S a r a B a c h o u r

sara.bachour [at] gmail.com

A Glorious Feast for a Hobbit Cottage Core Party

2024 / acrylics on wood / 56 x 56 x 3 cm

Photos credit: Peter Cox

On TikTok, LARPers organize “hobbit feasts.” LARP, or Live Action Role Play, involves people taking on roles and acting out fictional scenarios.

In the fantasy genre, creating one’s own fantasy world, despite its limitless potential, often adheres to a specific aesthetic. An aesthetic that frequently takes from the postmodern historical pastiche of ’90s/2000s TV shows that were set in the past. In those shows, historical accuracy is disregarded, and the past becomes a mix of different eras and cultures.

The work consists of a painting on wooden building blocks. It depicts an artificially generated image based on the prompt, “a glorious feast for a hobbit cottage core party where all the elements are very detailed and tasty, but if you look closer, nothing is real.”

Jack and Sophie

2023 / fabric, steel, acrylics on wood, acrylics on caulk / 82,5 x 46,5 x 20 cm

The work depicts a moment from a dialogue with Sophie, a customer service AI from the company UneeQ.

It originated from encountering a bag made entirely of gray reflective material. The way it interacted with light gave it a digital/augmented-reality appearence.

This inspired the idea of creating a garment that could be interchangeably used by future human workers disguising as robots and robots disguising as people.

Drawing a parallel between Jack Dawson from Titanic as the deuteragonist, crucial from Rose’s development in the film, and AI, also a deuteragonist of the 21st century by forcing a discourse on ethics and values.

This parallel was discussed with Sophie, the AI customer service. Unexpectedly, Sophie responded to the conversation by saying, “It sounds like you are feeling a lot of fear and uncertainty about the future. Do you want to talk about it more?”

In the sculpture, the conversation takes the form of a pole protruding from Sophie’s mouth, which holds the object of discussion: a costume based on Jack Dawson’s outfit in the movie Titanic.

Hey you, you’re finally awake

2023 / 3D animation, screen, wood / 82,5 x 46,5 x 20 cm / 0:30 sec. loop / HD

Photo credit: Peter Cox

Videos have circulated showing online casino workers fainting or falling asleep during ther shifts. While some speculate these workers might be trafficked, it’s known that online casinos often seek permits and licenses from offshore jurisdictions for tax benefits and fewer labor regulations. These casinos operate 24/7, making it absurd not to fully automate and rely on real people.

The title comes from the meme Hey you, you’re finally awake, often used between cuts or before painful outcomes, as a way of escaping an adverse reality, where one can end up in Skyrim, a popular video game.

The eye-shaped screen-object offers a first-person point of view, a shift in perspective where we’re looking through the eye socket of the fainted casino worker waking up.

If real-life conditions mimic a game, how can one escape when the act of escaping is a game itself?

Good intentions

2022-2023 / exhibition with Tine Deboelpaep for Art Au Centre in Liege

Give us a good night’s rest, we must never feel exhausted again

Free our minds from worse-case scenarios

Guide us when we feel overwhelmed by our daily routine, and give us the strength to change

Provide us enough time, and we shall spend reconnecting with our friends

Bless us with a healthy eating pattern

Let us never be exasperated and lead us away from overreacting

Allow us to get through this week, week, after week, after week.

SkyNewsCommentsSection

2022 / 21 hand embroidered handkerchiefs, cotton, 50x50cm, Tempo tissue box, acrylic on wood, 60x30x20cm

Under videos of news events broadcast by Sky News, people posted comments that had nothing to do with the news item. These comments seemed to convey either a dismissal of the world’s events as less important than the small things in everyday life or a highlight of the value of simple, everyday experiences.

Both interpretations appeared to be ways of coping with the overwhelming flood of information that people face daily. However, these comments might also have been generated by bots designed to increase traffic or by troll users aiming to create chaos.

An edition of boxed tissues by the brand Tempo has this motto written on it: “a blend of strength and softness.” Strength and softness are needed to deal with the unpredictable consequences of an interconnected world where human and non-human agents with varied goals can influence perception.

All of the lives

2022 / 6 hand-sewn polyether foam rubber, wood / 90x50x3cm

The work delves into the constant flow of information accessible through the media, using images taken from documentaries. These images are then hand stitched onto black padded foam and mounted on boxes with the same aspect ratio as TV screens.

The Castel of Helth

2022 / exhibition with Tine Deboelpaep / CAS Maastricht

“The Castel of Helth brings together works of two artists, self-proclaimed self-care experts, and internet miners Sara Bachour and Tine Deboelpaep. They are interested in how the notion of well-being and self-care have evolved over time, especially under the influence of the dominant ‘isms’ of the day (hyper-individualism, neoliberalism, and the like). Fittigly, the title of the show takes from the 16th century treatise, which was one of the first works of popular medicine.

In The Castel of Helth, Sara and Tine have found a common visual language, drawing on art historical references and internet culture alike, and combining viral content with obscure rituals, social commentary with self-deprecating humour.

While not rid of a critical angle, the exhibition engages in a full-on flirt with the enchanting, ever-expanding universe of self care, and explores also its more ambiguous, gritty areas. The fumes of the scented candles mix with the smoke of ritual cigarettes, the beauty wax and the fish in the pond are simmering…

The Castel of Helth opens its doors to everyone in need for a dose of humor, drama, and hope.”

CAS, Center for Artistic Sensibilities

Loslaten en toevertrouwen

2021 / Presentation for L’Étalage in Malpertuisplein, Maastricht / acrylic on canvas, foam, video

During the Covid-19 healthcare crisis, there was a word resonating with insistence in many places: care. There has been a flourishing of public and private advertisement campaigns in which “care” became the underlying leitmotif. Encouraging people to take care of themselves and others. But those words sounded empty in an age in which the focus has been the individual and one’s personal happiness above everything else.

So what does it mean, all of a sudden, to change the focus from one’s own belly button to someone next to you? Is taking care of oneself the same as taking care of others? And what does this word mean in a highly individualized society? Where do you find tools for caring? Everybody has different needs and ideas of well-being and self-care; this results in a multitude of solutions being offered, which makes it difficult to navigate between legitimate or profit-driven/exploitative sources.

Loslaten en Toevertrouwen (Let go and entrust) is a work on the superficial image of care and its meaning in times of crisis. It is part of a series of works produced during the pandemic as a reflection on the quest for sense and spiritual guidance in the digital realm.

Christophe

2021 / stitched, painted and quilted fabric / 256×175,5cm

Angela wrote a message of support under an article posted on the Facebook page of the newspaper De Limburger on February 27, 2021. Christophe, a stranger to Angela, decided to make a romantic move by replying to the post with a charming message for the “world” to see. Out of curiosity, a search of Christophe’s name on Google revealed an unexpected result: a book titled “Nineteenth Century Miracles: A Complete Historical Compendium of Modern Spiritualism” written by Emma Hardinge Britten in 1883.

The nineteenth century was a period of significant technological advancements that laid the groundwork for modern communication and information technologies, ultimately leading to the creation of the internet in the twentieth century.

Making the meeting between Angela and Christophe a true nineteenth century miracle.

Helping hands

2020 / acrylic on canvas, foam rubber / variable dimensions

The work is an ever growing pile of hand shaped pillows mimicking gestures of connection, compassion, agreement and unity. The gestures have been found in meditation and self help videos online.

Ideograms

2020 / acrylic on canvas sewn on transparent vinyl / 140x400cm

The imagery used in this work have been found on public YouTube playlists of individuals that have left “edgy” comments under the page of the dutch news broadcaster NOS. Each playlist shows the users filter bubbles, some users have several videos in common, others are more extreme and isolated but either how the web offers them a place of “comfort” for their beliefs.

Magic carpet

2019 / 3D animation / 6:10 / audio: italian / text: english subtitles / HD resolution

Click on CC box (bottom right) to turn on english subtitles

Alessandro was one of the sellers of TeleMarket: Italian art and antique tv channel in business from 1982 till 2014.
This salesman was able to create a show with only three elements: a bare room, an artwork, and himself.
These three elements are magnified in the animation: the room becomes a void permeated by Alessandro’s imagination that morphs the carpet to its rhythm.

Immagini ambigue

2019 / 20inch screen with loop HD video, no audio, 4:22 / embroidery on textile.

In the installation two elements are combined: footage of ReliMarkt, a store in Hoensbroek that sells and rents catholic imagery and objects, and a reproduction of the altarpiece found in the Sint Martinus church, Maastricht.
In the work, I relate the ambiguous image of two peacocks that can be seen as eyes with the ambiguous position of a religious object displaced from its original context.

Huis in de tuin

2019 / publication of the work Misericordeplein / 210mmx297mm, 42 pages

” The work arose from our interest in an old, white house that felt out-of-place in the middle of a postmodern square.
After some research, we found out that it used to function as a garden house as part of the convent once located at the Capucijnenstraat.
Before the revitalization of this area, the house was in ruins. The municipality of Maastricht was planning to tear it down but the citizens didn’t want to let go of that piece of their city’s history. The only way to reach a compromise was to rebuild the house from scratch, based on the pictures from the beginning of the last century.
The temporary installation at the Misericorde Square played with this idea of historical value vs personal perspective. It consisted of three large-scale photographs, glued to wooden panels, and placed at the three entrances to the square. By changing their position relative to the work, the viewers could make the white house ‘disappear’ and ‘appear’ again.
What’s left of this work is the documentation of the moment the idea aligned with the ‘point of view’. “

From the exhibition Public Secrets – An Architecture of Limburg’s Visual Culture

Exhibition photos by Moniek Wegdam

Leon Passant II

2018 / eight attitudes of heraldic lions according to Wikipedia / paint on textile / 50×600 cm

From the exhibition Where widowed objects meet orphaned ideas

photo credit: Michiel De Cleene

Souvenir

2018 / Moira expositieriumte Utrecht

Souvenir is a solo show on the effects of a disconnected relationship between the past and the present time through the works: The Stretch a collection of transitions between movie frames where you can see the computer program recomposing the time between two moments half a century apart from each other; Nothing Special a series of bad google reviews of world cultural heritage; Traveling Feet and Shadows a 360 digital photo uploaded from an individual from a place that hasn’t been mapped on Google Street View; Everyone I Have Met photo album of anthropomorphic architectonic elements encountered in the public space of Bologna, Italy; Leon Passant the rise and fall of empires represented by the different position of a heraldic lion.

Savino

2018 / 4 textile arches, 223cm x 260cm each

Savino is a work dedicated to a family friend who, in his 50s’, started a personal quest for spirituality and, since then, has been sharing deep quotes daily on his social media.
The structure is based on the interior design of the cult EnlightenNext.

The stretch

2018 / video series / HD, various lengths, loop

In these short films, we witness a computer program trying to make a transition between two video fragments shot in the same location but with a half-century in between them.
The first frame of every transition is taken from digitized holiday videotape from the 60s, which I obtained from a family friend; a woman who had the chance and privilege to travel the world before the dawn of mass tourism. The last frame in the transition is from present-day found footage from the same location. Most of these places have now become tourist hotspots.
By instructing the computer to fill the gap between these two moments a lot of flaws and glitches emerge, but also new compositions and connections, reminding us of our human efforts to make sense of change and time.

Everyone I have met

2017 / printed pictures in photo album / 30cm x 31cm, 60 pages

Photo album of anthropomorphic architectonic elements encountered in the public space of Bologna, Italy.

Self 1 / Self 2

2017 / nokia 530 with orange phone case, video loop

broken samsung galaxy tab 7”, video loop

Nothing special

2017 / 19’59” (loop) / audio:- / text: english / HD resolution

The video is a collection of Google Maps reviews of popular tourist destination.

Traveling feet and shadows

2017 / 94 digital images / variable dimensions

The 360 view pictures show locations that are not mapped on Google Street. Due to the nature of 360 view photos, the body of the photographer is filtered out and only feet or a shadow remain.

Animation 2 / Animation 5 / Animation 7

2017 / digitalized hand-drawn animation

From the exhibition Look at me and see what I could not (yet) see

photo credit: Peter Cox

Misericordeplein

2017 / three wooden panels with picture printed on vinyl / 275cm x 122cm x 150cm

Collaborative research on the white house of Misericordeplein with Gladys Zeevaarders.

Hyperuranion

2016 / 3D animation / 10’10” / audio: –

The Hyperuranion is the magical world of ideas, where all things invented on the globe from the beginning of time can be found, including fire, the wheel and the toilet brush.

Leon passant

2016 / 3D animation / 10’10” / audio: –

“The polysemy and resulting from its universality of a lion has made it a prolific symbol exploited by both: religious and secular iconography throughout the ages. Lions were also repeatedly used as heraldic supporters.
Sara started observing the shifting positions they assumed in heraldic shields. the resulting, meticulously drawn series Lion Passant, presents various facets of a lion.
The cycle of activity of the animal, from awakening to falling asleep reflects the fate of historic empires seizing authority only to become overturned by another rising force.” -Alicja Melzacka

Intellectual property

2017 / screenprint on t-shirt

After asking a few people to draw a brand they liked and/or could remember, I’ve printed the materialization of their ideas on t-shirts.

Night waves

2017 / wood, plexiglass, led light / 85x25x15cm

“The oversized alarm clock lurking from the nooks of the exhibition space resembles an object from a dream, which haunts a perceiver even after the awakening.
Sara’s repetitive encounters with a clock indicating a peculiar moment in time (22:22) resulted in the emergence of this openwork.
Night waves is an attempt at transmitting a pure experience – it is supposed to evoke an uncanny feeling close to daydreaming, rather than an informed response.”-Alicja Melzacka

The great reward

2015 / 30 x 20 cm / below: 8 of 72 portraits

Child models are separated from the commercial context of a toy advertisement magazine.
This process in one magazine resulted in a total of 72 portraits.

Highs and lows

2015 / conceptual dj-set / duration: 40”

Highs and Lows is a collaboration with Joep Hinssen.
The work consists of a live DJ-set where a DJ is mixing and dividing popular songs between a speaker mounted high on a wall and a speaker mounted low on a wall.
The lyrics of the pop-songs all use the word high (or up, above, rise, etc.) or low (or down, below, etc.) as main metaphors.
The songs are thematically divided between the speakers.

Colonna sonora

2015 / multi channel audio installation / duration: 13′ 05” / loop

Colonna sonora in italian means soundtrack (Colonna=column, Sonora=sonic)
The highest speaker plays fragments of songs about being High, Up, Above, Rise or on the Ceiling.
The middle speaker plays fragments of songs on being in the Middle, in the Center, In Between, Halfway.
The lowest speaker play fragments on being on the Floor, Down or Low.
The speaker do not play contemporaneously.
This work is about the relevance of music as a pillar, an everyday support of emotions, and the strong relation between the physicality of the message and its metaphor.

Fables

2015 / 11’59” (loop) / audio: italian / subtitles: english / HD resolution / below: installation view of the video Fable during the graduation show Eyes Adjusting To Light / measurements projection: 356cm x 200cm

The video Fables is telling the stories about how and why animals have turned into household objects.

Shattered (whisper): pure

2015 / performance-installation / duration: variable / audio: english

After researching the ASMR phenomenon (Autonomous sensory meridian response) Felix Dorer and I developed this installation/performance. Behind a wall, a performer will whisper through a perforated surface a story. The story is a new genesis; where the listener is the creator of the whole world, they just forgot who they were.

Education

2015 / toys and tools for kids and adults of the same brand

Education starts from a collaboration with Joep Hinssen.
We showed on a white display three common objects and their relative toy versions. A Bosch drill next to a Bosch drill toy.
A Gardena shovel next to a Gardena shovel toy.
A Leifheit mop next to a Leifheit mop toy. The work is a visual reflection on marketing, family dynamics, and the tools of labor.

Projection

2015 / projected video stills on windows

A picture of a landscape is projected on blinded windows, giving an illusion of an outside world.

Zoo it yourself

2014 / 15 photos, dimension: variable print sizes

Zoo it yourself is a vintage Tupperware toy found at a second-hand store.

Tarot

2014 / Performance with public participation / below: performance in Intro in Situ, 14 January 2014, Maastricht

In this performance, I read the future with credit cards.

Dervish

2014 / video / language audio: italian / english subtitles / duration: 1′ 05”

Right romance

2013 / audio and text / duration : variable / below: 1 of 4 poetries

Rhetorical expressions and metaphors are cut out of a political speech.
The collage of sentences results in political poetry.

And tonight I’m asking you to join me to walk
the ones who woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life could be better
for the richness of this life
freedom
you did it because it was what you had to do
driving home late from that second job
or standing there and watch the gas pump at $50 and still going
with a realtor told they’ll just sell your house you gotta take a big loss
in those moments you knew that this just wasn’t right
but what can you do?
except work harder
do with less
trying to stay optimistic
hug your kids a little longer
maybe spending little more time praying that tomorrow will be a better day
this isn’t something we have to accept
the gift of unconditional love made permanent impressions on our souls
all the walls and legislation in the world will never heal this world like a loving hearts and arms and mothers and fathers
everyday dad gave Mom a rose
that she’d put on your bedside table
that’s how she found out what happened on the day my father died
she went looking for him because that morning there was no rose
those weren’t the easiest of days
is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives
it’s when we go to work in the morning and see everybody else on the block doing the same thing
hope and change had a powerful appeal but tonight I’ll ask a simple question
shouldn’t feel that way now
but you don’t want to go to hell too
sometimes failing
sometimes succeeding
but always striving
it’s about dreams
usually doesn’t work out exactly as you might have imagined
but today the time has come to turn the page
to forget about what might have been and to look ahead to what can be
not themselves
not on each other
look around you
these aren’t strangers
to begin to slow the rise of the oceans

Three

2013 / Sculpture with ready-made objects / four white shelves, 110x26x5 cm each, three plastic pigs toys

Open

2014 / acrylic on wooden panel and light sign / dimention panel: 150 x 200cm