Marwan Rechmaoui
Beirut Caoutchouc
2004-2006
| Rubber, milled out | 500 x 400 x 2 cm
Marwan Rechmaoui has meticulously sculpted a flattened floor
map of Beirut in the form of a puzzle composed of 60 thick
rubber pieces that correspond to the city’s 60 distinct quarters.
While Rechmaoui’s mysterious blackened mass shows roads and
highways that have been precisely etched into it and that
mark off different neighborhoods and areas, its primary concern
is not to delineate Beirut as it is but rather to subtly raise
questions about its present layout like who lives where and
what has determined these divisions. Through Beirut Caoutchouc,
the product of the artist’s mapping of the city’s socio-geographical
distribution, Rechmaoui negotiates Beirut’s complex history
and the urban schisms that have resulted.
Born in Beirut in 1964, Marwan Rechmaoui studied painting
and sculpture in the United States and currently lives and
works in Beirut. Rechmaoui’s sculptural productions explore
the nature of dwelling and dwellings or what it means to live
in a city like Beirut.
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