Subcontracted Nations is a group exhibition that questions differing concepts of nation. In these times, we are seeing major transformations in these concepts through rhetorical and political discourse across many corners of the globe.

The exhibition draws its title from the proliferation of the processes of sub-contracting found in our world today―whether it is the sub-contracting of health services, or the privatisation of public resources including education. These processes have been instrumental in the fragmentation and compartmentalisation of public services and the diminution of the role and obligations of the state.

Another question the exhibition will pose is how the different forms of neoliberal orders in societies are being kept within socially and economically acceptable limits, in a manner considered optimal for preventing dissent and thus serving to maintain the delusion of social agency. The effects of these neoliberal mechanisms have become intrinsically entrenched in the production of day-to-day relationships, from family to sexual relations, to the status of citizenship and the structure of politics. This imposition of neoliberal mechanisms has contributed in numerous ways to the transformation of the individual through reformatory techniques, pre-designed lifestyles, dependency, and so forth.

Curated by Yazid Anani, featuring works by Ahed Izhiman, Ahmed Hamed, Alexandra Handal, Bashar Alhroub, Bashir Makhoul, Bisan Abu Eisheh, Dirar Kalash, Essa Grayeb, Habib Asal, Iyad Issa, Jonas Staal, Jumana Abboud, Khaled Jarrar, Lara Baladi, Larissa Sansour, Majdi Hadid, Manal Mahamid, May Odeh, Mirna Bamieh, Naeem Mohaiemen, Nida Sinnokrot, Noor Abed, Rima Essa, Sarah Beddington, Sliman Mansour, Taysir Batniji, Uriel Orlow, Vera Tamari, Vladimir Tamari, Waseem Fouad, Yazan Khalili and others.