Karm el Zaitoun is an old neighborhood Achrafiye Beirut. As its name suggests, Karm el Zeitoun was for a very lontemps strewn with olive trees. After a short time, and in order to facilitate the movement in this valley, they began to build stairs everywhere.then, gradually, olive trees were replaced by houses, and the houses filled with lebaneese. In 1975, Karm el Zeitoun was affected by Lebanon's civil war . Now it has become a poor area where you can see evidence of the war and the ghosts of those violent acts still wanders on the streets.
After wandering in Karm El Zeitoun, climbing thousands of stairs, being misguided by the drawings and the colors on the wall, we experienced a "not so typical" walk. The neighboorhood was filled with optic illusions.
For this project we got inspired by MC Escher, William Klein, Manet's painting "Bar a la folie Bergère"
This Project was made in group with
Berdj Toros, Elie Nasr, Farid Sahili, Claudine Sivry, Maya Rahayel.
L'envers est L'endroit. Front is Back
Celui qui pense droit marche de travers. The one who think straight doesn't walk straight.
Les maisons aiment le désorde. Homes like disorder.
We decided then to create a small installation. To make people see Karm el zeitoun as we experienced it.
We got inspired by a lot of artists : Cornelia Parker, Mona Hatoum, for their suspended art.
Jean Nouvel for his lighting work on Dakar's museum, Eliasson's project " Take your time" and many more.
We wanted to concretise the reflections. deformations, the overlays, illusions.
Our structure was divided in two parts : The fixed suspended letters that represent the damaged part on the outside and the mobile one on the inside that moved and changed with interaction.
12 bulb light were installed in the structure.
Or installtion was build in a dark room making it possible to work with light. An instrumental romantic music was playing in the background and small flashlights were given to people to interact with this neighborhood so poor but so rich in emotions. We wanted them to create their own reflections and shadows.
Thank You
