Q and A with Dr. Joseph El-Hourany (524 words, 3 min. read)
1. What has been your main source of inspiration for merging architecture and sculpture in your work?
I continue to work in the field of architecture, but I have recently focused extensively on sculpture. This particular artistic expression allows materials to play their melody in complete freedom, albeit always under my watchful eye. I am driven to dissolve the boundaries between painting and sculpture, sculpture and architecture, architecture and music, and fine art and industrial design. While beauty is not my primary aim, all categories of art—idealistic or realistic, surrealistic or constructivist—must meet a simple criterion: “They must persist as objects of contemplation.”
2. How do you incorporate sculptural elements into your architectural designs to create unique spaces?
With intensive practice in architecture and urban planning from 1999 to 2021, my experience has been profoundly rewarding. The transition to sculpture arose from a dissatisfaction with conventional approaches to architecture and its dominant representational regimes. The iterative rhythms of design commissions were increasingly called into question. Working on forms without being constrained by function is one of the boldest pursuits a designer can undertake. It is a logical path to escape the comfort of familiar territory and to radically explore a subject’s vitality and evolution as a means of cultural engagement.
3- knowing that your sculptures are unique pieces of art, often inspired by poetry or calligraphy, can you tell us what technical and artistic challenges do you encounter while working?
It is difficult to categorize the various typologies of my sculptures; their essence is elusive, only appreciated when viewed. The faces and sides of the sculptures hold equal significance for me, lacking predetermined hierarchical relationships. Each form is indebted to the fluctuating processes that shaped it. At times, I envision these forms as elements of a new iconography, while at other moments, they present challenges to contemplate. My main challenge is to test my sense of form through direct carving in wood. Any necessary surveying is conducted based on the executed model, never beforehand.
4. We also view your work as a deep, intimate expression of life’s philosophical truths. How would you describe it in a few lines, and how would you present it to your children or students?
My sculptures do not strive to embody a particular innovative aesthetic. Instead, they explore the interplay between the initial idea or sketch and the materials used. In this abundance, procedural experimentation gives rise to unpredictable forms.
5. In your opinion, how can the integration of architecture and sculpture transform public spaces and enhance collective experiences?
To apprehend the relation between sculpture and public space, it is important to mention what Richard Serra stated in an interview with Liza Béar in 1973 for Avalanche: “But when you’re talking about intentions, all you’re telling people about is the relation of physical facts. And I think an artwork is not merely predicting correctly all the relations you can measure.” one of it the relation of man with the sculpture, and the other the relation between the sculpture and the public space.
