Imploded, burnt, turned to ash, 2021'
Mon 15th March at 5pm
This live streamed drawing and sound performance by the Syrian-born and Cambridge-based artist Issam Kourbaj marks the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising – a crisis that resulted in violent armed conflict and ongoing civil war. Kourbaj’s performance will take place on the 15th March, the first day of the unrest a decade ago.
Please click here for a link to the live stream.
The artist describes his project here:
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, which was sparked by teenage graffiti in March 2011, this drawing performance will pay homage to those young people who dared to speak their mind, the masses who protested publicly, as well as the many Syrian eyes that were, in the last ten years, burnt and brutally closed forever.
I will draw fragments of Arabic words and eye idols on a large surface in layers, repeating and obscuring them beyond all legibility and recognition. It will become a palimpsest of these two elements, the first is inspired by the graffiti that was quickly erased even before it was completed, and the second is based on three Syrian eye idols from the collections of The Fitzwilliam Museum, made of alabaster and dating to around 3200 BC, excavated at Tell Brak, Syria, in a building now called the Eye Temple.
I will then burn the final drawing and place the remaining ash in a glass box. This will be exhibited in a sacred space to memorialise every victim of the last decade, while also being dedicated to all Syrians lost, displaced and still suffering from this ongoing crisis.
Towards the end of the performance, the viewer will hear words written by myself, set to music by renowned composer Richard Causton (Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge) and sung by soprano Jessica Summers.
This project is a collaboration between the artist, Kettle’s Yard, The Heong Gallery and The Fitzwilliam Museum (all part of the University of Cambridge). A major exhibition of the artist’s work will be presented by Kettle’s Yard and The Heong Gallery in 2023. The three eye idols from the collections of The Fitzwilliam Museum can be seen in a display alongside 366 eye idols created by Issam Kourbaj from Aleppo Soap when the Museum reopens in May.
Mon 15th March at 5pm
This live streamed drawing and sound performance by the Syrian-born and Cambridge-based artist Issam Kourbaj marks the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising – a crisis that resulted in violent armed conflict and ongoing civil war. Kourbaj’s performance will take place on the 15th March, the first day of the unrest a decade ago.
Please click here for a link to the live stream.
The artist describes his project here:
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, which was sparked by teenage graffiti in March 2011, this drawing performance will pay homage to those young people who dared to speak their mind, the masses who protested publicly, as well as the many Syrian eyes that were, in the last ten years, burnt and brutally closed forever.
I will draw fragments of Arabic words and eye idols on a large surface in layers, repeating and obscuring them beyond all legibility and recognition. It will become a palimpsest of these two elements, the first is inspired by the graffiti that was quickly erased even before it was completed, and the second is based on three Syrian eye idols from the collections of The Fitzwilliam Museum, made of alabaster and dating to around 3200 BC, excavated at Tell Brak, Syria, in a building now called the Eye Temple.
I will then burn the final drawing and place the remaining ash in a glass box. This will be exhibited in a sacred space to memorialise every victim of the last decade, while also being dedicated to all Syrians lost, displaced and still suffering from this ongoing crisis.
Towards the end of the performance, the viewer will hear words written by myself, set to music by renowned composer Richard Causton (Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge) and sung by soprano Jessica Summers.
This project is a collaboration between the artist, Kettle’s Yard, The Heong Gallery and The Fitzwilliam Museum (all part of the University of Cambridge). A major exhibition of the artist’s work will be presented by Kettle’s Yard and The Heong Gallery in 2023. The three eye idols from the collections of The Fitzwilliam Museum can be seen in a display alongside 366 eye idols created by Issam Kourbaj from Aleppo Soap when the Museum reopens in May.
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