× NAYLA DABAJI AND ZIAD BITAR
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Nayla Dabaji (b.1979) and Ziad Bitar (b.1976) are visual artists based in Lebanon.
They have been collaborating since 2003. Their pieces are based on texts, objects and interventions actively using a contextual reading of public spaces as well as an interest in notions of exchange, history and culture. They have participated in exhibitions and various workshops at home and abroad as well as artist residencies in Seoul (2006), Belfast (2008), and Bern (2009).
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× WAVE 2009 ×
BIEL, SWITZERLAND
Lokal-Int
WAVE
Installation view: Lokal-Int, Biel, April 2009
A flag (1mx1.5m) and a coat of arms (60x40cm) placed on the roof and at the entrance door of Lokal-int suggests that we are looking at an official building.
Based on the color distributions of flags from the Middle East, the work represents an ironic perception of an idealized “Union of West Asia”.
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LINKS ON THE WEB
WAVE AT LOKAL-INT
FASTING GALLERY ZONE
OFF OFF BLOG
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× ANOTHER MEMBER 2009 ×
BERN, SWITZERLAND
Progr - Marks Blond project
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“ANOTHER MEMBER”
Mixed-Media Installation, 2009
PROGR_AUSTELLUNGZONE
PRO HELVETIA
Looking for the first time at the familial gardens in Switzerland became a source of inspiration i.e. how flags can be perceived differently according to culture and context.
“Another member” presents documentary material of flag interventions in the city of Bern and Geneva.
The starting point of the work is the creation of a fictitious flag that represent an idealized “Union of West Asia” (UOWA). The design is based on the historic color distributions of flags from the Middle East.
The project revolves around the possible uses of this flag and how it could generate different readings in an existent public space:
participation to events with the flag; intrusion of the flag in various contexts where flags are already present.
The installation displays the photographs and videos as traces of these interventions; as a fragile rhythm that assembles fragments of actions to perceive something new:
Among other flags the UOWA flag becomes another member; as it moves from a site to another the flag is slowly being transformed from a glorified ideal into a disappearing sign in the mass.
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Another Member Video Stills, 2009
Another Member: Exhibition View: PROGR, Bern, 2009
9 hanging photographs (1mx73cm), 14 photographs A5 on the wall,
3 videos (Projector, TV, LCD monitor)
"UOWA Flag"
As part of the project "Another Member", the UOWA flag got installed at
Marks Blond Project R.F.Z.K. on Speichergasse 8, Bern, 2009
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Another Member:Exhibition view: Where are you?
Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, 2009
9 hanging photographs (1mx73cm), one video (LCD monitor) and UOWA Flag (1.50x1m) placed outside the gallery space.
LINKS ON THE WEB
PROGR EXHIBITION
MARKS BLOND PROJECT
WHERE ARE YOU? EXHIBITION
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× WHAT WENT BEFORE 2008 ×
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND
Flaxart Studios
THE PROJECT: Identical banners have been placed in 5 different entries and/or exits points into/out of the city center.
They are situated at the edge of different neighborhoods in North, South, East and West Belfast.
Each banner is white and displays three words:
W H A T W E N T B E F O R E
We believe this object can act as an incomplete reminder and generate different readings depending on the context where it is seen.
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| Banner 1, King’s street, Placed on 4/11/08, Ripped down on 05/11/08, Belfast, 2008 |
| Banner 2, Station Street Flyover, Placed on 06/11/08, Disappeared on 18/11/08, Belfast, 2008 |
Banner 3, Placed on 6-11-08, Stanhope Drive, 8pm, Belfast, 2008
(Disappeared on 10/11/08) |
| Banner 4, North Street, , Placed on 10/11/08, Burned and ripped down on 14/11/08, Belfast, 2008 |
Banner 5, Placed on 8-11-08, Bankmore Street, 12 am, Belfast, 2008
(Disappeared on 30/11/08) |
“What went before”
Installation view: FlaxArt Studios, Talk and open studio, Belfast, 2008
11 photographs of banner interventions A3, drawing/Map A2 and rest of banner 4 (burned) |
“What went before”
Documentation to be taken freely by visitors, A3 double sided, texts and images, 200 copies, 2008 |
LINKS ON THE WEB
FLAXART INTERNATIONAL RESIDENCY ARTISTS
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× WHO SAID THAT SOMETING HAPPENED? 2006-2007 ×
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Disconnected thoughts in time of crisis
Ssamzie Space
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Installation view: Ssamzie Space, Open studio, 2006, Seoul, South Korea
14 photographs and newspapers on the wall and disposed as a pile
to be taken freely by visitors
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Project: books
Number: 33
Production: handmade
Materials: tracing paper, acetate, glue, scotch tape, thread
Dimensions: 14.2 x 9.2 cm
Pages: 22
Content: sentences
Language: English and Korean
Location: bookstores, Seoul, Korea
Status of the books: lost
The work consists of making books that contain remembered conversations with friends, people and information from the media. All the sentences are related to post or still in crisis situations. The books are then deliberately left in bookstores.
"Who Said That Something Happened?" intends to simulate the individual/collective recourse to forgetfulness after a period of crisis. As if nothing happened. |
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Detail, book number 7, 14.2 x 9.2 cm, 2006
The sentences are echoes of remembered conversations with friends, people and informations from the media. They are all related to post or still in crisis situations.
The sentences are influenced by past and recent events that took place in Lebanon but also in Korea. We believe these similarities can exist for one moment out of time; somewhere between past and present; between amnesia and memory; in a possible zone where the past of one could strangely be reflected in the present of the other and vice versa.
Although this work is based on our efforts of re-writing sentences from memory, we have chosen to alter them by omitting details that can lead them back to their sources, origin and identity; they could be written by anyone, anywhere, in any period of crisis.
All these sentences are then gathered, translated and put randomly in books. Each book varies in the order and choice of the sentences which makes each one of them unique.
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Detail, book number 2, 14.2 x 9.2 cm, 2006
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Gestures/ interventions
The failure concept
If making books was a kind of recalling exercise, then simulating forgetfulness could be a game where winning would be to reach zero point. So we decided to leave these unsigned books on the shelves of different topics in known and famous bookstores. In each book an email address is present, creating a possible but not needed connection with the books. |
Book number 5, Bandi and Luni's bookstore,
photography of the intervention, 2006
Book number 11, Kyobo bookstore,
photography of the intervention, 2006
“Who Said That Something Happened?”
Documentation, 39x27 cm, 12 pages, texts and images,
1000 copies, 2006
Ssamzie Space, Open Studio, 2006, Seoul, South Korea
Ssamzie Space, Artist Talk, 2006, Seoul, South Korea
LINKS ON THE WEB
SSAMZIE SPACE STUDIO PROGRAM
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× SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN 2006-2007 ×
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Project produced during a collaborative workshop
run by artist BikVanDerPol and Insa Art Space
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"Somewhere in Between" consists of 16 texts pages recto-verso. The project was developped during a collaborative workshop in parallel to the project "Who said that something happened?".
The work was published in +82. We chose to intervene randomly in the book by placing the pages of our work between other artists works.
WEB LINK: +82 PUBLICATION
Somewhere between past and present, the separate texts are echoes of remembered conversations with friends, people and information from the media.
They are all related to post or still in crisis situations.
Although this work is based on our efforts of re-writing sentences from memory, we have chosen to alter them by omitting details that can lead them back to their source, origin and identity; they could be written by anyone anywhere in any period of crisis. |
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× ND 2009
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