Distorted Familiarities
2019-2022 Art Production and Design
Design Team Tigran Kostadnyan, Tamara Barrage, Farah Alkhoury
Artist Asma Belhamar
The project, Distorted Familiarities, was commissioned for Expo 2020 as part of an initiative to create public artworks for the Expo 2020 site. We were invited by the artist Asma Belhamar to serve as exhibition designers and art producers. Based on clay models and sketches by the artist, we designed three reclining structures made of glass-reinforced concrete with a steel substructure. For this project, it was important to rely on local fabricators, which is not often the case with similar commissions within the UAE. The largest sculpture was around 4 meters high, necessitating engineering wind load calculations. Fabrication required the use of a 6-axis mill and the production of models that would be routed and cast.