All the way from Kuwait to the heart of Cairo, Dar Al Funoon hosted a sensational art exhibition on October 11th. In collaboration with Christiane Abdullah ‘Marmonil’ and official media partner El Beit, Dar Al Funoon brought their guests a night of dreams that celebrated art, expression, and creativity. Since its inception in 1992, Dar Al Funoon has played a major role in advocating local and Middle Eastern art that remains dynamic, fascinating and sought after in the art world.
The Exhibition titled ‘Waking Up’, inspired by the idea of breaking through the constraints of the painting medium by introducing motion through the movement of our own living environment. Known for transforming stunning stones from the heart of the earth, Marmonil hosted the event in their factory located in Ramsees, Nasr City. Dar Al Funoon transformed the factory with a curated exhibition with its artist “Fadi Yazigi, Amira Behbehani, Walid Tahir & Kairo Lumumba”. The exhibition combined the worlds of dreams and imagination in a show that altered the perspective of art as a whole and brought each artwork to life.
Director Essa Muhammad wielded elements such as different line forms, uses of colour, and even uses of space, in conjunction with the art to provide motion to the medium of paint. Essa Muhammad highlighted in this event how movement is one of the core principles of art, and one that is consistently employed by artists looking to impart a sense of vitality into their artworks, specifically when used in the medium of paint on fabric.
In this exhibition Dar Al Funoon commissioned the 4 artists to work on a massive 10×10 meters art work that is divided into 7 panels each to express their relationship with Egyptian cotton fabric. When the seven cotton panels were hung on the factory ceiling next to one another, the artwork began to sway in the wind, bringing the pieces to life and providing a unique outlook on how art is perceived in general.
In ‘Waking up’, the captivating exhibition focused on breaking through the confinements of the medium of paint, by providing motion through the motion of our own lived world. Since paintings cannot physically move (unlike other mediums of art, such as film), artists must use their boundless creativity to immerse the spectator in the enchantment of their creations, which Dar Al Funoon successfully presented to their guests.
The entire experience felt like a dream from the moment the attendees walked through the enthralling white curtains and into the room filled with the enchanting moving arts. Guests were taken to another realm as the phrase “for cotton days” was repeated frequently in the scenic music playing in the background. All of these elements combined with the changing colored lights provided a sense of happiness to the spectators viewing the living, breathing works of art, establishing moving paintings that feel as though they could only exist within the realm of our dreams and imagination.
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