In the fall of 1998, Khaled Abdulwahed took a photograph of a field of cactuses in Syria, near his home southwest of Damascus. The ancient cactus fields connected the city with the countryside, and in better times, the farmers would sell cactus fruit at the market. This tough plant can survive just about anything, so it has come to symbolize resilience. But during the uprising in the summer of 2012, the field was destroyed by bulldozers, helicopters, tanks, soldiers and fire. The war had begun to shape a new landscape.
Now, Abdulwahed projects the photo onto an apartment block in Berlin. He rebuilds the former field on a smaller scale, using a scanner and a 3D printer. Accompanied by an excellent minimalist sound design, he scans every detail of the landscape, and in the process brings about a miraculous rebirth in miniature. With intense focus, he performs a reenactment about destruction and remembering, havoc and reconstruction.
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