Installation view of Shaikha Al Mazrou, The Plinth, 2021, Carrara marble and steel, 196 x 267 x 269 cm © Shaikha Al Mazrou 2021. Commissioned by Expo 2020 Dubai. Expo 2020 Dubai Collection
Lawrie Shabibi is pleased to announce three monumental public art commissions that are now open to the public at Expo 2020 Dubai. Shaikha Al Mazrou's The Plinth (2021) and Hamra Abbas' Garden (2021) are part of the Expo 2020 Public Art Programme, curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh - an immersive installation of contemporary artworks that form a creative journey around Expo 2020’s public spaces and pavilions, with some of them remaining on site as part of the future city of District 2020.
Alongside these, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim presents Hugs (2020) - an interactive installation commissioned for Terra - The Sustainability Pavilion, in collaboration with Art Dubai. It was one of the first public art commissions unveiled at the Expo 2020 site during the Pavilion's preview earlier this year. The artwork is also intended to remain part of Terra’s legacy post the event, transforming the Pavilion into a Children’s Science Centre within District 2020.
| Shaikha Al Mazrou / The Plinth (2021)
The Plinth by Shaikha Al Mazrou embodies her aesthetic language, which diverts materiality and creates dynamic forms with an interplay of tension and balance, demonstrating the artist’s intuitive, keenly felt understanding of materials and their physical properties. The work conceptually and formally references plinths, and its form allows the future administration of the neighbourhood to commission other artists to create artworks that will be exhibited in relation to it. Al Mazrou intends the sculpture to function as a tool for future dialogue with other artists. The endless possibilities of these future collaborations will be guided through a set of rules and values set out in a document (The Manifesto), which is the result of an intensive discussion with a community of local artists.
| Hamra Abbas / Garden (2021)
Garden is a floor sculpture by Hamra Abbas inspired by Mughal gardens and idyllic scenes depicted in miniature paintings. Historically, their style intended to represent an earthly utopia in which humans coexist with nature in perfect harmony. The imagery at work plays on the aesthetics of the desire for a blissful paradisiacal land, a feature found in many traditions worldwide. However, unlike a traditional garden, this garden has no vertical or horizontal enclosure. The earthly waterfalls, rocks, flowers and a tree that reaches into the heavenly stars above are all interconnected.Using the traditional marble and stone inlay technique from Lahore, the work examines the symbolic significance of garden images in relation to architecture through its evocative power and aesthetics to communicate that which is beyond description.=
| Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim / Hugs (2020)
Commissioned specifically for Terra - The Sustainability Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai, in collaboration with Art Dubai, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim's Hugs is an interactive installation forming a reflective walk-through space. It questions the impact of values on decisions, especially as these relate to important issues such as the environment. The artwork is intended to remain as a permanent installation beyond the lifespan of the Expo 2020 event. It is part of the plan to establish Terra’s legacy, which will transform into a Children’s Science Centre within District 2020.
