Five Consecutive Dreams, Five Suns, And A Garden By Charbel - Joseph H . Boutros

Grey Noise is delighted to present Five Consecutive Dreams, Five Suns, And A Garden By Charbel- Joseph H . Boutros. In his work invisibility is charged with intimate, geographical and historical layers, finding poetic lines that extend beyond the realm of existing speculations and realities.

On a summer day, a foreign daily worker, a mason, is hired for one day's work. In lieu of his daily labor, which entails constructing concrete structures, he is offered a day of rest in an orchard garden belonging to the artist, situated in the Lebanese mountains. He is simply requested to enjoy his time in the garden, alone, liberated from labor, with the freedom to engage in any activity he chooses during the designated working hours and to consume the fruits he desires from the existing trees. Lunch is provided, along with water, and a portable charger for his cell phone. He is encouraged to take a nap after lunch. He is given a white bed sheet to cover himself during his nap and to protect himself from the sun. At the end of the day, after being remunerated, he returns the white bed sheet to the artist. The dreams and hopes impregnated in the white bed sheet are then covered with a fluid mixture of cement, water from a local source, and ashes from the news of that day. The same experience is repeated five consecutive working days with five different workers.

About the Artist

Charbel-joseph H. Boutros (b.1981, Lebanon / Lives and works between Beirut, Paris). Being born amidst the Lebanese conflict, his art is not engaged in an explicit political and historical reflection but is more accurately haunted by the said political and historical reflection. For H. Boutros, each exhibition is a new territory that reformulates reality. H. Boutros was a resident at The Pavillon, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France and was a researcher at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands. His first extensive institutional exhibition in Europe, The Sun Is My Only Ally was recently shown at S.M.A.K. Museum, Ghent, later presented at La Criée Contemporary art

Center, Rennes in 2022. His work has been shown internationally at: The 12th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey / Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France / Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy / Centre Pompidou - Metz, France / S.M.A.K. Museum, Gent, Belgium / Home Works 8 and 9, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut / CCS Bard College, New York, USA / 3rd Bahia Biennial, Salvador, Brazil / 1st Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan, China / CCA, Warsaw, Poland / More Konzeption Conception Now, Morsbroich Museum, Leverkusen, Germany / Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE / Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon / La Criée Centre for Contemporary Art, France / Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles / Marres, Maastricht, The Netherlands. A permanent installation ‘Sueur d’étoile’, that he realized with the French étoile dancer Marie-Agnes Gillot, inaugurated in 2016 remains on view at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. His first monograph jointly prepared by S.M.A.K Ghent and La Criée Centre for Contemporary Art, Rennes, published by Mousse Publishing was released in 2022. His works are in the collections of S.M.A.K. Museum, Gent / CNAP, Paris, France / Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE / SAMoCA Saudi Ministry of Culture.