كويت الخيال 2

- الرابط إلى الجزء الأول من كويت الخيال


الطريق إلى المريخ مغبرة

بر الكويت بين الخلاء والازدحام

لا أدري إن كانوا يبحثون عن تاريخهم أم يدفنوه

بعد التغيّر المناخي، سيذوب الثلج ويرتفع الماء وتغرق المدينة وتتأقلم الحياة

وللأموات نصيب في المدينة، فكم من سكانها أشباح

بماذا تفكر المدينة عندما تلاقي نفسها بالمرآة

صراع الواقع والخيال

تخيل للحظة، ماذا لو لم نكن؟

مستقبل الكويت المستدام


Coward


wet, don't sit

nose, don't pick

line, don't cross

red, don't press

glass, don't break

art, don't touch

sad, don't cry

joy, don't try

pain, don't grow

home, don't leave

dream, don't reach

love, don't feel

heart, don't give

truth, don't face

be, just be...

All Seems Fine and Good


split splintered staggering lost
teased tired tossed about
deadened dying dead except
all seems fine and good
        and wholesomely happy we dance

crushed crying king dethroned
shamed shoved shot entombed
failed fucked forced to say
what a wonderful place this is
        what wonderful people you are

vile virile vengeful fire
wait until the chains expire
then enact your sick desire
        destruction everywhere.

كويت الخيال


بعد مصادرة الأراضي الفضاء وبناء العمارات السكنية


بعد تحويل الحدائق إلى مخيمات لللاجئين

الشواطئ للجميع

مسرح الأمة

(townhouse) نمط البيوت المتلاصقة 

الكويت بعد رؤية 2035

الطبيعة تغزو مناطق الكويت

يا ترى من سيربح لعبة الوطن

نعم للتقوقع والهروب من الهراء

لنحاول مرة أخرى لبناء مدينة سعيدة على أرض ثانية

أهلاً بكم في مدينة الرياء

أسلوب القص واللزق في تصميم المنازل

تمثال العنصرية على جزيرة كبّر

لا نريدكم في مناطقنا

لأننا بحاجة تحرير جديد

...أنت سعيد في الكويت... سعيد جداً جداً


Space Cactus, Episode 2


The second episode of Space Cactus is here! This time, I collaborated with Abdullah Ali (find his art here: Inkuarium). Abdulla did the artwork, while I wrote the script and did the lettering.

In this episode, Space Cactus continues to astonish us with it's ability to heroically save the day, rescuing billions of innocent lives on Planet Phluvaluv, and that is by doing absolutely nothing (which, incidentally, is also how most non-space cactuses conduct themselves).

Enjoy!
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Space Cactus


This project started with two drawings of a cactus growing out of a block of frozen earth floating aimlessly in space. The drawings weren't meant to 'mean' anything other than a general feeling of serene and stress-free existence unconcerned with space or time.



After the first two drawings, I started calling this 'character' Space Cactus, as if it's a comic book superhero. I thought wouldn't it be cool for there to be superhero that literally did nothing: it didn't move or think, but rather simply existed; and wouldn't it be cooler if despite this static existence, it nevertheless played a (major) role in the events that happened around it. We could say that Space Cactus is an 'actor' (a player, participant, contributor...etc to its world) without 'acting' anything.

Usually, comic book characters, even when they are not human, act or display emotions typical of human beings. They could be robots with humanoid bodies or aliens that feel love. Alternatively, the idea of Space Cactus is to imagine a protagonist of a comic book that is neither human nor human-like: it is just a cactus. Conceived as such, we could say that Space Cactus is born out of a post-humanist outlook.

Below is a 'sketch' (I am not a great comic book artist!) of the first installment of Space Cactus titled "Not All Heroes Have A Pulse". As you will see, humans do partake in the action, but they are almost always peripheral, both graphically and story-wise. On the other hand, other types of beings play important roles such as an asteroid, a small rock, and of course Space Cactus. There is also a small cute lizard, but it doesn't do anything as far as I know.

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أشجار أخرى


هي شجرة عرفت خطورة الاعتماد على أرض واحدة، فبنت لها أخرى.

جذور قوم عند قوم جذوع.  

تسكن هذه الشجرة أوراق طائفية، ترفض كلّ طائفة من الأوراق أنْ تلامس الطوائف الأخرى. تحصل هذه المهزلة في نور الشمس، بينما الجذور تعمل بهمة في الخفاء.

احتار الناس بقصة هذا الشجرة، أهي شجيرات قرّرت أنْ تتّحد أم شجرة قرّرت أنْ تتفرّع.

العالم كما سيكون في المستقبل: شجرة بعد شجرة بعد شجرة، ولا أثر للبشر. شجرة بعد شجرة بعد شجرة، ولا ترى إنساناً واحداً. شجرة بعد شجرة بعد شجرة، فقد ولّوا أولئك المفسدين.


شجرتان

الشجرة الأم

الشجرة الباحثة

Funky Bookends

I designed three bookends that were fabricated by stereolab.kw. The bottom three images were also taken by stereolab.kw; the upper three are mine.







الحجر


الحَجَرُ : شيءٌ من الأرض كبسته حرارة الوقت فانفصل عنها وقسا.

الحِجْرُ : أبداً كنتَ فيه ولم تعُد، ولن تعود. أو كذلك، هو مكان تبادل الرؤوس.

الحَجْرُ : أنْ تعيش داخل جِلدكَ فلا أنتَ خارجٌ منه ولا هم داخلوه.


Eclectic Houses: Embracing the Kuwaiti Style


As we are mostly staying indoors these days, I thought this video of a Pecha Kucha talk I gave in 2013 would be relevant and entertaining. The title of the talk was "Eclectic Houses: Embracing the Kuwaiti Style". It's about the apparent 'culture of weirdness' that permeates Kuwait when it comes to designing house facades. 

Has this quarantine taught us things about our houses we hadn't noticed before? 


Event—Pecha Kucha, 2013
Video Taken By—KASA 
Event Organizer—Asseel Al-Ragam 
Location—Kuwait, Amricani Cultural Centre 

Competition Entry - Meyerson Hall Basement Renovation

I submitted a design proposal to an "Ideas Competition for the Basement of Meyerson Hall", that is the main building of the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Following are the six pages I submitted: