ARCHITECTURE:T SAKHI Architects-WAL(L)TZ
Based in Milan and Beirut, T SAKHI is a hybrid multidisciplinary architecture and design studio cofounded in 2016 by Lebanese-Polish sisters Tessa and Tara Sakhi. Questioning contemporary understandings of identity, memory and living, T SAKHI draws from the emotional and psychological experience of space, often through sensorial synergies. Committed to placing human interaction at the core of its practice, the studio designs both permanent and ephemeral social structures.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: T SAKHI Architects Archive
From modern residences integrating communal needs to readapted urban security barriers as sites of rest and greenery, T SAKHI’s diverse projects are both playful and interactive. They range from architecture, product design, art objects, installations, scenography and most recently, films and regularly involve collaborations with creatives and craftsmen from all over the world in an aspiration for exchange and dialogue. T SAKHI Architects present “WAL(L)TZ” as part of Dubai Design Week’s special project space “Abwab”. Selected to represent Lebanon as one of this 5th edition’s three national pavilions, the curated project is an interactive installation exploring the concept of the wall as a physical and psychological construct, directly addressing recent shifts in Lebanon’s socio-political climate. Prompted to reflect on this year’s theme, “Ways of Learning,” and on the way information is shared in their culture, sisters and cofounders Tessa and Tara Sakhi transform the wall into an activator for awareness and sociability, subtly pointing to its contentious place in Lebanon today. “WAL(L)TZ” echoes a Lebanese society congested with physical walls, seeded throughout its urban infrastructure and public spaces. Moving beyond its materiality, the project also delves into the wall’s psychological dimension – specifically, in the form of a country regimented by socio-political norms and pervasive sectarianism. The pavilion consists of a 15-meter linear wall , one that is overwhelmingly present, yet porous. Seeking to overcome the perception of the rigid structure as a barrier, the work is crafted in recycled foam, throughout which cracks, “loopholes” and other happenings are playfully interspersed, thereby encouraging audiences to connect and interact through and in spite of – the wall. The visitor, turned performer, finds himself taking part in a choreographed protest, a reinterpreted “waltz” – one that reflects the voices rising against oppression in Lebanon and globally today. In direct response to the demonstrations held throughout Lebanon 17/10/19 (the largest anti-government protests in the country’s history), T SAKHI’s “WAL(L)TZ” builds on the studio’s longstanding socio-cultural engagement to place human interaction at the core of their practice. As millions of people unite in Lebanon and abroad to take down the “walls” which have been erected over the past decades, T SAKHI engages with the movements, re-appropriating the physical wall and rethinking visitors’ conception and experience of it. Discussing the project, architects Tara and Tessa Sakhi explain, “In “WAL(L)TZ” we aim to represent the omnipresent socio-political barriers in Lebanon set for more than 30 years, and more specifically to highlight the strength of Lebanese citizens’ resilience in overcoming any obstacle, by transforming it to their advantage and finally celebrating their unity”. In “Holidays in the Sun” and “Lost in Transition”, two experimental urban interventions unveiled in Beirut in June 2019, T SAKHI reinterpreted security barriers found throughout the city as stools and spaces for greenery, inviting the local community and visitors to engage in public space, while and already at the time pointing to the abundance of barriers blighting Lebanon’s visual landscape. An interactive performance was held on November 12, further activating the wall and blurring the line between visitor and performer. Evoking Lebanese citizens’ dual feelings towards these obstacles and the intense relationship between the bodies and the wall, the performance captured by cinematographer and director Dei Al Ayoubi and translated into a short-film – a visual and abstract ode to the people of Lebanon.
Info: Dubai Design Week, Dubai Design District (d3), Dubai, Duration 11-16/11/19, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat (11-15/11/19) 10:00-22:00, Sun (17/11/19) 10:00-17:00, www.dubaidesignweek.ae
