This work follows several performative projects, undertaken in the last few years that evoke notions of memory, erasure, non-being, and destruction/construction or (deconstruction /restitution). Each of these “acted shapes” is the result of obsessional, repetitive, and often useless or absurd gestures. In the Impossible Journey I used a shovel to move a pile of sand, from one side of an imaginary line to the other, to the point of sheer exhaustion. Another work Hannoun is based on cutting and scattering the shavings of about 400 red pencils on the ground, to suggest the appearance of a field of poppies... In Like Water, I write with water, using a brush, for over two hours and within a marked perimeter the 109 Arabic words that signify water and which were cited, according to Ibn Sida, by Mahmoud Darwish in his book “Memory for Forgetfulness.” The result is an unproductive production: when I start writing the second or the third line, the first words are absorbed in the floor’s covering or evaporated until they completely disappear.
I write with water, using a brush, for over two hours and within a marked perimeter the 109 Arabic words that signify water and which were cited, according to Ibn Sida, by Mahmoud Darwish in his book “Memory for Forgetfulness.” when I start writing the second or the third line, the first words are absorbed in the floor’s covering or evaporated until they completely disappear.