"Block by Block" by Shadi Ayoub ... building a city from its ruins.

"He swallows his people when you look at him from afar. When you get close to him, people appear and he disappears."

Shadi began his journey with a phone call:

- Hello, Mr. Shadi Ayub?

— This is the municipality of Terrebonne. We allocated the amount to do an artistic work aimed at bringing the business sector closer to the country of culture.Would you like to implement it?

Such projects in Quebec are based on cultural agreements, which allow the Ministry of Culture and local governments to use their knowledge of local realities and translate their decisions into projects that promote culture and communication.

The 40-year-old, a graduate of the University of Fine Arts in Lebanon (1998-1999), agreed to comply with the request of the municipality of Terrebonne in the northern suburbs of Greater Montreal.Then he went to the high-end window and door factory there and stayed there for about 4 months with the workers and managers to prepare his city.

Speaking of cities, it's the constant urban conflict that brought Shadi to this suburb after living in Montreal.The city did not kill him. After about two decades, when he settled there, this artist became an equal.

As a regional expert in the Architecture and Environment Integration program of the Ministry of Culture and Communications, since 2020 he decided to go to the North to explore the architectural skills and abilities, based on the first question he asked himself, he realized a new reality before starting the research: "What do the rural communities know about this topicThe pride of the city suffocated others, attracted them and monopolized it.

The role Shaodi played and plays in this field goes beyond finding talent in providing the right environment to empower talent to participate in the broader cultural and artistic movement.It's a role that goes against the general historical role for cities, especially since it founded the "Rhone-Boint" (roundabout) artists' center in 2020 together with artists from that region.In doing so, they provided and continue to provide work to promote the arts in Terrebonne, in addition to attracting the interest of a large community of people who began flocking there to see their art projects.

Mirror Man asks, "Work of art or creative path?"

A visual artist came to the factory to present the idea and the journey to the participants and were given everything needed to realize the innovative project.He then held meetings with workers to simplify the concept of work in art and the public's relationship to it.This definition made them feel that they are starting a new process. They are the ones who are subject to different regulations at work every day. Between signing in and leaving, there is an agenda, assembly and delivery schedules, measurements, machines, maintenance, execution according to instructions and many other jobs... Importantly, 7 workers agreed to participate in the artist's project despite violating the work rules.

At that stage, the "mirror man" played a vital role in providing the necessary communication between the workers and the artist to arrive at the design of the city.

During Shadi's stay in the factory, he always hides his head in a cube with mirrors in the four corners and acts as a mirror man.When he asked the question, Shadi's voice was heard playing on the head of the person being asked.When the interviewer answered, he saw his head on Shadi's body.Conversation with ourselves takes place in two different voices: the voice of the questioner and the voice of the respondent.

Two seemingly simple questions prompted responses from participating workers and administrators: "Do you see me as a 'mirror man' as a work of art?"and "What feelings did you experience during the conversation?"

It is interesting that the participants were divided into two groups.The two managers praised the creative concept behind the final arrangement.They did not see the Mirror Man as a work of art except in an artistic way.As for the seven workers, they agreed that the artwork is surprising, complex and unusual. It forces a person to see himself when he talks to others.Some people compare the forum to waking up in front of the mirror in the morning.Others see it as a call to art, adventure, self-reliance and ultimately self-confrontation...deep self-generated responses that have nothing to do with art.

"Block by block" or the city of Eyup

Looking at the monument "Block by Block", at first glance we feel as if we are standing in front of a dystopian city.The extreme slopes and sharp angles of the surfaces clearly indicate that this monument belongs to the German expressionist school with its elaborate shapes and dark shadows.However, in contrast to its resistant colors, darkness and gloom associated with Expressionism, Job comes to lighten this impression without diminishing the brutality and brutality of the city.

Initially, after discussing artistic concepts with workers, including permanent and temporary concepts, Shadi creates his monuments from rubble or the remains of a door factory, before moving on to "play with shapes to create an artistic sculpture", "each work is subject to interpretation, interpretation and reconstruction in its final form."

Thus, the En bloc project was conceived, representing the blocks that make up each city, including: residential and work blocks, leisure and entertainment blocks, industrial blocks, random blocks or the unhappiness belt ... in addition to the avenues, streets and roads that connect these blocks.

However, the latter is completely absent from the city of Eyup.The plan to combine its parts, Shadi has left to the community.This is because a person looking at a large body will see that the blocks are connected or overlap each other geometrically, and at the same time they are separated from each other.What reinforces this difficult division, without a clear and sharp division, is the presence of small figures that represent citizens, individuals or groups, in a certain area.

We see them (the figures) gathered at the edges because in the darkness of the interior and exterior their spaces are limited and their edges look into the abyss.Therefore, the viewer feels that the neighbors are almost trying to throw themselves from above.

Comparing a city made up of pieces of discarded doors to a dystopian multi-story building, we find that Shadi has managed to take into account a demographic distribution similar to cities, where we see overpopulation confined to the lower or lower floors, as opposed to the highlands above where the overpopulation is reduced to the point where there are no inhabitants, but everyone remains on their own.

As for the picnic areas, where the characters spread out in the green spaces, they are deceptive because their spectacle is ephemeral. After a moment, each of them must return to their end and wait... with the patience of Job, to be healed of their affliction.

Visually, Sheedy aims for his wooden city to take advantage of real cities that "have their people passing by when you look at them from afar. When you get close to them, people appear and disappear," as he explains.

Throughout his artistic career, Shadi has said that he "pays special attention to everyday things because of the stories they contain".He probably discovered many stories in the remains of open and closed doors to create his monuments.He added:"I value waste in the process of social integration and revitalization of collective memory to achieve balance in life and strengthen connections with the environment."

* For more information, please visit artist Shadi Ayoub's website or Facebook account.

Published reviews reflect the opinions of their authors