Issam Kourbaj has set up his exhibit, Another Day Lost, on 11 previous occasions – in London, New York City, Dubai, Philadelphia, and Cambridge. This is the first time it is appearing indoors under a chandelier.
The exhibit consists of hundreds of small structures that have been constructed from maps, old medicine packages, pieces of cardboard, and sheet music. It is an extraordinary site. The structures of different sizes and shapes have been placed in and around a full-sized UNHCR tent that has been generously donated for this exhbit.
At first glance, it seems scattered, almost random. It is in reality quite the opposite. Kourbaj has constructed each one of the structures very deliberately, and then places them carefully – some along the perimeter, others in close proximity to each other.
Kourbaj explains, "The overall appearance [of this exhibit] is that of a vast refugee 'camp,' placed in and around a life-sized UNHCR tent, which towers over the installation and plays with the viewer's understanding of scale: is the camp tiny or the tent enormous? And how does it all fit within the progressively larger contexts of the room, building, and city?"
The entire exhibit is encircled by burnt matches, grouped in batches of five. There are now 1,907 burnt matches, one for each day since the beginning of the Syrian uprising on March 15, 2011. There are so many burnt matches that Kourbaj has had to start a second circle around the exhibit.
Kourbaj will burn a match at noon each day to mark the passing of another day lost for Syrians everywhere.
You can see the exhibit in Room 102, Oktober 6 utca 7, on June 2-June 7 from 9 am to 5 pm.
