“Beyond the Cloth” Exhibition
WHITE BOX
This event has ended.
Kaflab Foundation launches its inaugural exhibition Beyond the Cloth, part of The Kafiye Project, curated by Hala A. Malak at White Box Projects in New York City. The show will run from September 6 - September 29, 2013 in the lower level space at White Box-chosen for its alternative, challenging, and influential exhibitions, as well as a space in which boundary-pushing discourse can develop and prosper. Various events and performances will take place throughout the month of September (Sunday Salons*).
The Kafiye is the strongest symbol to come out of the Arab contemporary world. Treading realms of street, politics, revolution, traditional garb, trends, and catwalks, the Kafiye has transcended form and function to become much more than a mere item. The story of this powerful icon continues to evolve tremendously, and keeps adapting with globalization over time.
Beyond the Cloth aims to demystify clichés surrounding the Kafiye, while assertively addressing its enduring global significance. Despite its popular association with Palestinian culture, the design actually derives from Ancient Mesopotamian times. Today, it has spread all over the world in a multitude of forms, patterns, colors and printing styles, and succumbed to the rules of globalization: while there is only one factory in Palestine left currently producing the garment, most Kafiyes are made in China.
Although the core article still exists, countless variations have popped up all over the world. Furthermore, we must deconstruct the Kafiye’s myriad and provocative interpretations—does it lose any of its meaning through appropriation? How can we use the Kafiye as a lens for dissection and exploration of identity?
Beyond the Cloth presents the Kafiye as a tool of artistic expression to examine emotional and socio-political questions of identity, through themes like trauma, loss, remembrance, the private versus the public, struggle, rejection, national unity, resistance, expression, memory and Orientalism. The featured artists and designers fuse connections between the West and the Arab World, starting with their own personal stories and struggles and connectingto bigger topics of consciousness and circumstance.
We all wear masks; and the Kafiye has the power to conceal personal identity and bring forth a communal connection, reflected in its compelling geometric pattern. The exhibition unifies the collective consciousness manifested by the Kafiye’s multitudinous and dynamic narratives, and its connections to identity, power, and struggle.
A mix of award-winning, established, and emerging artists of diverse backgrounds and mediums have been invited to participate in the exhibit: Zena El Khalil, Bahram Hajou, Hassan Hajjaj, Roger Moukarzel, Osama Esid, Kevork Mourad, threeAsfour, Chadi Younes, Houmam Al Sayed, Sabyl Ghoussoub, Muhyiddin Sadek, Tony khoueiry, Chris Carr, Marianna Zoghbi, Oussamah Ghandour, Gabriel Ferneine and Saffaa.
The two winners of the Kafiye Project Competition, Reem Bassous and Nour Abu Hayeh will have their work featured in the show as well.
All the pieces will be shown in New York for the first time, and most are created specifically for the show. The Kafiye Project is a global initiative, and Beyond the Cloth is a travelling exhibition that will launch in NYC and move to Europe, Asia and the Middle East in 2014.
KAFLAB is a foundation dedicated to experimenting with the elements of Arab identity through the lens of Art and Design. Its first project is about the Kafiye.
Prequel to KAFLAB: With most Arab countries undergoing large social, economic, and political changes, there is a strong urge to define contemporary Arab identity. A rebranding boom has swept the Arab world over the last decade. Every brief for a new visual identity asks for the same thing: Develop a “very Arab” image. But no one seems to be able to decide what that means. Arab identity is so hard to define, and so often misconstrued, that finding unifying visual elements to represent it is virtually impossible. It doesn’t exist yet. Take the symbol for Arabic on the Mac, which is a hilal, or crescent moon. The crescent is a symbol associated with a Muslim holiday and not specifically with Arab or Arabic. This was the starting point of our work at Kaflab, a foundation dedicated to experimenting with Arab identity through a creative lens by examining design, iconography, symbolism, and identity. Our task was to try to find a strong Arab icon as a starting point, leading us to the Kafiye. By closely scrutinizing Arab identity, we hope to open up a new array of possibilities for existence formation and understanding, and probe the core of what makes us who we are. The outcome? Pushing boundaries, exploring trials and social change.
Kaflab is co-founded by Hala A. Malak and Tarek Atrissi.
Media
Schedule
from September 06, 2013 to September 29, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-09-08 from 18:00 to 20:00