Sympoietic Fabrics by Charbel Samuel Aoun
The Sursock Museum is pleased to present Sympoietic Fabrics, the first institutional solo exhibition by artist Charbel Samuel Aoun.
‘Sympoietic’ is a term used by Donna Haraway referring to the process of collective creation or making-together and emphasizing the relational and interdependent nature of existence.
Delving into Aoun's exploration of matter and kinetic artistry, the exhibition highlights the artist's unique engagement with processes of co-creation and features new productions that bring to life earth, stones, wood, and wax through motors, amplifiers, and microphones. Running through each gallery is an installation showcasing the intricate weaving between matters and the continuum of movement. In the left gallery are sculptures made of rocks and wax from a collaboration with bees, while the right gallery hosts a kinetic installation consisting of dynamic rocks.
In addition to installations, paintings, and drawings, the exhibition is complemented by video documentation of Aoun's previous performances and installations, produced in situ. Sympoietic Fabrics call for a new politics of listening to the life unfolding around us.
Charbel Samuel Aoun is an artist based in Beirut. Trained as an architect, he recreates spatial experiences as he looks for embodied languages within natural elements. In his practice, the media he works with act as a multi-sensory trigger which allows him and his audience to enter into communication with their ecological surroundings. He currently teaches visual arts at Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA). His works have been exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial, Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), the French Cultural Center (Beirut), and Das Weisse Haus (Vienna) amongst others.
Curated by: Marie-Nour Héchaimé