The approved annual schedule for power rationing, according to the people’s expectations, is as follows:
During spring and fall: 1-2 hours of power cuts, followed by 3-4 hours of electricity, repeated throughout the day. Sometimes, if the weather’s nice, it gets slightly better.
During winter and summer: As we approach these “virtuous” seasons, the cuts ramp up. The cycle reverses: 4-6 hours without power, with a lucky 1-2 hours of electricity in between. When it’s really cold or hot, expect over 8 hours of cuts, maybe rewarded with one or half an hour of electricity—if you’re lucky.
Of course, blackouts would still happen even during the supposed “electricity hours.” Damascus is the spoiled city, and those were the expectations of its people unless they live in the fanciest neighborhoods.
Two weeks ago my parents told me that the rationing would last for 30 continuous hours in the village, they had half or one hour of electricity in between.
Documentation of a video call with Majd Al-Hinnawi
My name is Rand Ibrahim (b. 1993), and I am an interdisciplinary artist based in Weimar, Germany. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in
Drawing and Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, Syria, under the supervision of Prof. Nizar Sabour, 2015. Additionally, I earned an M.F.A. in "Public Art and New Artistic Strategies" from Bauhaus-Universität
Weimar in Weimar, Germany, 2024, studying under Prof. Danica Dakić, Prof. Birte Kleine Benne, Prof. Ina Weise, and Prof. Alexandra Toland.
My artistic practice involves performance, sculpture, painting, video art, and site-specific installation. My work explores themes of oppression, its dynamics and intersectionality, as well as dimensions of holistic justice. I pose questions about the realities overlooked in the accelerating capitalist age, by using critical narratives, engaging the public and connecting diverse geographical, political, and cognitive spaces.
Personal and collective stories, memories, and factual data are transformed into symbolic, representative, or abstract objects, interactions and scenes, anything to serve deliver the feeling of an observer of our current day.