At first sight, Róza EL-HASSAN’s Awake may seem a classic modern sculpture. The object was created through a combination of used and new wooden parts; it is possible to recreate almost the entire process of construction. This quality of being a process is both typical of modern art, and points towards newer, performative artistic praxes. There is also a duality to the curious finish of the sculpture: certain elements are barely worked and make an impression of being thrown together, while the face, for example, shows signs of a certain careful execution. However, the sense of incompleteness also means the work could be “finished” in a number of ways—not only with the work of the artist, but with the viewer’s own ideas as well. This sculpture is a follow-up to El-Hassan’s earlier, sitting figures, which sometimes appeared under a black veil (R. Contemplates Overpopulation, 2001), and appeared unconcealed at other times (Moszkva Square project, 2003). The sitting version of the figure evoked could be the refugee, the standing one perhaps the uprising hero of the Arab Spring.
T. K.
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