How to Stop a Rock from Growing

Tarek Haddad & Laetitia Hakim (duo)

2020

In a game of ‘Rock Paper Scissors’, rock beats scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper smothers rock.

In order to preserve a cyclic equilibrium, the game offers established dualities far away from physical attributes. These entanglements are based on constant, dynamic and aggressive forward and reverse actions that allow parity. What happens when an element goes missing?

Inspired by the hostile times Lebanon has been facing and the clashes Beirut has observed after the October 2019 revolution, this work finds allegory and assigns parallelism between these elements and the political and socio-economic pillars of our state.

For decades now, the rules - and the odds, seemingly - have tipped in favor of paper beating rock.

“How to stop a rock from growing” is a conscious inspection of their elemental compositions, properties, and strengths. It is an investigation of the current state imposed by the missing element. It is not yet a search for the scissors.

This body of work is a reflection on power struggle, absurdity, and fragility.