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Constructakons

The Pavilion Downtown Dubai with ATHR Gallery presents Constructakons, a mixed media exhibit by Sami Al-Turki capturing Dubai and its journey for growth and expansion.

The series, which will run from 19 June – 20 July, 2011 at Gallery 2, features heroic images of construction vehicles, tractors and cranes in situ, which he describes as “the soldiers that built this city”. His portrayal of these nameless ‘soldiers’ as glorified individuals at various stages of rest, creates a feeling of unrest against a bustling urban jungle. Al-Turki’s twilight and night time backdrops give him complete control over the manipulation of light and shade, which he employs to heighten with a sharp use of light and perspective, rendering these massive machines tiny and innocent.

Two short films expand the themes of dystopia and urbanity: a split screen depicts the artist driving around in his car filming the oversized billboards in and around the city directly next to an unending loop of Al-Turki pounding scaffolding with a metal rod in frustration against the levels of ‘consumerization’ around him. The noise creates a sharp contrast to the silence of the construction vehicles in the surrounding gallery, completing complicating the viewer’s experience of the visual landscape.

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