LOOFAH by n o o r t a a n

Noor Taan is a multi disciplinary Lebanese and German activist and industrial artist.She has travelled extensively in her life and has lived in places such as Beirut, Montreal, New York, London and Tokyo. Throughout her studies and voyages she explored various ways of expressing herself, her culture and her values.

In the piece found object, ETHIKET takes a trip down memory lane in order to understand the world of Noor Taan. Looking like a seamingly regular artist, Noor Taan surprises us as we discover the amount of culture she posses and its involvment into her work. The Looffah piece is a memorial to Lebanese culture. It is both an object of sustainability and tradition. Noor Taan was all the more of witness of the war in Lebanon back in 2006. She is able to make us transcend ideas that we take for granted while turning them into visuals masterpieces. Marrying perfectly sustainability & culture. Found object is a raw and unretouched piece, we travel Noor Taan’s brain, take a glimspe into her world , her sketching book , her diary and by putting the pieces together we are able to put ourselves in her shoes and explore the experiences through her senses.

In Lebanon, the Loofah is used to scrub the body when showeringto wash out the dead skin and clean dirt away. The sponge’s function extends to a cultural significance and has been long introduced in Arab traditions notably in the Hamam. The looffah is very abundant in Lebanon and can be bought from supermarkets, delis, and even from people on the streets. In contrast, the sponge is usually sold online in other countries.

Her sketching process

"Re-thinking the line as a found object.
Stimulating an environment with the properties and placement of a moving object. Juxtaposing line sketches in order to create a new object, innovate and construct a solid 2D shapes. Creating Pushing my capacities in a creative exploration of original ideas, for critical interpretation and translating ideas into forms. Using ready-mades found on the streets of Beirut, Lebanon (looffah, toothpicks, lighter, broken rock, wooden piece, spaghetti pack, stainless steal metal sponge) put together in order to create an object with a story behind it. Despite being natural, this product has an unexpectedly long lifetime. Its texture and lightness makes its shape easier to manipulate. My attentiveness for the looffah could be similar to how John Berger describes this captivating creature. The sponge varies in shape, size and design. It has been modified over and over again to improve the user’s experience: created for different purposes, the looffah can be large, small, hard, and soft.It comes in round and square shape. Being an ecological and social object, this “Thing” has never stopped fascinating me.I intend to use the Looffah in a number of my projects moving forward.I am currently in the process of creating a massive Luffah installation that will unable people to walk and interact with its texture and material .Symbolizing it as a cocoon, a raw space for pureness and innocence. A state in which we are born in before stepping foot into the outside world. This project has different phases :What makes me Me? the infinite lines and holes shaping a personality.The development of my identity, organically safely. Hide & Seek, the human temptation to step into the outside world & the final stage which I call «Social Diffraction» society trespassing making its way back into changing our original state. "