Forms of Compensation

In collaboration with Babak Radboy and Bidoun Magazine

2010

Forms of Compensation is a series of 21 reproductions of iconic modern

and contemporary artworks, with an emphasis on sculptures, paintings

and prints by Arab and Iranian artists. The series was commissioned by

Babak Radboy for Bidoun Projects and produced in Cairo by a range of

craftspeople and auto mechanics in the neighborhood surrounding the

Townhouse Gallery. The fabrication was overseen by Egyptian artist Ayman

Ramadan, who sent installation shots of the original artwork found for the

most part in Sotheby’s auction catalogues in Dubai, along with the

instruction that each copy should differ in one small way from its referent.

Besides this note, there was limited communication between Radboy and

Ramadan, or between Ramadan and the individual fabricators. The small

and often strange differences that result between the original works and

their copies arise for the most part from this lack of communication, along

with several conscious mediations made by Ramadan and considerations

for time, labor and cost made by the fabricators themselves. All 21 pieces

were completed within the space of two weeks.

Additional information can be found on Bidoun magazine’s website.