Afteruse

Ashkal Alwan presents "Afteruse" (المستعمَل), a solo exhibition by the Lebanese artist Ali Merhi, from 16 October 2026 to 15 January 2027 at the Ashkal Alwan space in Beirut. It opens on Friday 16 October, 4pm to 9pm. Merhi turns found objects into motorised works: wooden frames holding drawn or arranged material, odd sculptural structures, and pieces that look like musical instruments. A small motor inside each one makes it shake and give off noise.

Gathering and assembling sit at the centre of his practice. For this show he collected the things that daily life is improvised around. They include food tins, oil and water containers, furniture still usable or already broken, and fragments past their first purpose. Such objects travel through informal economies of upkeep, in which goods are mended and put back into use, and those economies in turn give the city its shape. Merhi brings them into his studio and rebuilds them as new structures.

The image released by the venue shows a shallow wooden frame fitted with two yellow geared motors, threaded steel rods and an Arduino circuit board. Coloured wiring and strips of brown tape hold it together. Some frames take on the look of a picture, while other assemblages grow into stranger sculptural shapes. Switched on, the works produce a harsh, clashing sound that the organisers compare to a cry of refusal. For Ashkal Alwan, the motors prolong the history of use and wear these materials already carry, and give them another life.

Merhi was born in 2000 and lives and works in Beirut. He graduated from the Lebanese University in 2022 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, and he is an alumnus of the Home Workspace Program run by Ashkal Alwan. His work spans painting, drawing, sculpture and installation, and it looks at the built environment and the objects people rely on every day. In 2023 he and Salah Missi made the installation "Bey 000" during a month-long residency at MACAM, where it was shown in the group exhibition "Duo Up!".