Fadi El Chamaa and Semaan Khawam have had enough of social distancing.
As Chamaa formulated it for a recent press release, “I’m sick of creating art works with the concept of a jpeg in mind.”
He and Khawam are at the center of Sleeping with the Enemy Productions – or as they put it, sleepingwiththeenemyproduction – the mutable artist collective they cofounded in early 2019.
The pair periodically assembles with other artists for spells of concentrated work, followed by open studio-style exhibition. They’re presently in the midst of their fourth “production,” called “Taba3od” (distancing), located in Khawam’s studio in Dora.
The collective has three rules to which individual artists must adhere. First, prices are unified among artists – meaning that all pieces must be priced the same, within a three-tier price reflecting the size of the work in question. Second, when the works are exhibited for sale, the earnings are divided equally among the participating artists. Third, the entire body of work produced belongs equally to all participating artists.
“Taba3od” is co-curated by Zalfa Halabi and Lynn Modallal.
“Fadi and Semaan felt the need for a space in which all artists are considered peers, where the competition among them is constructive,” Halabi told the paper. “To create this space, they decided to launch an experiment whereby they immersed themselves in a temporary space. They worked non-stop, every day for 21 days. It started with three artists. Then it grew to nine artists – the number present in their [February 2020] immersive experience, called ‘Mamnou3 al-Tis7ib.’
“When the 21 days are up, the atelier is turned into an exhibition space. The last ‘production’ saw the nine artists produce around 900 works of art. After the open studio any remaining work can be purchased on the collective’s website.”
The project title suggests the collectives’ work will address the pandemic. Halabi equated the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the collective’s practice to the moment after a breakup.
“‘Taba3od’ is kind of a closure on the way artists used to produce art,” she said. “They’re trying to find a new language, a new way to talk about the things.
“Fadi realized that social media was taking over his life and career. It was actually not productive at all posting his work and interacting with people online. So the artists have logged off their social media accounts. Now they just have regular phones and make regular phone calls ... They felt the need to address visual art in a new way, to make people look again, look closely, carefully.”
“I feel like my mind is less cluttered and that I am more in tune with reality,” Chamaa said of his vacation from social media. “I sleep better. I am more selective with what I see. I sketch more because I look more closely now.”
“People started thinking that my profile is me,” Khawam remarked. “I am very political and my art work got lost between my statements and posts.”
“We’re planning an open studio visit the week of Monday, Aug. 3,” Halabi said, “with precautionary measures of course, a limited number of guests per visit, obligatory masks, etc.
“Before COVID, things were simpler, because when we created an event or launched an exhibition we didn’t have to worry about how many people are coming, what sort of safety measures we need to put in place. Now it’s become a whole different conversation.”
One of the collective’s core values is that art belongs to everyone.
“When you walk into a gallery, with white walls and pieces are hanging there alone and you’re looking around, it feels austere and intimidating and kind of pushes you away from the art. It’s supposed to create a space where you can really immerse yourself in a piece. People in galleries are frequently intimidated by that.
“Fadi and Semaan broke the boundaries between the art and the public by opening up this experiment of 21 days to whomever is interested in coming to watch artists work and to discover the artistic process.
“When they see how approachable the artists and their work are, as we realize, members of the public feel closer, more interested and they want to know more. They feel more in touch with the art.”
This article has been adapted from its original source.
