Guideposts – Sharjah Art Foundation, 2016

2 site-specific sculptural installations, commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, 2016

For Guideposts at Sharjah Art Foundation, I presented two site-specific sculptural installations, each adopting the “institutional aesthetic” I had been tracking in Cairo — that mixture of visual randomness, improvised functionality, and infrastructural decay that characterizes so much of public space. Taking that aesthetic out of its original context, I wanted to test the power and authority of its signs in a new setting.

The first piece, I Am Serious!, is a giant billboard carrying an urgent-looking message. It was built entirely from recycled materials and found objects sourced from the Foundation’s storage. The second, Do Not Look Inside, is a free-standing wall with a staircase, constructed opposite the Sharjah Art Museum. Its architecture mimics the surrounding aesthetic, while its dimensions push into the absurd. A hole in the wall invites you up; a sign at the top reads: “Do Not Look Inside.”