Key facts

A multipart project comprising 10 films, a virtual-reality trilogy, paintings, sculptures and a public programme involving cross-disciplinary researchers and the general public

LEVIATHAN WEBSITE

leviathan-cycle.com

ROLES

Film-maker, writer, director and researcher

FILM SCREENING VENUES 

Forecast Türkiye: Memory of Water / Suyun Belleği, Izmir, 2025; San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 2025; Skabmagovat Festival, Inar, 2024; University of Salford Art Collection, Salford, 2024; IAIA MOCNA, Santa Fe, 2024; Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, 2023; Bury Art Museum, Bury, 2023; Parallax Art Center, Portland, 2023; NOD Gallery, Prague, 2023; Kansas City Art Institute Gallery, Missouri, 2023; Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, 2022; Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, 2022; The Cube Project Space, Taipei, 2022; Pera Museum, Istanbul, 2021; Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2021; Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford, 2021; Leviathan Broadcast Season in collaboration with Art Review, Modern Forms, Robert Institute of Art and The RYDER Projects (online), 2020; Kai Art Center, Tallinn, 2020; The RYDER Projects, Madrid, 2020; MOCA Toronto, Toronto, 2019; Bluecoat, Liverpool, 2019; Kunstverein München, Munich, 2019; CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, 2019; Elephant West x Itinerant Works, London, 2019; ArtReview Bar, London, 2019; The Atlantic Project, Plymouth, 2018; Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, 2018; MOSTYN, Llandudno, 2018; Screen City Biennial, Stavanger, 2017; University of Salford, Manchester, 2017; Timothy Taylor, London, 2017; Venice Biennale, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, 2017

FILMS COMMISSIONED BY 

Ambiente E Arte; A Tale of a Tub; Bluecoat; CCA Tel Aviv; Fondazione Querini Stampalia; Fortuny Venezia; CNR-ISMAR, Venice; Labanof, University of Milan; La Panacée, Montpellier; Marine Institute, University of Plymouth; MOCA, Toronto; Mostyn, Llandudno; Screen City Biennial, Stavanger; The Atlantic Project, Plymouth; Toronto Biennial; Outset; Mubi streaming platform; Arts Council England; Contemporary Art Society; CREAM, University of Westminster; University of Salford Art Collection; Leviathan – Human and Marine Ecology; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Touchstones Rochdale

CreatorsDawood, S.
Description

Emerging from Dawood’s research-led film-making methodology, this interdisciplinary project involves collaboration and dialogue with scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, lawyers, activists, futurists, and trauma specialists. At all
stages these collaborations feed into the science fictions and speculative narratives of the film episodes, whilst providing rich content and materials through which immersive experiences and material thinking are explored. The narrative of Leviathan journeys across Europe, Asia, North Africa, engaging wide-ranging communities, and in doing so the project examines the unfolding humanitarian crisis and a wider systemic crisis within our biosphere. Coherence is achieved through an approach that makes visceral narrative connections between different formats and points of view. In formal terms, the project has discovered that this fragmented, episodic serial format, combined with a variety of media, becomes the most appropriate vehicle for conveying the psychological and environmental fragmentation to come in the age of climate change.

Following its inaugural presentation in Venice in May 2017 to coincide with the 57th Art Biennale, Dawood’s Leviathan has facilitated and produced over 30 talks and events alongside exhibitions aimed at encouraging cross-disciplinary dialogue. Distinguished speakers have for example included the theorist Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi in conversation with leading oceanographer Sandro Carniel; Cristina Cattaneo director of the LABANOF at the University of Milan, whose work operates at the frontline of the refugee crisis; and pioneering evolutionary geneticist Eske Willerslev.

To date, eight of the ten films in the Leviathan Cycle have been produced. These works have been presented at film festivals including CPH:DOX (Copenhagen, Denmark), Oberhausen (Oberhausen, Germany), and Kino der Kunst (Munich, Germany), Skabmagovat Festival (Inar, Finland) and at one-off screenings and special events with partners including Elephant Magazine and the Goethe-Institute.

Portfolio itemsLeviathan
Leviathan
Year2017
PublisherUniversity of Westminster

Portfolio items

Leviathan
Dawood, S. 2019. Leviathan. Bluecoat, Liverpool 06 Jul - 13 Oct 2019

Leviathan
Dawood, S. 2017. Leviathan.

Related outputs

Night in the Garden of Love
Dawood, S. 2023. Night in the Garden of Love.

Shezad Dawood in conversation with Lucy Reynolds
Reynolds, L. and Dawood, S. 2021. Shezad Dawood in conversation with Lucy Reynolds. The Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ). 10 (1-2), pp. 74-102. https://doi.org/10.1386/miraj_00064_7

Leviathan
Dawood, S. 2019. Leviathan. Bluecoat, Liverpool 06 Jul - 13 Oct 2019

Encroachments (Premiered at Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber)
Dawood, S. 2019. Encroachments (Premiered at Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber). Sharjah, UAE 07 Mar - 10 Jun 2019

Kalimpong (A Lost Future: Shezad Dawood)
Dawood, S. 2018. Kalimpong (A Lost Future: Shezad Dawood) . The Rubin Museum of Art (NYC, USA) 23 Feb - 21 May 2018

Leviathan
Dawood, S. 2017. Leviathan.

Dances with Cryptids
Dawood, S. 2016. Dances with Cryptids. in: Palestra, C. (ed.) Kalimpong London Sternberg Press. pp. 54-62

Kalimpong
Dawood, S. 2016. Kalimpong. Timothy Taylor, London 16 Sep 2016 - 22 Oct 2017

Towards the Possible Film
Dawood, S. 2014. Towards the Possible Film .

Black Sun Alchemy, Diaspora and Heterotopia
Dawood, S. 2013. Black Sun Alchemy, Diaspora and Heterotopia. in: van Noord, G. (ed.) Black Sun London Ridinghouse. pp. pp 4-80

Piercing brightness
Dawood, S. 2012. Piercing brightness.

New dream machine project
Dawood, S. 2012. New dream machine project. Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art 5 December 2012 - 23 February 2013

Feature
Dawood, S. 2009. Feature. Tate, London 06 Feb - 26 Apr 2009

Artists' studio
Dawood, S. 2007. Artists' studio.

Artist's studio
Dawood, S. Perrot, C. (ed.) 2007. Artist's studio. London Culture Shock Media.

Paradise row
Dawood, S., Gino, T. and Hammond, C. 2005. Paradise row.

We Have Met the Enemy & He Is Us
Dawood, S., Ghazi, B., Hulusi, M., Araeen, R., Aramesh, R., Islam, R. and Seize, A. 2005. We Have Met the Enemy & He Is Us.

'Sister Kali's Soul Temple – the Goddess of Death and Aretha Franklin' and 'Lecture in Conversation - an improved dialogue between Albert Camus and Lord Krishna'
Dawood, S. 2005. 'Sister Kali's Soul Temple – the Goddess of Death and Aretha Franklin' and 'Lecture in Conversation - an improved dialogue between Albert Camus and Lord Krishna'. 6900 Bregenz, Bergmannstrasse 6, Austria. 16 Jul - 04 Sep 2005

London in six easy steps
Dawood, S. 2005. London in six easy steps.

For a few rupees more
Dawood, S. 2005. For a few rupees more.

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