An installation exploring the form or formlessness of identity.

The installation aimed to create a conversation about the definition of identity, away from any generically imposed terms that are usually used as tools to talk about it. What I wanted to do was to set up the installation in a progression of translucent panels, and have the space allow the viewers to interact with the three elements, character/context/environment, simultaneously and separately, while having their position influence their visual of the piece as a whole at any still moment. I wanted the space to challenge the questions about identity that are usually brought about in any discussion around the topic, such as what terms are encompassed within that one word, what influences identity, and what happens when one of those elements is taken away.

The development of the work came about when I realised that what I am doing is attempting to discuss formlessness through a form that is never constant, to tackle issues of meaning/identity/cognition in a way that creates a tension between form and formlessness, to produce a physical entity that would not hinder either. This generated an installation that opened up a perceptive discussion (of viewer within the space) about the process of the production vs. the product. The process of creation of the work was experimental, with the final visual never being pre-defined, but dictated by the overarching narrative. The installation was a recording of this process, and in this process the only tangible element was the intention to change the state, induce a loss of form, and forcefully capture a form to talk about.

The process ended up having no beginning and no end. It began and ended with a hybrid of form and formlessness at the same time, and of the three visual markers that I had produced to enable me to visualize this process. Their form, therefore, became almost dispensable, physically, without losing its intrinsic meaning.

The aim was for the viewers to witness within the space a battle that the physical entity is undergoing between the two induced states, form and formlessness. The work defined formlessness as a state that exists as the lack of a state, and not as nothingness. It is the constant loss of a state. Formlessness had to come in two places: the first being the loss of form (the absence of a constant form), and the second being the process of the production of the form, which was visualized as the space (void) between the phases that the entities moved through throughout the space (Hybrid, Prelude, Birth, Development, Awakening, Conversation, Transcendence, Hybrid.)

The work posed a series of questions that attempted to redefine the terms 'identity', 'form', and 'formlessness'.

Formless was funded by the Young Arab Theatre Fund (www.yatfund.org), among other local sponsors, and exhibited in Amman, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon.

The installation was featured in a campaign featuring emerging artists, that was designed for AIZONE, a high-fashion retailer.

Evolving Beauty

A speculative scenario that places visitors in the year 2050, and examines the future of art, technology and beauty. In the near future, this piece foresees a world in which environmental and urban pollution, as well as global warming, have started to take a toll on the human body. Beauty brands are the new cartels, and with the support of governments, their aim is to protect citizens by providing them with disposable skin that acts as a shield against the harsh conditions of the environment. Beauty is redefined as the natural human body, and layers are added to protect that, rather than to change its natural aesthetic. 

We aim to create an experience that poses a question about the level of awareness and responibility towards the current environmental conditions, and how they might affect every aspect of our lives as they continue to worsen in the future. The experience highlights the tension between a decaying environment (in which our film is set) and a clean, luxurious one. The space is set in a slick, white, organically shaped capsule that looks as if it had landed in YiHaus, from another time. The visitors are intrigued as they notice a white mist seeping out from underneath the entrance. The doors slide open, and upon entering the space, visitors are placed in the centre of the toxic world of the future. Stretches of what looks like skin, toxic smoke and screens showing the threat of this future environment, weave a tapestry of decay behind glass screens. The visitors peer into this world, and begin to understand the repercussions of the impending threat that the environment is facing, and the effects it could, in turn, have on their bodies. A soundscape that drones in the background sets the tone, and to enhance this experience, even the quality of the air is slightly compromised, feeling a little warmer and more humid than usual. After taking in this immersive part of the space, they are guided by that same white mist that was their cue at the entrance, into the second space, in which they experience a sense of relief as the air starts to cool, and the humidity subsides. They enter through the sliding door into a futuristic world of luxury; a boutique skin store, where they are greeted by a beauty assistant, and can view a range of novelty second skins in a window display. They can choose from limited edition, natural, and novelty designs, and simulate wearing them through the virtual mirrors that are available at either side of the space. The experience ends with the assistant handing them a business card with a web address through which they can track the availability of the product. The experience aims to present them with a problem, then offer a heavily connotative solution to it in a branded, high-end manner. It also creates this anticipation for being able to purchase the product, which they cannot, thus creating a contrast to the shopping experience they would then proceed towards in YiHaus.

OVERVIEW:

‘INTRANSIENCE’ is a site-specific installation that aims to instigate conversations around the construction of the legacy of a place on the verge of destruction. The work highlights the power of individual stories through the collective creation of a legacy.

The aim was to accommodate for the varied narratives that the audience would come with, taking into account the subjectivity of the perceptual experiences of the pier. The designed experience allowed for the simultaneity of these narratives to be reassessed in ways that are not tied to its Cartesian existence, making way for the construction of a polyphonic narrative that is independent of the pier itself, and could outlast its physical being.

The work looks to take on a dialectic, collective approach to creating a legacy for the pier. It aims to examine the elements and voices that might play into the creation of that legacy, by offering the audience a chance to revisit the past and possibly contribute to editing it, as well as be critical of the present, culminating in a record that is both an antidote for transience, and an orchestration of entropy. The collectively written version of the story is offered as an alternative to the current (or projected) one, which is likely to be left up to the more authoritative (albeit somewhat detached) voices - those found in the museum archives and history books.

NARRATIVE:

The installation takes the audience into a parallel dimension on the site of The West Pier in Brighton, placing them in the moment of its collapse, and transporting them into the Afterlife of Buildings, where they eavesdrop on a debate panel between representatives of different parts of that dimension around how to usher the pier into the afterlife and where to place it. The arc of the debate develops towards a point of high anxiety, during which the characters’ agendas clash and culminate in a decision to allow the people in this dimension to shape the legacy of the place. The audience members are then invited to explore a set of elements that could dictate the telling of the legacy of the pier, before contributing their opinion towards the discussion.

THE SCRIPT

The narrative of the ‘Afterlife of Buildings’ was an attempt to encompass all the insights, themes and threads that came out of my research of the site and the stories that were attached to it - including, but not limited to, the common practice within the community of anthropomorphising the pier. The idea was to bring in other anthropomorphised buildings that had already physically ‘passed’, and treat the Afterlife as a narrated experience that would engage the audience in a critical conversation. In order for the debate to be critical, engaging and challenging, the buildings represented by the different characters were chosen from the UK’s history, and for their relevance or ability to be compared to the pier. The common points where chosen based on similarities in structure, date of building and what kind of legacy was left behind, among other characteristics.

The themes discussed in the script were ones that were selected based on the next phase of the experience: the elements of legacy: Imagination, Memory, Intent, History and Form. The script raised questions about each of these themes in order to set the audience up for the second half of the experience, where they would have to make a decision about which of these elements would take the lead in shaping the story of the pier.

In order to make the audience aware of their role and responsibility in the construction of the story, the script was intended to play out with a sense of urgency and anxiety. Drawing from Jaques Lecoq’s levels of tension, the structure of the script oscillates between different states of urgency, aiming for that tension being translated to the audience’s fluctuating levels of anxiety. This tension was at the forefront of designing the heterotopic experience of The Afterlife of Buildings, and in expanding on that, the layering of meaning, language and references was core to delivering a provocative outcome.

Inspired by the idea of the chorus in Greek theatre, the characters exist within a juxtaposition of different timelines, which enabled the bending of the rules of linear accounts of time in terms of content.

The script ends with the characters claiming that the final decision is up to the audience, before the space transitions to display the elements of legacy. In this confrontational moment INTRANSIENCE removes the audience from their roles as ‘spectators’, and mobilises them towards taking on the responsibility of creating a story that could outlast the physical structure of the pier.

DESIGN:

The installation aimed to challenge how we inhabit spaces by constructing an inhabitable enclosure - designed based on a collapsed kiosk that stood on the boardwalk above the space of the installation - in which the ‘death’ of the pier is performed.

In doing so, it situated the audience inside a space that is outside of the currently standing skeleton, but inside an insinuation of the parts of the pier that have already collapsed.

The space itself is a single enclosure, but through the use of sound and video, it transitions from one version of itself to another. In the first half of the experience, while the script is running, the space is more focused on being diplomatic in terms of the division of content. The characters’ voices surround the visitors equally. As the script ends, the ambient sound comes into play, altering the experience of the space. Videos representing the elements of the legacy are activated by the audience’s proximity to them, allowing the audience to shape the narrative in that version of the space with their behaviour.

MATERIALITY:

Designing the experience - part of which was the Afterlife of Buildings - meant thinking of how to transport the audience into a place that felt like a parallel version of the beach, in a different dimension. I went through a process of elimination in order to reach the right kind of aesthetic, stability and materiality.

The threshold was designed to alter the experience of walking on the pebbles, which is usually a difficult task, by making the beach feel like it is lifting the visitors’ footsteps off the ground. Using memory foam rolled out under a thin layer of pebbles gave that effect.

In speaking of a place that was considered a work of architecture, but now stands more as a sculptural version of itself, I wanted the space of INTRANSIENCE to be more like an inhabitable object. It took on more of an architectonic approach to the enclosure, rather than that of built space in its architectural sense.

By eliminating everything that looked and felt foreign to the site, I was able to make the decision of manipulating the fabric of space of the beach itself. The result was what looked like mounds pinched up from the surface of the beach, as if the word 'fabric' were taken literally. The mounds served as an implicit part of the narrative that spoke of an urgently and rapidly assembled marking of space for the Afterlife of Buildings to convene in at the moment of the death of the pier.

The mounds themselves were designed to mirror the traces of foam that the waves left on the pebbles as they pulled back into the ocean, with the pebbles rising to form the bottom of the mounds. Using alum salt to crystallise the mounds was a decision based on the need to embed the narrative of transience and decay within the space itself. Salt is used to preserve (and in the case of INTRANSIENCE, metaphorically, to preserve meaning), but is also one of the elements that are contributing to the decay of the structure. The close proximity to the water imbues the space with a sense of anxiety around collapse and decay, as if it were at a threat of dissolving into the ocean.

“How?” is probably the most pressing question today within the context of reversing the effects of global climate change. The ambiguity of the answers to that question is where most inaction is rooted, but rather than letting the story stagnate there, we see an opportunity to turn the moment of acknowledging that lack of clarity as the key to catalysing action.

Our proposal relies on museums acknowledging that they don’t have all the answers, and pledging to stand with whoever is willing to search for them, thus empowering visitors to engage in that search, and to rally the public, in hopes of creating cascading movements. We aim to convert museums from temples of knowledge and answers, to places for questions and action. A humbling step down from a pedestal, is a step up to opening up spaces for experimentation, inclusion, and collective action, and to brazenly confront our present ‘earthly’ reality.

We propose a retrofitted “symbiotic” model for existing museums and museum-like institutions, in which ‘symbiotes’, in the form of Tinker Labs appear in the most publicly visible spaces. The aim of the Tinker Labs is to rally people to create localised action by channelling the inherent ‘power’ ingrained in the title of the ‘Museum’. The ‘symbiote’ is nourished by the museum’s resources, whilst using them to feed the planet, becoming part of a global network of Tinker Labs , and converting museums from static spaces (in the context of climate action), to breathing, thriving, responsive organisms. The Tinker Labs focus on the creation of new knowledge as an antidote to the sense of paralysis due to misperceived futility.

It is not enough to create these spaces without highlighting the urgency for action. To do that, the ‘symbiote’ leverages the museum's collection to shift the narrative towards one centred around personal accountability, by transforming it into a tool for gauging the current state of (in)action towards climate justice. Based on IoT interconnectivity, the museum experience starts with an assessment of each visitor’s lifestyle choices, and the ‘weight’ of the climate injustice that they’ve contributed towards. It uses material provenance to localise those injustices on a world map, and denies the visitor access to any content that stems from the most affected areas, rendering it ‘lost’ to climate injustice. The museum urges visitors to take action in order to recover the lost content, and unlock the full museum experience. It provides visitors with guidance on how to approach issues that have been diagnosed through their assessment, and helps them identify their preferred route of action. The museum becomes a breathing entity that shrinks & expands, signalling the urgency of the climate threat with its rapid and shallow “breathing”, prompting increased action.

A data visualisation in each of the Tinker Labs enables visitors to track action in labs around the world, gauging our position in relation to the zero hour. Consciously designed as a 10-year model only, these ‘symbiotes’ work collectively as one, to remind the world of the need for positive action, as little or as large, while also forcing them to pick a future: one where we’ve already crossed the point of no return, or one where we’ve collectively risen to the challenge and saved our planet

Album artwork for my previous band, Zeid and the Wings. The band’s music is based on electronic sounds, raw beats, acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies. The visual portrays the light nature of the music. Different elements from the band’s journey together in Beirut were combined in an almost dreamy illustration, with colors that reflect the lightness of tone in which the songs are written and performed.

The concept of identity being formed through experience is not unheard of, but when the word 'Arab' is brought into the picture, identity becomes a bit more complex, and loaded with social, religious and political connotations, to name a few, thus making representations of Arab identity one of the more difficult challenges for anyone who tries to tackle the subject. Edward Said spoke of representations of the 'Orient' saying that " The exteriority of the representation is always governed by some version of the truism that if the Orient could represent itself, it would; since it cannot, the representation does the job, for the west, and … for the poor Orient". Said's theories were based on the notion that the Orient is the 'cultural other' of the West. That assertion in itself gives the orient a secondary role, and a sense that it must in someway belong to the west.
 

In attempt to investigate one form of visual representation of the above, and through a study of Arabic comic art, and specifically Arabic comic books' superheroes, it became apparent that many of the attempts to piece together a character defined as an 'Arab' superhero had leaned towards a loss of identity. The characters were stripped from any indicators of religion, culture, ethnicity, and in some cases, even physical features that would make them relatable to the Arab world, turning the character into a blank canvas, ready to reflect any image projected onto it.

The idea of identity being malleable to that extent is what interests me, leaving aside the generic definitions of identity, and possibly looking at it from another view, one that allows it to become an interactive definition.

 "Formless: Progressions of a Hybrid Identity" is a publication involving a graphic dialogue between three different entities: a character, an environment, and a context. The progression takes place visually as they develop on their own, internally, and then start to interact causing themselves and the 'other' to develop both internally and externally. As the dialogue unfolds, the entities evolve through phases involving birth, interaction, awakening, lack, mimicry, exchange, empowerment, moving along to a state by which each of their identities is defined, that being a state of ever-changing hybridity. This brings about the concept of the 'formlessness' of a certain entity's identity at any point in time, negating the need and the struggle for defining oneself by place, time, context or any generically imposed terms involving a person or place's origins.