art&design
news
{ Space is the Place for Digital Collaboration } Two of the world’s most respected artists Ai Wei Wei and Olafur Eliasson have joined up to offer any internet user the chance to be part of a collaborative global online art piece. Unforgettably titled Moon Moon Moon Moon, the piece is simply a website where a computer-generated ‘moon’ acts as a canvas for any internet-user wishing to make their mark on a digital version of the lunar globe that lights our skies. Clicking on the moon allows you to zoom in on its surface where one can see drawings, words and shapes made by other people and then provides you with the online tools you need to add your own.
152
{ Intercontinental { Carwan Gallery space opens Residencies in Beirut } and Discussions in Amman } HIWAR Conversations in Amman is a new art-residency-like program organised by Darat al Funun that seeks to go beyond the usual residency format of asking artists to simply live somewhere new and make new work. With a focus on non-Euro-American artists the program brought 14 artists to Amman from the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Latin America this autumn. On top of encouraging artists to use the city as inspiration, Darat al Funun hopes that the mixing of minds from different continents will be the real stimulus for invention and creative dialogue. Usually such artists only meet fleetingly at biennials and art fairs but HIWAR seeks to offer the chance to get intercontinental ideas flowing in a more relaxed setting and a more generous time frame.
Having made their name on the international design scene with a strong mix of impressive exhibitions and interrogative talks, Carwan Gallery has now opened a permanent space in Beirut. Pascale Wakim and Nicolas Lecompte set up Carwan in 2011 in a bid to stimulate the relationship between craftsmanship and high-end design by commissioning original new works. Since then Carwan has made a splash at design fairs and pop-ups with works by outstanding names from the Beirut design scene, most notably Karen Chekerdjian and Bernard Khoury. The first exhibition at the new space L’Ebeniste, at the Gefinor Center in Clemenceau, brings together designers from around the world and includes a pair of striking wall-hangings by Taher Asad-Bakhtiari and the sublime minimalist works of Michael Anastassiades. India Mahdavi’s Landscape Series is also on show and the designer was signing copies of her new publication Home on the gallery’s opening night.