10. Atef Al Jaffal

17 November 2018 / Collaboration, Exhibition

Atef Al Jaffal: Circle

Street behind Shataa Al Jameel

Photos by Christina Werner

CIRCLE is a mural by Atef Al Jaffal, a young designer who painted a circle on the exterior wall of an ordinary one-family house and integrated eight images on plates, designed in contrasting colours, with the circle. Each design mirrors disputed issues within the Iraqi community. The images are ambivalent: a veiled woman stands for the discrepancy of tradition versus modern life, intertwined hands point to topics of gender and love, walls and roadblocks tackle questions of danger and control. Al Jaffal sees the country of Iraq as one big family. He thinks that to be able to live a normal life, the people should start to learn to respect each other and allow for different ways of being part of a community. The artist chose this ordinary family home in order to render a clear connection between the bonds of family life and how we operate in the larger community – to raise the question of how our domestic intimacies, responsibilities, and behaviour can influence our participation in society as a whole.

9. Zaid Saad

17 November 2018 / Collaboration, Exhibition ⟶

Zaid Saad: Sanduk (Box)On the riverbank of Tigris Photo by Christina Werner Photo by Christina Werner Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Hella Mewis The site-specific installation ZANDUK (the Arabic word for ‘box’) by Zaid Saad was made of eleven cardboard moving boxes. These boxes were stacked and ready to be transported to an unknown destination. They were labelled ‘From Iraq to the Sea’ and featured stencils of transportation symbols that Saad designed to signal: don’t kill them, don’t put them in jail, don’t return to sender. The installation was accompanied by a sound piece wherein the audience would listen to voices of Iraqis who shared stories about those others who had left Iraq because of the war. Saad addresses the wave of migration that has taken away many Iraqis in the last few years. Mostly the younger generations have been sent abroad, in a way similar to what governments all over the world do during wartime with national treasures and artefacts, to keep them safe outside the country. Yet people are often sent from one insecure situation to another, or even to their death. Saad lends his artistic voice to the mourning families who stay behind and lose their loved ones one way or another, ripping society off its future foundation. The installation is positioned on the riverbank of the Tigris, which leads towards the sea. In the background, on the other side of the river, the wall of the so-called International Zone, where the national decision-makers reside, is visible. Zaid Saad: Sanduk (Box)On the riverbank of Tigris Photo by Christina Werner Photo by Christina Werner Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Hella Mewis The site-specific installation ZANDUK (the Arabic word for ‘box’) by Zaid Saad was made of eleven cardboard moving boxes. These boxes were stacked and ready to be transported to an unknown destination. They were labelled ‘From Iraq to the Sea’ and featured stencils of transportation symbols that Saad designed to signal: don’t kill them, don’t put them in jail, don’t return to sender. The installation was accompanied by a sound piece wherein the audience would listen to voices of Iraqis who shared stories about those others who had left Iraq because of the war. Saad addresses the wave of migration that has taken away many Iraqis in the last few years. Mostly the younger generations have been sent abroad, in a way similar to what governments all over the world do during wartime with national treasures and artefacts, to keep them safe outside the country. Yet people are often sent from one insecure situation to another, or even to their death. Saad lends his artistic voice to the mourning families who stay behind and lose their loved ones one way or another, ripping society off its future foundation. The installation is positioned on the riverbank of the Tigris, which leads towards the sea. In the background, on the other side of the river, the wall of the so-called International Zone, where the national decision-makers reside, is visible.

11. Husam Mohammed

17 November 2018 / Collaboration, Exhibition ⟶

Husam Mohammed: ExpressionIn front of the Abu Nawas statue Photo by Hella Mewis Photo by Hella Mewis Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Hella Mewis With his participatory work EXPRESSIONS, Husam Mohammed invited the audience to join together in a circle. He then proceeded to address each guest with a personal question, and the participants would answer each question without using words. With EXPRESSIONS, he wanted to challenge the audience and have people rely on their facial expressions, gestures, and body language as a means of communication. Mohammed is very critical of forms of expression used in social media today, such as relying on simplified icons, and he questions what the excessive use of emojis does to our everyday human interactions. The performance took place in front of the Abu Nawas statue, located in the park at the end of the boulevard Abu Nawas. The statue, designed by Ismael Fatteh and erected in 1962, honours the Iraqi poet Abu Nawas (756–814), who was a master of Arabic poetry. In poetry, the complexity and vitality of manifold ways to express human emotions stand in contrast to our reductionist forms of digital communication today. Following the performance, visitors were led back to the street; the exit was marked with a painting of faces on one side that showed lively expressions, and a sculpture resembling a judgment seat on the other side, to remind the visitors that they had the choice. Husam Mohammed: ExpressionIn front of the Abu Nawas statue Photo by Hella Mewis Photo by Hella Mewis Photo by Yasir Razaq/Mahdi Al-Shididy Photo by Hella Mewis With his participatory work EXPRESSIONS, Husam Mohammed invited the audience to join together in a circle. He then proceeded to address each guest with a personal question, and the participants would answer each question without using words. With EXPRESSIONS, he wanted to challenge the audience and have people rely on their facial expressions, gestures, and body language as a means of communication. Mohammed is very critical of forms of expression used in social media today, such as relying on simplified icons, and he questions what the excessive use of emojis does to our everyday human interactions. The performance took place in front of the Abu Nawas statue, located in the park at the end of the boulevard Abu Nawas. The statue, designed by Ismael Fatteh and erected in 1962, honours the Iraqi poet Abu Nawas (756–814), who was a master of Arabic poetry. In poetry, the complexity and vitality of manifold ways to express human emotions stand in contrast to our reductionist forms of digital communication today. Following the performance, visitors were led back to the street; the exit was marked with a painting of faces on one side that showed lively expressions, and a sculpture resembling a judgment seat on the other side, to remind the visitors that they had the choice.

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10. Atef Al Jaffal

Atef Al Jaffal: Circle

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