China-Plate-Like Language
The art installation wonders artistically about the contemporary application of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Fus’ha in culture and media from my point of view as an Arab writer and the emotional state I am in with this application, and the result of archiving only one acceptable aspect of self via Fus’ha and practicing my other selves less sophisticated, less polite, less polished in shadow of language (slang, dialects, and foreign languages.)
The art installation has 5 layers
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The physical installation
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The graphic designs
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The motion graphics
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The voiceover
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The Recited poem
The Physical Installation Layer
The work illustrates and projects my commentary on a surface of a newspaper wall one few places MSA lives in now inside an out-of-focus picture frame, guest room chair frame, table, and a decoration.
The Graphic Design Layer
I came up with 13 observations about how I feel about Fus’ha contemporary usage and the shadow self of language that we reflect in slang, dialects, or foreign languages. I designed these graphics posters
The motion Graphic layer
I commissioned a motion graphic designer, Ayat Alsayyed, to do animation video for my work to illustrate the meanings of the statements in an interactive and meaningful way
The VoiceOver Layer
I recorded a voiceover for the motion graphic video for introduction, statements, and poem. Used a local cafe paid facility Roots CoffeeHouse to do so. My fellow resident, Somyah Alsayed, helped me out with this one
The Poem Layer
Nar Alshashat means the fire of screens. Fires had different meanings and types for Arabs. One of the most known ones is the guest fire, which is a fire that Arabs light up to guide guests to them. A contemporary fire for us is the one that lit up our faces. “Screen’s fire.” In this poem, I speak as a contemporary Arab with the previous generation using loads of words, terms, myths, and mythical creatures from the pre-Islamic (Jaheli) era and the Classic Arabic inside simple grammar structures and poor poetry meters to illustrate and demonstrate the contradiction
Finally, the Complete Art Video
Images from Showcase
