Art Exhibition at WORKSHOP Gallery: Whistling in the Dark

Exhibition

Whistling in the Dark

21 January until 1 March 2014 (tbc)

Vartan Avakian | Daniel Barroca | Maeve Brennan | Ilaria Lupo | Joe Namy

You whistle in the dark to courageously confront an imaginary incertitude. The sound is extending, resonating out of your body while you try and overcome your doubts in the hope that it will turn out well. However, instead of finding shelter, you are exposed in a maze. You might approach a situation with limited understanding or no awareness of its potential results. You talk about matters although lacking sufficient knowledge of them. What will happen if we decide to face the figments of this uncertainty? The uncertainty of knowing what is real…

Moving through time and space, on a continuous quest … artists from other parts of the world come to reside and work here in Beirut for a couple of months or even years …also those artists born and raised in Lebanon … or those who after years return to the country of their origin. What are their linking forces? Whistling in the Dark opens up a dialogue between some of them and seeks new points of entry to their works.

The exhibited artists investigate and raise questions concerning history and reality. In this quest, the medium of recording in all its varieties becomes an indispensable asset. Recordings are traces. A sound piece, a videotape and a drawing convey an image of truth. Is a stone also a container of traces, of time and history?

Organizer

Contact

Wonder-Eight

WHAT WE DO

Our practices range from brand creation, to visual identity design, brochures, posters, packaging, stands, signage, graphic decoration, communications, above & below the line campaigns, marketing strategy, online and ambient media buying, copyrighting, creative copy and design consultancy. We also design and develop websites and interactive solutions, advanced UX, Apps, animation and game design. We specialize as well in Illustration and character creation.

ABOUT WONDEREIGHT

We are a Beirut based design agency, working for international and local companies who like to challenge their customers and want to be different and daring. Benefiting from our cultural diversity, we innovate in the fields of branding and visual communication. Our strategic location in the gate of the Middle East allows us to bridge between western and eastern brands and to create concepts that work in their environment while introducing new ways of co-creation.

Founded in 1999 by Nasrala brothers Boudy and Walid, today, with Karim Abourizk also on board it gathers a handful of highly skilled creative designers, web developers and marketing strategists who enjoy a bespoke work environment, made to inspire and interact with the local design and art community. This creative space regroups a design agency, a prototyping workshop a facility for trainings and talks, a handpicked book library and an art exhibition space.

This multifaceted environment keeps on renewing itself and creates a constant synergy between us, our clients, and the public.

E/ROOM - TALKS AND TRAINING

A facility where we give talks and trainings to visitors, covering subjects from our work experience. It also hosts guest speakers and tutors, with access to all the building’s facilities.

The E/Room programs are open for all applicants and are constantly updated on our website.

We’re proud to say that the E/Room is the first room to use Cedarenv.com‘s Eco-Board® and is mostly built from recycled and recuperated material (42 eco-boards equivalent to 153,972 supermarket plastic bags). The roof also collects rainwater in tanks, with which we water our garden.

WORKSHOP GALLERY

Workshop gallery is a new independent exhibition space for contemporary art, hosted within our premises to complete the building’s gestalt.

From its modest 14.3 sqm, it puts the emergent Lebanese and international artists under the spot light, in a mission to encourage the diversity and experimentation of art in the region.

PROTOTYPING WORKSHOP

An experimental lab where we design and prototype objects, prints and accessories we're inspired to create. It’s equipped with tools and machinery to handcraft and realize our ideas from sketches to prototypes, whereas the bigger pieces are produced in neighboring workshops of the industrial city we’re located in; a perfect harmony between our design company and its surrounding environment.

THE LIBRARY

Our workshop also includes a handpicked library of the books that inspire us. It is open to the public for rental and is constantly updated. These books cover design as well as photography, architecture, marketing and more.

Organizer Profile