Zawj | زوج
August 1, 2026
featuring Stephan Haluska and Celia van den Bogert, performing Lullaby, an original composition written by Mohammad Motevaselan
Special thanks to Dima Alhesan and Taylor Knight-Turner
For Zawj | زوج, the artists drew upon the form of the crinkle-crankle wall, a zig-zagging architectural structure with origins in Ancient Egypt. Constructed directly on the grounds of SHED, the work used material excavated from the site alongside remnants from the foundation of the building itself, allowing the architecture and history of the property to become material for the work.
The resulting curving wall moved across the site as both sculpture and gathering place. Embedded within the structure were two seats positioned in the manner of a conversation chair, or courting chair—a form of furniture designed to hold two people facing one another while remaining part of a single structure.
Through this pairing, Zawj—Arabic for pair, spouse, or one of two—considered relationships between two people as well as between bodies, materials, architecture, and place. The work asked what it means for two things to remain distinct while simultaneously forming a whole: two seats held by one structure, excavated earth returned as architecture, and a temporary intervention built from the physical history of the place in which it stood.
Situated outside SHED, the work also extended the exhibition beyond the gallery and into the property itself, creating a space that could be occupied rather than simply viewed. Visitors could sit within the sculpture, face one another, converse, or simply spend time together—allowing the work to change through use and encounter.
At its center was the wonder of that not-knowing: what might happen when two people, two materials, or two histories are brought together, and what might be made in the space between them.
