A Few Decent Ways To Drown

Site specific installation. Limestone, steel, carbon paper and sunlight. Three fountains
Fountain 1: 400 x 130 x 27cm
Fountain 2: 250 x 253 x 27cm
Fountain 3: 320 x 300 x 27cm

“Time, which ravages fortresses and great cities, only enriches poetry.”

Does water ever remain the same? Is it the same water of bygone ages and their eroded landmarks? 
 
The ancient poets in the Arabic literary canon often mused on water features and praised the intricacies of ornamental fountains. But time, which uproots even the greatest cities and kingdoms, weighs down on the descriptions carried by eloquent tongues before they are lost forever to history’s waters. What happens to all this water? Perhaps the act of drowning becomes a necessity for historicizing.

A few decent ways to drown is an installation by artist Hussein Nassereddine that explores the fragile relationship between poetry, water, and time. It consists of three fountains whose surfaces are made up of papers that once belonged to collectors and editors of poetic manuscripts, retaining their notes and observations. Abandoned by history, they remain folded and forgotten in poetry books. The passage of time has left them withering, their colours changed, while they seek desperately to escape the deathly touch of water. 

Presented as part of Art Design Lebanon’s second exhibition titled “Lost In The Right Direction”. Curated by Annie Vartivarian.