Salah Saouli

ARTIST STATEMENT/ POSTCARD PROJECT OF THE HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES 2007 Oversite, 2007 5000 shoes ´We are now facing thousands of shoes of people we don’t know. The residue of their use is still evident in their appearance. It is comparable to collective memories. The audience participating in this work contributed their shoes for the “Oversite” installation, and contributed by the performance of walking on the shoes. This process completes the work. People usually create circumstances, phases and personalities, then they disappear and take their stories with them. Those who commit the act usually disappear in their shadow. The shoes in this installation change their functional form; in this context they become objects with human-like dimensions. When we walk on these shoes we are committing a savage act. This walk reminds us of human tragedies that happen daily on a continuous basis: We become opposed but quickly we want to forget and return to our daily routines. If we try to think about this savagery we find ourselves drowning in the many examples of actualities.´ (Salah Saouli) Salah Saouli, born in Beirut in 1962. He studied painting at the Institut des Beaux-Arts Beirut, painting and sculpture at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, and printmaking at the Chelsea School of Art, London. Since 1985 the artist has been living in Berlin.