MOHTARAF ANACHAR BASBOUS, OR MAB, IS A FORM OF HOMAGE PAID BY ANACHAR TO HIS FAMILY, HIS PARENTS, AND HIS VILLAGE.
JAWDAT ARNOUK
My association with Anachar Basbous all started over a bottle of good wine in Rachana a few years back while I was visiting the place. I was then commissioned to carry out the house extension and the pool. It was a challenge as I had to intervene in a construction made by the eminent artist, the late Michel Basbous. It was a huge responsibility. The success of that venture and many debates on sculpture and architecture ended up becoming a form of complicity.
We wandered around the globe, visiting museums together at the four corners of the Earth. We lived the strong tie between sculpture and architecture. MAB’s concept was generated from a close dialogue between the artist and the architect. From the beginning, the excavation process was respectful of the environment. Earth was removed from the site, and then the concrete juggernaut landed between the olive trees. A joint workshop with Anachar involved form and function, finishes and techniques.
A decision was made to use basic raw materials and land art as a landscape using stones from the site. Anachar started filling the space with art while MAB was taking shape; the site was alive even before MAB was engendered. I created one gesture in counterpoint with the olive grove, stretching towards the blue horizon, respectful of its future inhabitants, protecting the space from direct sunlight in osmosis with the slope, the village church, and gray stone from the site. MAB offers its roof as an art platform, a place of worship of the earth, the wind, and the horizon.