Shezad Dawood
dal 3/12/2012 al 16/2/2013
Segnalato da
3/12/2012
Shezad Dawood
Parasol Unit, London
For the second work in 'Parasolstice-Winter Light' series, the artist features his sculptural light piece the 'New Dream Machine Project' and the new film 'New Dream Machine Project II', commissioned to accompany this sensory work. This is part of an evolving body of work that explores the relationship between Beat culture and Middle-Eastern artistic traditions, and their legacy today.
On 4 December 2012, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art will launch the second work in its
Parasolstice – Winter Light series. For this ongoing project Parasol unit invites a different artist each year
to create a work that explores the phenomenon of light. The work is exhibited on the foundation’s outdoor
space throughout the winter months. In 2012, British artist Shezad Dawood will exhibit his immersive,
sculptural light piece the New Dream Machine Project, and will create the new film, New Dream Machine
Project II, commissioned to accompany this sensory work.
The ‘New Dream Machine Project’ is part of an evolving body of work that explores the relationship
between Beat culture and Middle-Eastern artistic traditions, and their legacy today. Dawood’s New Dream
Machine Project, a 3-metre-tall spinning steel sculpture, is a reworking of the original Dream Machine
created in 1959 by artist Brion Gysin and scientist Ian Sommerville. Best experienced close-up with eyes
closed, participants feel an increasingly bright and complex pattern of colour as the pierced steel cylinder
spins around tubes of variously coloured light. As the swirling pattern of shapes speeds up, the viewer feels
surrounded by colour. The revolutions emit light at a frequency that corresponds to the alpha waves and
electrical oscillations normally present in the human brain in a relaxed state, causing visual stimuli that
can become a hypnotic experience. Dawood’s New Dream Machine Project, an interactive piece with an
imposing physical presence, draws attention to how science, art and mysticism have come together, and the
surprising technological innovations that can result.
To enhance and complete the effects of the New Dream Machine Project, Shezad Dawood will stage a live
improvised performance event that will form the basis of his new film New Dream Machine Project II.
Commissioned by Parasol unit for Parasolstice 2012, New Dream Machine Project II is intended to move the
project away from its original location (Tangiers, where the first film was staged), and is the second
instalment of what is to be a trilogy of films, each mimetically documenting a unique improvised musical
performance. Enacting new juxtapositions and interventions through their response to the New Dream
Machine Project light sculpture, New Dream Machine Project II will incorporate the experimental music of
international duo Praed.
About the performers: Formed in 2006 by Swiss musician Paed Conca and Lebanese artist/musician Raed
Yassin, the Praed duo experiments with a complex and vast terrain of sonic/musical influences and
geographies. Collaborating with Praed will be the Paris-based soprano and sax player Stephane Rives and
electric guitar player Sharif Sehnaoui.
Shezad Dawood, born 1974 in London, United Kingdom, trained at Central Saint Martins and the Royal
College of Art before undertaking a PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University. One of the winners of the 2011
Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Dawood’s work has been exhibited internationally, including in Altermodern, 2009,
curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, at Tate Britain, the 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009, and the Busan Biennale, 2010.
Recent projects include a solo touring exhibition that opened at Modern Art Oxford in April 2012. Shezad has
been nominated for the Jarman Award 2012. He currently lives and works in London, where he is Senior
Lecturer and Research Fellow in Experimental Media at the University of Westminster.
The ‘New Dream Machine Project’ was commissioned by the Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2011.
Parasolstice is generously supported by Arts Council England.
Founded in December 2004, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is a registered educational and a non-profit
institution that operates purely for public benefit. Every year the foundation organises four challenging and thought-
provoking exhibitions of works by international contemporary artists working in various media, holds artistic projects
and gives awards and exhibition possibility to graduating student from a UK art school. The foundation also engages
with the public and the neighbouring community through a full programme of educational events. In its genuine mission
to serve the public, the foundation does not bear the founder’s name and its exhibitions do not derive from any
particular private collections. Admission to all exhibitions at Parasol unit is free of charge. Thanks to this innovative
model between private funding and public support one of London’s most vibrant contemporary art spaces has come to
exist and thrives.
Image: Shezad Dawood: New Dream Machine Project, 2011. Light sculpture, brushed steel, fluorescent lights and electronic motor, 300 x 250 cm diameter, Abraaj
Capital Art Prize, Art Dubai, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. Photography: Tom Brown.
For more information, please contact Anna Lehmbruck on 020 7490 7373, at anna@parasol-unit.org, or go to
www.parasol-unit.org.
Launch + intro by Shezad Dawood: 4 December 2012, 6.30 – 9 p.m.
Parasol unit
foundation for contemporary art 14 Wharf Road - London N1 7RW
Gallery opening hours:
Monday by prior arrangement. Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.
Christmas closure: 22 December 2012 – 1 January 2013 (inclusive)
Admission to all Parasol unit exhibitions is free