Pascal Hachem exhibits 5 Collectors, 5 Rooms at Selma Feriani Gallery in Tunisia

The context is a key element like any reflection of Pascal Hachem anchored in its specific environment. Drawing on the political and social fragility and the economic disintegration that Lebanon is going through and exposing the post-explosion and pandemic chaos in a Tunisian setting where the transitions have never ceased to surprise since the Jasmine revolution. An environment that positions the artist in various situations to question several issues and dynamics of the art scene, ranging from museums, the collection of works of art and the work of art itself.

Collect works of art and design a collection; is part of an evolutionary process that is built as a whole. It is the bearer of forms that give meaning to the collector's perspective and his view of the world. Works of art meet their state, trigger thoughts or reflect their state of mind. As Hans Ulrich Obrist quotes, "By collecting you also create a work of art made up of different specific pieces. How you design your work of art is entirely up to you and not what other people think."

The exhibition 5 collectors, 5 rooms, was triggered from this anchor point, questioning the practice of the collection, the position of the work of art and exploring these limits by reversing the roles. What if collecting meant shaping? What would a work designed with the participation of its collector be? Pascal Hachem's;  work is addressed to 5 collectors from different contexts and countries through virtual exchanges, where conversation leads the way. He lays the groundwork according to the context of his interlocutor and his own, giving free rein to exchanges to know, lead, break, criticize and question the becoming and the being of the work.

Transforming ideas into matters of reflection, such is the journey carried out jointly with collectors through discussions. In a set of 5 separate rooms within the Selma Feriani gallery, Pascal sets up five specific experiences that dangle the fruit of the discussions held. By finding foundations in conversations, Hachem uses the different paths of collectors as a medium to construct performative acts featuring reflections in dynamic objects dealing with material and immaterial aspects. From these encounters, the works exhibited are the result of a lively exchange journey, shaping would thus be a means of representation, reflection or even dichotomy. Among the themes addressed, borders appear as a definition of familiar and unfamiliar spaces, in the process of being transformed by going beyond and changing definitions.

One of the works also features the fine yet powerful line between women and reigning words with a soft power, soft as hook on aggressive tools. The staged device juggles between analogies positioning political situations and social figures. These are visible through the most subtle and hidden aspects of using food and its impact to impose dictatorship. The study of "The Weight of The World" by Etel Adnan, suggests a contemporary perspective of the Lebanese context by confronting two temporalities and points of view on the situation. The exhibition offers five windows where the viewer can position themselves in the face of different situations, keeping in mind the collection of works of art as a background skeleton and the themes addressed in a socio-political dialogue of the respective contexts.

Drawing on mundane objects of everyday life, Hashem adopts the tone set by conversation and translates it into living sculptural installations. He studies the material according to the sensory emotions it conveys, whether it be packets of local cigarettes, heavy anvils or the delicacy of blown glass. Each work reflects the open process and echoes the different states of mind of the new knowledge, leaving room for a window to delve into questions outside of the physical experience. Salma Kossemtini, Selma Feriani Gallery Tunis, September, 2021