SALIM BAYRI, Let the blue in, 2018
screen print, blue frame + AR app for Android sytem
This screen print (in a small edition) features quickly drawn images from the Maghreb (North Africa) in a dark blue frame. This work includes an AR app that can be uploaded to an Android phone. When the telephone camera is held in front of work, the silkscreen changes into a collection of Delft Blue images as can be found on old tiles.
Variability is a common theme in Salim Bayri's work. The screen print 'Let the blue in' was originally commissioned for Spaces - The Power of Ten Prize 2018, but after approval from the jury, Salim changed the image unannounced one day before the public presentation. That was found unacceptable. He promised the jury chairman to print the original print after all. In order to be represented with a work, the silkscreen that he changed hung as a temporary solution in the exhibition, among nine other prize winners.
At the opening, Salim suddenly took out his cell phone in front of several jury members and held it up in front of the silkscreen. The originally approved print appeared perfectly on screen. See the additional image above.