies, focusing on economic and state powers that fuel and profit from war. Jarrar’s work explores the impact of capitalism and imperialism on ordinary citizens, often through interventions that invite public participation.

It’s no secret that war is a profitable business. Exploitation of individuals–both as laborers and soldiers–provides corporations, defense contractors and governments with daily economic gain. With no incentive to end wars, those profiting continue to propagate them: not on the front lines, but from the comfort of their offices and homes, divorced from the real human toll of war. Funding of defense contractors does not mean culpability for the investor; owning stock in a war profiteer does not require seeing the faces of the soldiers or civilians. Blood for Sale enacts the rituals of Wall Street and the depersonalization of the stock exchange using the artist’s own body and the most precious of all commodities: his life’s blood.

Khaled Jarrar lives and works in Ramallah, Palestine. Jarrar completed his education in Interior Design at the Palestine Polytechnic University and graduated from the International Academy of Art Palestine with a BFA in visual art. Jarrar has presented solo exhibitions at Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz (Dubai), Art Bartsch & Cie (Geneva), Galerie Polaris (Paris), and Gallery One (Ramallah) amon others. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery (London), Diverse Works (Houston), 57th Venice Biennale (Venice), Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (London), and the New Museum (New York) among many others.

This performance will be livestreamed at the Al’Mamal Foundation for Contemporary Art on October 8 and October 12 (4:30-7pm, GMT +3, Jrs time).

Khaled Jarrar: Blood for Sale | Installation View | On artnet | On Hyperallergic | In Degree Critical | Press Release