Mariam Nihal Saudi Gazette In their recent exhibition titled Liminality, Athr Gallery recently hosted Lebanese artist Ziad Antar in Jeddah last week. Born in 1978 in Saida, Lebanon, Ziad Antar lives in between Paris and Beirut. He said he was always interested in creating and taking images. “My work often consists of moving or still images. The chosen medium depends on the idea and the concept, which best portrays the concept of the artwork,” he told Saudi Gazette. In his works, Antar discusses ontology and what reality is through different lenses and perception. When asked about his discovery through his journey in Jeddah, he described it as a feeling of transformation. “In Jeddah, I lived a feeling of transformation. But the modern history of Jeddah/Saudi shows a recurrent status of change. So I wanted to create a moment of transformation and live it through the alteration between a fixed images and sculptures. A two dimensional surface to a three dimensional object. Questioning the relation between fiction and reality.” He said the sculptures in Jeddah were meant to be in a public space. In 2012, Antar's photographic journey, led him to monumental sculptures and landmark spaces on Jeddah's Corniche. As part of a major renovation project of the entire corniche of Jeddah, landmark sculptures went through a restoration program where some were even removed. Antar closely observed the new changes in artefacts now roped or covered in cloth, documenting the transformation of the city over time. In his works, Antar recreated some of the sculptures in concrete, in the state they were during the renovation phase of the Corniche. Antar told Saudi Gazette: “The ones I photographed were on the Corniche, which means they will be subjected to modifications and changes due to their exposure to weather and community. During the renovation of the Corniche, they were covered in order to preserve them. I photographed them covered, and decided to re-create these forms again, as a recurrent status of change. Liminality was curated by Pascal Beausse, Director of the Photography Department at the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain and Curators and Collections Manager at the Centre National des Arts Plastique in France. “The vitality of everyday life on the streets of the world,” said Beausse. Describing the transformation of the city, Antar said: “Twenty years after they were erected, the entire city is also living through the same essence of transformation. As an artist, I transformed these sculptures into new artworks, and this transformation is what I am fascinated with.” Antar's work has been displayed in international institutions including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the FNAC Centre (Fonds National d'Art Contemporain) and exhibited in Palais de TokyoParis La Triennal, The New Museum New York and The Sharjah Art Foundation in 2012.
