SCRAPS

Scraps brings together photographs and found objects by Dariush Zandi and Shaqayeq Arabi, transforming discarded and damaged materials into unexpected sculptural forms. Toothbrushes, scissors, bicycle pumps, and other everyday objects are conjoined and reassembled, taking on entirely new meanings within the artists’ installations. A burnt generator, for example, becomes reminiscent of a birdcage, while familiar objects are transformed through their new contexts.

An installation of twenty-five generators recalls the skyline of a city, while another installation composed of burnt knives takes on the appearance of an abstract aesthetic wallpaper. The works emerged one year after the devastating explosion of an Al Quoz warehouse, an event whose violence and aftermath deeply affected the artists.

For four months, Zandi and Arabi returned to the site, where the intense smell of burnt, rusted metal and plastic, along with the lingering presence of ash…