Artists’ International Workshop: Aley

Artist, international, and workshop; key words which constitute the essence of most Triangle workshops, abbreviations which represent more than what is needed to come together, know each other as artists and producers. The workshop is an activity that feeds not on the particular but on the affordability of time, space, and the supportive functions of any productive facility. However, that might seem indefinite. It's only intrinsic of aiw:a to process the ideas, develop concepts, and in many cases, break the limits of one's own works and perceptions. To say the least, aiw:a is a creative space where everything is possible. The context is a small private corner of the tonw of Aley overlooking Beirut, holding dormant the obscene memories of a not so long ago war. Destroyed family houses dot the landscape mixing with the new and the renovated, and for two weeks, became the place for 21 internationals. Some works inevitably acknowledged the war, recreating scenes reminiscent of the culture it shaped, while others hinted at the moments we were living. Some transformed the morbid settings into spaces of their own; others viewed them as playful grounds. It was a period of great importance to space still consumed in its own flux, and knowns, not so much of how it will grow, but how it is to struggle with the prevalent rules of our post-war urbanization. Above all, this workshop is not about the space, the season, or the memories of a civil war. It's about the self and the other, communally developing the processes of their works. Participating Artists: Abdulla Kahil, Ann Course, Mo Abd-Ulla, Annette Stahmer, Anab Ul Firdos, Auj Khan, Bassel Asaadi, Cynthia Zaven, Elie Abousamra, Elmas Deniz, Fernando Palomar, Akram Zaatari, Ghassan Maasri, Gill Ord, Hanan Hizrallah, Hassan Darsi, Mahmoud Khaled, Mohammed Al Riffai, Oraib Toukan, Ramin Haerzadeh, Tamara Al Samerraei, Tom Chamberlain, Duan Yingmei