EXHIBITION
Ismaili Centre, Toronto – Lounge
Friday, July 15-Thursday, July 21, 2016
Open Tuesday-Sundays (10am -4pm)
Up High in the Sky, 2016 by Faisal Anwar
Interactive Installation
“Restless clouds hold our memories. The ground underneath spins making the time to come and keeps us connected. In-between we breathe with hopes, wishes and prayers. It is only when we stop and look up that we realize our memories are like cloud-shaped snapshots of our lives, which are anchored by threads of our happiness and melancholia.” – Faisal Anwar
Up in the Sky High, 2016 forms a large cloud with eco-friendly white balloons presented at the ‘Festival of Flight’. The installation invites viewers to experience the many faces of the sky above us. An extended interactive component is added with flying origami created by children and youth through workshops developed by the Ontario Science Centre. The origami forms hold the hopes and wishes which becomes part of larger memory cloud.
ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY
Faisal Anwar is a renowned interactive, new media artist/producer based in Canada. He is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Habitat-LAB and was earlier trained in graphic design at Lahore’s National College of Arts. Anwar’s art practice integrates art, culture and technology. He explores architectural spaces and connectivity in modern urban settings. He has shown and performed in many parts of the world including the Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010, ‘Nuit-blanche’ (Toronto and New York) 2011, ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) 2009 and in Dubai. His recent project ‘Tweetgarden’ was showcased at the Contact photography festival held at Royal Ontario Museum in 2012. Anwar has also created several short films that were featured in festivals within Canada and abroad. His work is significant for its sociopolitical commentary and its exploration of human emotion and collective behaviour. For its unique expression and thematic content, Anwar’s work has been acclaimed around the globe. For more info www.faisalanwar.ca www.tweetgarden.ca
