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By
Ahmad Humeid
In keeping
with its tradition of presenting ground-breaking exhibits,
Darat Al Funun has set a new standard in exhibition
design with a commemorative exhibition about the life
and work of Khalid Shoman. What others could have treated
as a traditional photo exhibition was elevated to new
heights.
A concept
was developed that gives each of the three bays or halls
of the main house of Darat Al Funun a unique role. The
middle bay was designated as a photo exhibition portraying
Khalid Shoman with family and friends. Mr Shoman's hobby
of deep sea fishing dominated this hall with an enlarged,
wall size image of his last fishing trip against the
backdrop of a rippled sea.
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The other two bays on
the left and the right, acted as poles, one focusing
on Mr Shoman's accomplishments as one of the Arab world's
most prominent bankers in the 20th century, while the
other presenting a spiritual space for contemplation.
The "banker"
zone adopted a corporate design language, with 9 glass
information panels focusing on specific areas of activity
of Mr Shoman's banking leadership at the Arab Bank,
a giant financial institution his father, Abdulhameed
Shoman establishen 1931 in Palestine. Large headlines
applied on Plexi-glass dividers where hung from the
ceiling, giving the space a distinct typographic character.
A dominant element that broke the rythm of the panels
and dividers was an internet booth where visitors could
browse the Shoman website and leave electronic guest
book entries. The walls also were treated as informational
surfaces on which quotes from Mr Shoman's speeches and
annual report messages were applied.
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Contrasting
this information-rich space was the other pole: the
spiritual room. That a spiritual space could incorporate
high tech elements is something straight from Suha Shoman's
experimental approach. With her digital camera she shot
hours of unique footage in Petra from their home overlooking
an impressive panorama of mountains and hills. This
video material which documents sunrises, sunsets, mist,
clouds and the interplay of sunlight with the landscape's
topography was edited and projected on a wall, complemented
with an enlarged photo of Petra's mountains and a black
and white photograph of Mr Shoman.
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The video
image's digital aesthetic is contrasted by a grid of
Petra stones arranged by Mrs Shoman on the floor in
a grid formation. The interplay between the immaterial
digital pixels of the projected video and the material
realness of the stone arrangement, together in the context
of Darat Al Funun's architectural space, suspends the
viewer in a state of contemplation.
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