Walk in and shake our hands. Except we’re not allowed to touch. It’s not how things are done here. Still we want to say hello, and we have different ways of making you feel welcome. Some tea to warm your insides after a delicious meal? Don’t rush, sit down, linger a little, and let's see what comes of it. Perhaps we will have a celebration and together we will sing and dance – forgetting for a moment the warring at the doors of our hearts.
In “Symbolic Gestures”, the work of veteran Saudi artist, Sultan Bin Fahad and Paris-based design collective, Hall Haus, embrace, in multimedia material (sights and sounds) through three different zones: conflict, transition, and resolution. Each party shares their personal experiences with repressive contexts and unexpected limitations, and the tools they use to interrogate and discover new possibilities. Although the outcomes of their practices are different, both Sultan and Hall Haus want the same thing: a more inclusive language that empowers more of us to play and come together.
“I was not a stone thrown into a lake
But I was a wave pushing against another
Both forever reshaping the shoreline”
