Waterhood

Waterhood will be screened on Thursday 29 August at 19:00, followed by a conversation with the artist and Yalda Younes. 

The conversation will focus on Samuel Aoun's practice and methods of forging relationality between humans and non-humans through creative frameworks and daily encounters. It will also tackle the artist's interest in the ecology of social space, urban codes, and the ethical challenges of artistic labor. 

Waterhood
Dir. Charbel Samuel Aoun, 2024
15’, Lebanon
Editing: Charbel Samuel Aoun, Nino Kayal
Camera: Da Wood, Charbel Samuel Aoun

Using footage shot on a phone camera, during different seasons, the video explores water as an urban matter, transforming and mutating along the way but also shaping habitats and possible life-streams. The artist follows the water across urban veins from the Beirut River to other industrial and residential areas of the city ––Burj Hammoud, Nahr el Mot, Nabaa, Qarantina, and Jal El-Dib–– composing a video in three chapters: Source, Habitat, and Skins and drawing a mixed geography. 

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). 

Yalda Younes is a choreographer and yoga-therapist.