4381 Boats in the Lichthal

Kourbaj created his installation Scaling the Dark: seeds, sands, moons especially for the monumental Lichthal in the museum. The installation of 4381 miniature boats extends diagonally across the hall and counts the number of days, weeks and months since the beginning of the crisis in Syria. Each boat for the number of days contains a seed, which symbolizes renewal and growth. With this, the artist shows that even in the darkest of times, growth and hope are still possible. 

The BBC podcast “A History of the World in 100 Objects” recently named Kourbaj’s installation of miniature boats the 101st object for its unique ability to encapsulate the past decade. 

Because of his interest in growth, dispersion, and movement, you will encounter seeds and plants throughout the intervention. For example, the rare 16th-century Rauwolf Herbarium, on loan from Naturalis in Leiden, is full of various medicinal and useful plants from Syria and is on display for the first time in Amsterdam. On the terrace of the café De Tropen, we worked together with the Royal Tropical Institute to grow edible plants from Syria, such as chick peas and wheat. The seeds were donated by ICARDA, and we hope to bake bread from the harvest.