Maya Chami

In Residence:
June 3, 2014 - June 16, 2014
Discipline:
Performance
Country:
Lebanon

Born in Beirut in 1981, Maya Chami obtained a bachelor of science in graphic design from the Lebanese American University. In 2006 she was selected to participate in the UNESCO online masters module on art, design and technology. In 2011 Chami completed a masters degree in digital arts at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. Her work brings design and digital arts, in the performative realm. Chami’s live audio-visual work includes: “Transitional Digital Objects” (2011) which explores compositing an autobiography in live cinema; “Of Men, Champagne and Victory Aside” (2012) a live audio-visual performance (work-in-progress), merging laptop-generated visuals and live music, a playful examination into the theme of the ‘victory sign’ in the Arab world, from the 1980’s to the present.

 

“Of Men, Champagne and Victory Aside” consists of a live audio-visual performance, merging laptop-generated visuals and live music. It is a playful examination into the theme of the ‘victory sign’ in the Arab world.

Phase one of the project, already performed, was based on clips Maya Chami animated from archival footage from several historical political ‘events’ that took place in the Middle East. Footage included, but were not restricted to, 1982’s invasion of Lebanon, 1987’s first Intifada, 1993’s Oslo Accords, 1996’s shelling of Qana South Lebanon, 2000’s liberation of South Lebanon, 2002’s siege of Jenin, 2003’s Invasion of Iraq, 2004’s death of Abu Ammar, 2005’s beginning of assassinations in Lebanon, 2010’s beginning of revolutions in the Arab world.

After examining archive material, endless possibilities of animating, overlaying and deconstructing of audio-visual clips are generated into a new moving image, liberated from the ‘flow’ of the media. The outcome is a live audio-visual performance based on a creation of remixed visuals and audio sound tracks.

The second phase of the project will take place using objects from The Watermill Center Collection. Material gathered will help transform events from “what we have seen” to “what we have to say about victorious moments”.

 

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