This ambitious exhibition of new work by Lebanese artist Pascal Hachem is composed of new sculptural installations in which Hachem interrogates his experiences of his home city of Beirut. Faced with life in a city of both daily instability and overwhelming fragmentation how does an individual or society remember their past?

Hachem’s sculptures combine or alter everyday objects to create unexpected and sometimes playful encounters. The search for traces is recurrent in these works, as Hachem questions the meaning of what we remember and why. In left under a set of mechanised wire brushes continually sweep the wall, revealing paint from previous exhibitions over the course of this display. In back to square one a pair of irons continually move back and forth, imprinting a pile of flour. In the basement gallery, in the installation the stone in my pocket, nine pairs of trousers hang suspended in the air. The leg of one pair of trousers lifts, repeatedly dropping a stone against a mirror which at some point will shatter.

These live works create physical changes over time that are both unpredictable and deliberately undocumented. Hachem’s use of repetitive actions hints at the impossibility of grasping meaning or remembering the past in the face of successive events. Smaller interventions installed around the gallery and its exterior provoke unexpected and sometimes playful encounters, challenging the viewer to make sense of their surroundings.

Pascal Hachem
Born in 1979, Pascal Hachem is based in Beirut. His work has been shown internationally including solo shows at La Vitrine, Beirut (2017), Selma Ferani Gallery, Tunisia (2016), Soulangh Artist Village, Taiwan (2015) and Federica Schaivo Gallery, Italy (2013). Group exhibitions include The Mosaic Rooms, London (2015), Dak’Art (2014), Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea (2014) and Vanvitelliana, Italy (2012). In parallel to his artistic work Hachem co-founded 200grs, a design studio, and currently teaches at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

This exhibition is part of London Design Festival, Brompton Design District and has been supported by the Nour Festival of Arts.

For further details, images and to arrange interviews contact press@mosaicrooms.org or + 44 207 370 9990

Exhibition Press Release