TRACES OF TIME

INSTALLATION, 2020

34 SETS OF LETTERS, REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE ARABIC TEXT OF ASMAHAN’S LAYÂLI AL-UNS FI VIENNA; MORE THAN 1000 HAND-MADE AND HAND-SEWN RESIN LETTERS.  280 X 280 X 300 CM.


AT A TIME WHEN THE WEST IS SEEN BY THE NEW GENERATION AS THE ONLY HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE, HOW DO WE PERCEIVE OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE WHEN IT BECOMES REPRESENTATIVE OF A MULTITUDE OF CONFLICTS?

THE FOLLOWING PROJECT SHEDS LIGHT ON THE LOST AND DESTROYED HERITAGE OF LEBANON. IT DECONSTRUCTS THE SONG LAYÂLI AL-UNS FI VIENNA, PERFORMED BY ASMAHAN* IN 1944, REDUCING THE LYRICS TO A SIMPLE FLOW OF LETTERS. THE SONG CARRIES WITH IT THE IDENTITY OF THE ARAB WORLD WHILE FANTASIZING ABOUT VIENNA, THE CAPITAL OF AUSTRIA.

THIS INSTALLATION TITLED TRACES OF TIME NOT ONLY HIGHLIGHTS THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THIS ENDLESS CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION BUT ALSO MATERIALIZES THE LOSS OF OUR HERITAGE, REDUCED TO A FORM - AN IMAGE - PRESENT BUT DISCARDED IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY.

WALK AROUND THE PIECE. THE LETTERS APPEAR IN CONTEXT, THEN DISTORT, THEY APPEAR AND THEN DISAPPEAR, JUST AS OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING, MOVING, DISAPPEARING, AND RESURFACING.

A THOUSAND LETTERS OF THIS INSTALLATION ARE UNIQUE PIECES, WHICH ELIAS NAFAA HAD TRADITIONALLY MADE BY HAND, TO HIGHLIGHT THE HUMAN TOUCH AND THE MATERIALITY OF THE PROJECT AND UNDERLINE THE IDEA THAT CULTURAL HERITAGE IS A PRODUCT OF THE HUMAN.

* ASMAHAN IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SINGERS IN THE ARAB WORLD. THE CHOICE OF HER SONG THAT GLORIFIES WESTERN CULTURE COMES BACK TO THE IDEA THAT CULTURAL HERITAGE BECOMES REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HARSH REALITY, THUS PUSHING A GENERATION TO MOVE AWAY AND GO TOWARDS WESTERN CULTURES AS A MEANS OF ESCAPISM.