The obstacles Beiruti’s encounter within the city's sidewalks can be a challenge. There are various objects obstructing what could be a clear path. These obstructions make for a dangerous or less pleasant journey. Sometimes they come in the form of a small tree stub, or a piece of metal once pertaining to a street sign or electric pole. Others are bits of concrete scattered throughout the public space. Sometimes an old concrete block with a rusted piece of hollow metal within it, often found in the middle of or slightly off center the sidewalk towards the asphalt street. One finds cars parked nearly two meters from the corner curb, in front of a handicap ramp, or on the sidewalk right in front of a proprietor’s own place. Maneuvering the urban space becomes an obstacle course, as one way of referring to this chaos on the sidewalks of Beirut.

The purpose of this work is an attempt to bring to the attention of daily Beirutis the effect of these obstructions. The fact that they exist is problematic and dangerous. The intervention is also an allegory to the notion of the maneuvering of the city of Beirut by it’s common resident. When Brus and Mühl participated in the "Kunst und Revolution" they made a statement that holds relevant today and with this work, “ ‘Art’ is politics that has created new styles of communication.” The red obstructions are a representation of a particular scope of what is happening in Lebanon currently; obstructions that affect the scope of one’s daily life. The average citizen doesn’t have the ability to create much positive action to change this reality. The citizen remains powerless towards capacity building or sustainable social grown. The skeletal sectarian system freezes any actually viable possibility for change. We are faced with the reality of inadequacy and corruption and are brought to the realization that for now nothing can be done to change it.

Such art is intended for a general public, hence it’s urban presence on the streets. It is intended for a well-educated audience and also for those with less formal knowledge. Each individual that comes across it will understand with their own subjectivity the work and take it for what it means within their daily lives.

 

2010