With only a few weeks left for Expo 2020 Dubai, Bahrain’s National Pavilion at Expo, “Density Weaves Opportunity”, continues its activities in promoting the civilizational, cultural and economic elements that make the Kingdom a promising center for investment and development opportunities.
The inauguration of the “Sustainable Cities” exhibition was held on the sidelines of the pavilion’s third general theme during this period, entitled “Narrating Histories”.
The “Sustainable Cities” exhibition consists of two main parts.
In the first, entitled “Green – from material to structure”, Josie Magi and Amina Aghznai created various artworks mixing natural and industrial materials to shed light on the important relationship between heritage and sustainability.
The duo will also lead a workshop in Bahrain to discover the possibilities of harnessing natural and synthetic materials to express heritage in the Kingdom where participants will work on using palm fronds and recycled plastic as materials to create artworks based on weaving techniques.
The innovative results will reflect efforts to safeguard heritage and invest in it as a drive for a more sustainable future.
The second part of the exhibition, which will be inaugurated at the end of this month, is entitled “Seasonal Springs”, being Bahrain’s Water Week participation at Expo 2020 through a model proposed by Civil Architect and Bahrain Danish.
This project proposal presents a series of temporary fountains that will serve as basins for rainwater collection that will become public spaces celebrating the changing seasons as they dry. This is an alternative to dumping rainwater into the sea, which causes infrastructural stress annually.
The “Narrating Histories” exhibition continues boasting the rich heritage history of Bahrain, as many of these traditions, legends and stories are kept alive by Bahrainis today.
The installation artwork by Bahraini artist and designer Hala Kaiksow called “Fleeting” explores the contextualization of time into cloth. Slow stitches are quilted by hand over the full length of the pavilion’s 24 meters, hung across the roof of the national pavilion. It took the artist 344 hours of handiwork.
The installation is of two colors: indigo (dark blue), a natural plant pigment dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, and a warm gray hue. These colors gained importance in the installation work as they reflect the relationship between land and sea that characterizes Bahrain.
In addition, “Narrating Histories” presents an exhibition entitled “The Dilmun Cabinet of Curiosities: Interwoven Stories”.
It is composed as a series of installations within a larger installation created by dozens of artists, designers and craftsmen, in collaboration with artist Nathaly Jung and under the supervision of Amina Aghznai.
The exhibition consists of various artworks depicting four separate stories based on the ancient civilization of Dilmun, whose capital and center was in the Kingdom of Bahrain thousands of years ago. During the Craftsmen Apprenticeship Training Program held within the Kingdom’s pavilion at Expo, the artist collaborated with many artisans and designers in Bahrain to create these works inspired by four stories – The Story of Enki and Ninhursag, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Story of Ilí-ippašra and his Daughter, and The Story of Tiamat.
The Bahrain Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, “Density Weaves Opportunity”, will remain open until the end of March.
Source: Bahrain News Agency