underwood fuhrer: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS | UBIK

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS | UBIK | 27 SEPTEMBER ? 15 NOVEMBER 2012

The Pavilion Downtown Dubai is delighted to present UBIK?s interactive installation With A Little Help From My Friends. Inspired by the nature of relationships in Dubai, UBIK draws parallels by inviting the audience to interact with a collection of RC cars and colored sand, giving way to anarchic patterns, which ultimately reflect the relationships we build and leave behind.

With A Little Help From My Friends is an interactive installation that takes the concept of team-building as a departure point to explore shades of friendship in the city. The installation comprises of an assorted collection of RC cars and colored sand. A heat map inspires the aesthetics of the installation, and the movement of the RC cars in the space replicates it.

Employing performative elements, the gallery space houses piles of colored sand and remote controlled RC cars that the visitor is invited to interact with. Progression in time and the visitor?s involvement playing a key role in the installation?s culmination, a trace of the cars? movement in the space is then visible through the transformation of the colored sand piles, creating various formations and patterns on the gallery floor, readapting the space into a different variation each day.

UBIK, A Study for With a Little Help From My Friends, 2012

This is the nature of friendships in a transient culture such as Dubai?s ? tangible, yet ephemeral. The artist draws parallels between the dynamics of interacting with the cars in the space, and human relationships: the sand pattern becomes more chaotic when a group of people are playing together for example, with the resulting pattern resembling the lasting impression we all aim to leave behind when making new friends. With a Little Help From My Friends questions the authenticity of friendships in Dubai culture, the level of commitment we share with our friends, and lengths we go through to be socially accepted, or become part of a particular group. By forcing the audience to engage in a collective manner, the work lays the groundwork for strangers to become potential friends while pondering what friendship means to them.

ABOUT UBIK

UBIK is an artist based in Dubai, UAE. His works experiments with a variety of mediums, without restriction to a specific genre. The core of UBIK?s works revolves around appropriation and manipulation of text and images, and the exploration / exploitation of everyday situations. UBIK crafts his work to be conceptual. Not in the form of technicality but rather its reactionary possibilities. The process of the work is to urge and provoke the viewer to self-reflect. The viewer is not an isolated agent, but rather his/er reaction is an integral part to the artistic production.

UBIK has had a variety of solo exhibitions which include among others Gallery Sabrina Amrani in Madrid (2012), Shelter (2010) and Traffic (2011) in Dubai. His work has also been exhibited in Satellite, as part of the Satellite Broadcast series (2011). UBIK has been included in THE STATE series, curated by Rami Farook at Traffic and showcased new projects for Art Dubai (2012) and SIKKA Art Fair (2012). His works have also been featured in group shows in Lawrieshabibi (2012) and Maraya Art Centre (2012).