Page 5 - AIT1221_UrbanArtKuenstler

SERIEN PERSPEKTIVWECHSEL • CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE

r Currently you’re participating in a master program in art and public space at
KHiO, the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Why did you choose this academy
and what do you expect from your studies over there?
Two years at KHiO, surrounded by the amazing nature of Oslo, and being part of this
international community of artists from different backgrounds, reflecting and lear-
ning more about the core of my practice, questioning these interests, learning tech-
nical skills in the material-based workshops about wood, metal or textile, and all
the lectures from international artists and academics, along with the readings and
theory classes that open up multiple meanings of what the public space could be,
which present different techniques and mediums to working in public.

r Have your art subjects changed since you’re living on save terrain? And are
there any links to your former work?
I have picked up from my experience some things that could be applied to this new
safe context. Like for example my interest in politics and architecture and urban
Foto: Jad El Khoury planning. The first year in the program we were asked to propose an art project for
the exhibition of NITJA, a new art center located in a small town next to Oslo. A town

caught my eyes, and especially the few resisting the city center development. One of
Freie Kunst: Acryl auf Leinwand • Free art: Acrylic on canvas becoming a city. While walking around in Lillestrøm, the colorful wooden houses
the main encounters was „the winking house“, an abandoned one, about to be de-
stroyed to be replaced with a new gated residential highrise. It winked through the
same type of curtains that I have been installing on empty windows for years now.
The wink added to my background coming from Beirut where rebuilding is a reflex,
made rebuilding feel very natural. I contacted the demolition company, took their
approval to collect some debris. After rebuilding part of the destroyed house and
mounting it at the new art center NITJA in Lillestrøm, my classmate Yildiz who had
been working on her project in collaboration with a local rehab center, decided to
invite the patients to see the exhibition the day of our exam. One of the patients cal-
led Jarle, recognized the winking house from the curtain pattern. „This is my house“
he said. Yildiz ran to the second floor of the art center where we were having the
lunch break after the exam presentations and said „Jad, you have to come down. A
guy is saying it's his house“. I ran down with doubts in mind, while hoping it was
true. And it was! Not only we found the owner, but also it turned out that this en-
counter completed the loop for this installation, which was part of my healing pro-
cess after the Beirut explosion trauma. In fact, Jarle has one paralyzed eye caused by
the depression and trauma after serving in the UN army cleaning mine fields in Le-
banon in 1989. I invited „The winking man“ to tell his story from the window of his
Foto: Jad El Khoury resurrected house. He explained how the city's development affected him and told
stories of his post traumatic experience.

Fassadenkunst: Auftragsarbeit für VitryNurbaine in Paris • Facade art: commissioned work in Paris r How are work conditions for architects and interior designers nowadays in Le-
banon? And what are the most urgent tasks in architecture and infrastructure?
Serienproduktion: Uhr der Swatch-Kollektion 2019 • Series production: watch from the Swatch collection The politics of corruption, the ignorance of the war criminals in power and the over-
population from countless refugees made Beirut a gray polluted city. Commercial ar-
chitects in Lebanon were working a lot, and had many well-paid jobs opportunities
until 2020. One of the toughest years in Lebanon: an oppressed revolution that was
screaming for basic human rights, banks stealing people’s money, local currency lo-
sing ten times its value, Covid, and last but not least the port explosion killing more
than 200 people, displacing 300000 persons, transforming Beirut into a ruin. Non-
commercial architects took over now with the funds of some independent nonprofit
organizations to rebuild the city. The priority now is to rebuild the destroyed houses
and basic needs infrastructure, especially in the most damaged areas. Then hope-
fully to get the chance to fight for having some parks and for freeing the privatized
coastline which is supposed to become public beaches.

r You were only born in 1988 as a child of the post-war generation. A very long
time, before the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) Beirut was known as „The Paris
of the Middle East“. Is that still noticeable to you somewhere?
It's not too visible any more, however I can sometimes still see Beirut as Paris of the
Middle-East in a few things like the cultural happenings: new art galleries, exhibition
openings, theatres, classical music concerts, techno raves ... And I can still fell it in
Foto: Swatch the freedom to go out with friends and have a drink at a bar in Gemmayzeh or while
cycling around on Sundays when streets are almost empty from cars.

042 • AIT 12.2021