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Geographical Child’s Play is a pop-up sculpture, commissioned by Shubbak 2019, the largest festival of contemporary Arab culture. The festival is located in London, a city with not only ethnic and cultural diversity, but also a capital of a country that played a huge role in shaping modern borders.
Shubbak festival brings new and unexpected voices, alongside established artists from across the Arab world, to new audiences every two years. It showcases visual arts, music, performance, literature, film, workshops, and more in over 80 events in venues across London.
In this work, Bricklab tackles the concept of borders as abstract lines, creating 22 colored shapes representing the 22 Arab League member states. These shapes, arranged as seating benches, encourage conversations and form different constellations, offering new perspectives on geographies and nations. Each unit requires support from the others, symbolizing the often ignored interdependence needed to create a cohesive whole.
Starting as an interactive map, Geographical Child’s Play naturally produces some constellations that seem hierarchical and others more egalitarian. Geographical Child’s Play conjures up poignant and surprising alignments and dependencies. An elastic approach adjusts the sizes of countries, with bright colors, soft edges, and low heights reminiscent of kindergarten furniture or playground equipment. This reconfiguration invites viewers to imagine geopolitics through the lens of play and hope. Stretching between 6 meters as a line or 3 meters as a circle the set allows for multiple participants to rearrange geopolitically simultaneously.
This work has been shown in various London locations. First displayed at institutions like the British Library, The British Museum, and the National Theatre, Geographical Child’s Play juxtaposes its playful innocence with the historical gravity of these venues, and encourages reflection on Britain’s role in forming the modern borders.
