Lightweaver
Kinetic sculpture, participatory project (2017)
A collaboration with residents of the Al Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan
The Lightweaver is a kinetic lighting sculpture that is also an educational and preservationist device, a cultural prosthetic for hope, and a visual critique of humanitarian design. The project was prototyped at MIT and developed as a co-creation with the artists, engineers, and inventors of the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. The project represents both a poetic and utilitarian response to everyday life problems in the refugee camp: it addresses the visual impoverishment of shelters through the design of lamps that function as a means for individual expression and cultural preservation. Referencing punch-cards from Jacquard looms and Arabic lanterns, the Lightweaver translates stories from textiles and calligraphy into a play of light. Historic forms are reinterpreted into contemporary designs and projected onto their surrounding through a three-dimensional light-weaving mechanism. The device can be used to personalize the interior spaces of the refugee camp shelters. The cross-disciplinary workshop developed around this project includes lessons in cultural history, textile weaving, calligraphy, and basics of mechanical and electrical engineering. The Lightweaver proposes a way of rethinking the shelter beyond its functionality for physical protection: by creating immersive cultural environments within refugee camps, the project aims to provide artistic means for psycho-social aid to inspire hope, probe new experimental approaches to cultural preservation, and foster education in conflict zones through play and knowledge exchange across borders.
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Project produced for the Amman Design Week 2017.
Materials: cardboard, styrofoam, 20 nargile punchers, electronics, LED lights, 2 videos
Dimensions: Lightweaver prototypes: variable; Videos: single-channel, 4 min.
Concept and artistic direction: Azra Akšamija
Research and development: Azra Akšamija, Allison James, Joshua Jest, Lillian Kology, Xinyi Ma, Melina Philippou, Omar Al- Darwish, Zeid Madi
Phase I Prototypes produced and documented in the Al Azraq camp by: Azra Akšamija, Hussain Al-Abdullah, Hatem Al- Balkhy, Omar Al-Darwish, Mo’ayad Al-Eid, Wa’el Al-Faraj, Sufyan Al-Ghoutany, Nasina Haidar Al-Mansour, Jar Al-Naby Abazaid, Mohammad Assaf, Jehad Assaf, Mohammad Ghassan, Mustafa Hamadah, Hanaa Hasan, Rawan Hussein, Abdulkarim Ihsan, Ahmad Khalaf, Lillian Kology, Zeid Madi, Manisha Mohan, Nabil Sayfayn, with the support of CARE Jordan. Documentation by Al Azraq Journal team: Hussain Al-Abdullah, Jamil Hameidy, Yassin Al-Yassin, Mohammad Al-Qo’airy, Mohammad Al-Mez’al
Phase II prototypes developed and documented at MIT by: Azra Akšamija, Lisbeth Acevedo Ogando, Seth Avecilla, Lily Bailey, Pedro Cardoso Zylbersztajn, Baian Chen, Gabriel Fields, Beatriz Gonzalez, Kevin Gonzales, Marlo Johnson, Lillian Kology, Shannon Miller, Ankita Reddy, Pooja Reddy, Rikhav Shah
Documentation: Hussain Al-Abdullah, Jamil Hameidy, Yassin Al-Yassin, Mohammad Al-Qo’airy, Mohammad Al-Mez’al (filming by Al Azraq journal team), Zacharia Jama, Zedi Madi, Zaid Qarout (editing)
Sponsoring: MIT Future Heritage Lab, CAST Mellon Faculty Grant, MIT Arab World Program, MISTI Global Seed Funds Program, and CARE Jordan.