DUA Express
Hosting this virtual edition of DUA EXPRESS is a chimerical oracle that goes by the name of Dua. Some say Dua was born at the Lab for Mythology and Alternative Intelligence at the Institute for Worldmaking. Others say she is the reincarnation of an olive tree that witnessed the births of perpetual mythologies that outlined what we think is real. In both stories, Dua is connected to heavens and earths in ways beyond the real and synthetic. Let go of that paradigm, make an intention and click on the button above to consult Dua about a feeling, decision, thought or plot.
Make your intention and click
on the cards to ask Dua
Fortune smiles upon those who nurture dreams, urging you to wield your blessings with intention, for the world within you cradles infinite possibility.
In this dance of duality and courage, what treasures of your soul will you unearth to shape the destiny you desire?
DUA Express
Card deck, Multichannel video installation, AI Oracle
Dua express is an amalgamation of the Arab world’s indigenous forms of speculative fiction, and thus reclaims a transgenerational power for imagining the seemingly impossible.
In its first edition, the deck comprises 78 bilingual cards containing common words and themes that have been extracted from a treasure trove of ancestral prayers—such as fate, safety, and fortune.
The deck is designed for intuitive use and serves as a versatile tool for daily guidance, mutual storytelling, time travel, as well as personal and collective manifestation.
Since 2012, Raafat Majzoub has been writing an ‘alternative autobiography of another Arab world,’ titled the perfumed garden. It is a work of social sci-fi that speculates an alternative Arab world beyond the region’s insecurity and reifies it through sculptural and performative interventions, inviting the viewer to enjoy and co-create it.
A pivotal setting from the perfumed garden is the institute for worldmaking, a university campus with several departments and labs that focus on experimenting with and prototyping cultural practices. In this other world, DUA Express is published by the institute for worldmaking’s “lab for mythology and alternative intelligence.
The Artist
Raafat Majzoub
Lives and works in Tripoli
Raafat Majzoub is an architect, artist, writer, and cultural strategist. His work focuses on fiction, speculation, and collaborative learning. He is the director of The Khan: The Arab Association for Prototyping Cultural Practices where he explores a collective artisanship of truth, and builds an alternative Arab world for himself and his friends.
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