Entrevista a Reno

ENTREVISTA A RENOZ - Artista de Residències B-M 2025

INTERVIEW TO RENOZ – Artist in B-M Residences 2025

by Zeynep Ayta

Renoz és un artista multidisciplinari libanès que treballa entre el gravat, els murals i les intervencions urbanes. A través de la seva obra explora com es creuen la vida urbana, els sistemes socials i les estructures polítiques. Els seus projectes sovint combinen recerca de camp i experimentació amb materials, movent-se amb fluïdesa entre el carrer i l’estudi.

Renoz va ser un dels artistes seleccionats per la residència de B-Murals, en col·laboració amb la Yaran Foundation, entre el gener a l’abril de025. En aquesta conversa, parlem de la seva relació en evolució amb els materials i les tècniques, i del paper que hi tenen la reflexió personal i la recerca; especialment a The Fountain, un projecte en curs sobre l’escassetat d’aigua a Beirut, i Imperial Footprints, projecte iniciat durant la residència per investigar les empremtes materials de l’imperi colonial.

Renoz is a Lebanese multidisciplinary artist working across printmaking, murals, and street-based interventions. Through his work, he explores how urban life, social systems, and political structures intersect. His projects often blend field research and material experimentation, moving fluidly between the street and the studio.

From January to April 2025, Renoz was one of the selected artists in residence at B-Murals, in collaboration with Yaran Foundation. In our conversation, we talk about his evolving relationship with materials and techniques, and the role that personal reflection and research play in his work; especially in The Fountain, an ongoing project about water scarcity in Beirut, and Imperial Footprints, which he began during the residency to investigate the material traces of the colonial empire.

Comencem parlant de la teva tècnica. Treballes amb diversos mitjans, com el gravat o els murals. Què t’atrau d’aquests formats?

La meva feina està molt vinculada a les estacions. A l’estiu puc treballar a l’exterior, així que tendeixo a fer obres de gran format. A l’hivern em quedo dins i em centro més en el gravat, la pintura i altres treballs d’estudi. Però, sobretot, m’atrauen els materials que puc manipular i modelar com vull. Cada material és una via d’expressió, i m’agrada explorar-ne la simbologia. Què pot dir el material en si? Què pot afegir a la idea que vull tractar? Per això també m’agrada experimentar amb diferents disciplines i formats.

I’d like to start by asking about your technique in general. You work with different mediums, such as printmaking and murals. What draws you to these? 

My work is very much tied to the seasons. In the summer, I can work outside, so I tend to go bigger in scale. In the winter, I stay indoors and focus more on printing, painting, and other works in the studio. But mainly, I’m drawn to materials I can play with and model the way I want. Every material is a means of expression, and I like to explore the symbology of the material. What the material itself can say? What could it add to the idea I want to talk about? This is also why I like to experiment with different disciplines or mediums.

Hi ha algun mitjà amb el qual et sentis especialment connectat?

Segurament el gravat. Tinc una molt bona relació amb el paper en general, però el gravat especialment perquè és una pràctica molt disciplinada. Gaudeixo passant hores treballant sobre una mateixa planxa; aquest llarg procés em dona molt espai per conceptualitzar les meves idees. També diria que soc una mica “friki” de la tècnica. M'encanta la part tècnica, i el gravat, sent un mitjà tan específic i delicat, em dona molt d’espai per explorar.
Últimament treballo amb mezzotint, o manera negra. És una tècnica molt fotogràfica que implica preparar la planxa amb un procés laboriós. Una planxa petita pot portar fins a cinc hores de preparació. Es tracta de crear una textura granulada i després esborrar-ne parts per formar la imatge. M’encanta perquè permet resultats molt fotorealistes, i això encaixa bé amb el meu enfocament realista.

Creus que la teva formació en belles arts influeix en com treballes a l’espai urbà?
Per descomptat, una cosa alimenta l’altra. La meva obra barreja sovint les dues coses; a vegades faig servir tècniques tradicionals, altres cops adopto un enfocament més experimental quan treballo al carrer. Els meus projectes solen girar al voltant de l’entorn urbà, ja sigui portant la pràctica d’estudi al carrer o recollint elements del carrer per desenvolupar-los a l’estudi. Funciona en ambdues direccions, i crec que s’influencien mútuament de manera constant.

Crec que The Fountain Project és un gran exemple d’això. Em sembla molt interessant. Ens en pots parlar més?

És un projecte llarg, hi treballo des del 2021-2022. La idea és reimaginar els camions cisterna d’aigua com una versió moderna de les fonts tradicionals. A Beirut hi ha escassetat d’aigua per culpa d’una infraestructura deficitària i mala gestió, tot i ser una ciutat històricament rica en aigua. El que em va activar va ser veure el camió cisterna com a objecte, la normalització d’aquest sistema alternatiu. Ens hi hem acostumat tant que ja no ens n’adonem. Amb aquest projecte, vull tornar a posar el focus sobre aquests camions i usar-los per parlar de la crisi hídrica.

Intento investigar el tema des de diversos angles: social, històric, geogràfic… Per exemple, com ha canviat el fet d’anar a buscar aigua: abans les dones caminaven fins a les fonts; ara la gent surt corrents al balcó quan sent el camió. També analitzo com es distribueix l’aigua a la ciutat. Els camions revelen molt. Si en veig un amb “Jordan” escrit, sé que ve d’un barri cristià. És un petit detall, però diu molt de l’estructura social.

Incorpores molta recerca a la teva creació artística. Ho veus com una forma d’activisme? Esperes reaccions o és més reflexió personal?

No crec tenir les eines per ser activista. Vull generar preguntes, no donar respostes. La recerca que faig és per reforçar les meves idees amb fets. Vull provocar que la gent es pregunti: “Per què passa això?” És més aviat una reflexió personal. Jo mateix vaig patir l’escassetat d’aigua vivint a Beirut. Em despertava cada dia amb el so del camió. Al principi ni me n’adonava, però un dia ho vaig pensar: em desperto per això. Aquesta experiència personal em va portar al projecte. Si serveix a algú o genera canvis, perfecte, però no és l’objectiu principal.

Is there a medium you feel most connected to?

It's printmaking for sure. I have a very good relationship with paper in general, but printmaking specifically because it's a very disciplinary practice. I enjoy spending hours working on the same plate, this long process creates a lot of space for me to conceptualize my ideas. I would also say that I'm a technical nerd. I love technical stuff, and with printing being such a specific and tricky medium, there's a lot of technicalities in it that I really enjoy.

Lately, I’ve been working with mezzotint, called manera negra in Spanish. It’s a very photographic technique that involves preparing a plate through an intense labor process. A small plate alone can take up to five hours to prepare. The process is about creating a grainy texture on the plate and then erasing parts of it to form the image. I love this technique because it allows for very photorealistic results, which fits my work well since I primarily focus on realism.

Do you think your fine arts background influences these interests and how you work in the urban environment?

Of course, one definitely feeds the other. My work is usually a mix of both; I use very traditional techniques sometimes, and other times I take a more experimental, plastic approach when working in the street. My projects often revolve around the urban environment, either by bringing my studio practice and fine art background to the street or by taking elements from the street and developing them in the studio. It works both ways, and I think they constantly influence each other.

I think The Fountain Project is a great example of how you bring these different approaches together. I find this project quite interesting, can you tell us more about it?

It's a long project I've been working on since 2021-2022. The idea behind The Fountain is to reimagine water trucks in the city as a modern version of traditional fountains. Beirut has been facing water scarcity due to poor infrastructure and mismanagement, even though it’s historically rich in water. What triggered me on this project was the water truck as an object, the normalization of this new alternative system. We have become so familiar with it that we don’t realize the trucks around us anymore. With this project, I want to bring the attention back to these trucks and use it as a case or a portal to talk about the issue of water scarcity.

I try to research the topic from different angles; social, historical, geographical… For example, I look at how the act of getting water has changed over time, from women walking to springs to people now rushing to their balconies when they hear a truck. I also explore how water is distributed in the city and the trucks themselves reveal a lot. For example, if the truck has Jordan written on it, then I know it’s from a Christian neighborhood. It’s a small detail, but it gives me a lot of insight into the city’s social structure.

As you incorporate a lot of research in your projects, I wonder if you see this as a form of activism? Do you hope your projects generate reactions from the public or officials, or is it more of a personal reflection?

I feel that I don't really have the tools or the means to be an activist. I aim to raise questions, but I don’t present answers. The research I do is mainly for me to strengthen my ideas based on facts. I want to provoke people to ask themselves, "Why is this happening?" It’s more of a personal reflection. When I was living in Beirut, I was personally affected by the water scarcity, which is why I started this project. I used to wake up every day to the sound of the water truck. It became so routine that I didn’t even realize it at first, but after a while, I thought about it and realized I was waking up because of this truck. That personal experience led me to start the project. If it helps someone or creates change, that’s great, but it’s not my main goal.

Creus que l’art urbà pot tenir un impacte social o generar canvis als barris?

Totalment. L’art urbà és un llenguatge molt poderós. Utilitza l’espai compartit com a plataforma per expressar idees, i el més interessant és que tothom pot interactuar-hi, fins i tot embrutar-lo o esborrar-lo. Per a mi, és una manera molt bona d’implicar-se amb la comunitat, a nivell social o polític. Vaig veure el poder d’aquest art arran de la Revolució del 17 d’octubre al Líban, on es van crear o vandalitzar moltes obres en resposta a la situació. A diferència de les galeries, l’espai urbà és un lloc de comunicació obert a tothom.

Durant la residència a B-Murals segueixes treballant amb l’entorn urbà, però ara des d’un estudi. Ens pots explicar el projecte?

M'he mudat recentment a Barcelona, i amb tot el que passa al món, no puc evitar veure que estic, de sobte, dins de l’imperi. I no puc ignorar els privilegis que això comporta. Ho vaig començar a connectar amb el que passa a l’Est, i com això serveix perquè l’imperi es mantingui. Parlo d’imperis com la UE, els països de l’OTAN, el Regne Unit, la Xina… que han colonitzat altres països i encara avui s’alimenten d’aquestes pràctiques extractives.

El projecte es diu Imperial Footprints. Traça les empremtes dels recursos de l’imperi: d’on venen i com han arribat aquí mitjançant pràctiques colonials. Extrec materials de la ciutat, restes del dia a dia urbà, en faig pigments i amb ells pinto el lloc d’on s’han extret originalment.
Amb aquest procés, mostro quatre fases de l’imperialisme: guerra, extracció, desenvolupament i expansió/militarització —que tornen a portar a la guerra. És un cicle que s’alimenta de si mateix.

Pots donar exemples dels materials que reculls?

I tant, aquí tens una traducció més acurada i rica d’aquest fragment:

Ens pots donar alguns exemples dels materials que reculls per crear aquests pigments?

Un dels pigments que he elaborat prové de piles alcalines que he trobat pel carrer. Aquestes piles contenen principalment dos components: diòxid de manganès i zinc. Ambdós materials s’extreuen sobretot a Zàmbia. Però la gent no hi pensa realment: només veus una pila. El teu cervell de consumidor no et permet veure el combustible que manté en marxa la teva vida quotidiana; no et qüestiones d’on ve.

Això és precisament el que m’interessa: rastrejar aquestes connexions i mostrar d’on provenen realment tots aquests privilegis i recursos. El paviment que trepitgem, l’eficiència del transport públic… quin cost tenen totes aquestes comoditats? Què s’amaga darrere d’aquests sistemes? Tot forma part del mateix cicle.

Ara mateix m’estic centrant sobretot en el manganès. M’agrada com a material, és força agradable per pintar-hi. Però, per posar un altre exemple, he estat recollint òxid de ferro del carrer —rovell—, de tanques o superfícies metàl·liques. La major part del ferro d’aquests materials també prové de llocs com Sud-àfrica o antics territoris colonials. I el ferro és a tot arreu: a les tanques, a les infraestructures, fins i tot en coses tan quotidianes com les línies grogues de l’asfalt. Aquest pigment també es coneix com a cromat vermell, i s’extreu de països com el Marroc o el Congo.

Però per a mi no és només una qüestió d’espai o de materials físics; es tracta del gest de posar sobre la taula tota aquesta idea. Perquè el món del consum i el capitalisme t’impedeix veure què hi ha rere el producte.

Com mostres aquest “què hi ha darrere” a les pintures?

Amb cada pigment, n’investigo l’origen. Per exemple, per al diòxid de manganès vaig trobar una empresa a Lusaka, Zàmbia. El seu propietari havia publicat fotos a Facebook davant de mines enormes, envoltat de treballadors africans. Eren imatges simbòliques, mostrant els colonitzadors moderns. Amb el pigment extret de les piles, pinto aquestes fotos.

Com vols que evolucionin els diferents elements del projecte?

Les pintures sobre paper ja representen fases i materials. Però vull fer una paleta d’aquarel·les amb els pigments extrets, acompanyada d’un fullet explicatiu amb la recerca. El producte serà una eina per comunicar.

Serà una edició limitada. M’agrada treballar en edicions, és més accessible, més social. També ho faig amb el gravat: faig obres reproduïbles però sense perdre’n el concepte. No en faré una producció massiva, però sí una petita edició.

Finalment, com t’ha afectat viure a Barcelona? Notes canvis en la teva obra segons la ciutat on ets?

Totalment. La ciutat on ets t’ofereix coses diferents. Jo parteixo d’un element del paisatge urbà i hi torno una vegada i una altra.

A Beirut m’interessaven sobretot les solucions alternatives que crea la gent per sobreviure. Els camions cisterna esdevenen un sistema complet. Allà és més evident el vincle amb el govern.
Barcelona és diferent. Sincerament, no sé si l’espai urbà aquí és tan interessant com a Beirut: em sembla més pla, més subtil. Tot està net, ordenat…
Però també sento que és una ciutat ferotge. Al principi, vaig pensar: si caic, ningú m’ajudarà. Hi ha una agressivitat. És una ciutat molt turística, amb una imatge bastant "netejada". També hi veig molt consumisme. Així que sí, el lloc canvia la meva mirada i el que em fa reaccionar.

On that note, do you think urban art, in general, has the power to drive social change or create an impact in the local neighborhoods?

Definitely. Urban art is a powerful language of communication. It uses shared spaces as a playground or a platform to express ideas, and the cool thing about it is that anyone can interact with it, spilling some white paint on what you just did. For me, it’s a great way to engage with the community on a social or political level. I’ve realized the power of urban art, especially after Lebanon’s October 17 Revolution, where a lot of works were either created or vandalized in response to what was going on. Compared to galleries for example where art is limited to a certain type of audience, the street serves as a platform to communicate for everyone. 

In your project at the B-Murals Residency, you're still engaging with the urban environment, but instead of creating in the street, you're bringing elements from it into your studio. Can you start by giving an overview of the project?

So, I recently moved to Barcelona, and with everything happening in the world right not, I couldn't help but see that I'm suddenly within the empire. And I couldn’t ignore the privileges that come with that. At the same time, I started linking it to what’s happening in the East, and how this serves as a tool for the empire to sustain itself. And with the empire, I refer to all the big imperial powers like to EU, NATO countries, UK, China… These are countries that have occupied and colonized others and they still sustain themselves through extractive practices. 

The project is called Imperial Footprints. It’s about tracing back the footprints of resources that are in the empire, where they originally came from and how colonial practices brought them here. What I’m doing is extracting materials from the city, from things that are usually byproducts of urban life. Then I use this material to make a pigment and use it to paint the place where they were taken from.

Through this process, I present four stages of imperialism: it starts with war, then moves into extractive practices, followed by development and evolution of the empire, and finally expansion and militarization—which then leads back to war again. It’s a cycle that keeps feeding itself off of other countries.

Can you share some examples of the materials you’re collecting to create these pigments?

One of the pigments I made comes from alkaline batteries I found on the street. These batteries contain two main components: manganese dioxide and zinc. Both of these materials are primarily mined in Zambia. But people don’t really think about that, you just see a battery. Your consumer brain won’t let you see the fuel that keeps your daily life running; you don’t think about where it comes from.

That’s what interests me, tracing these connections and showing where all these privileges and resources actually come from. The pavement you walk on, the efficiency of public transport, what cost do these conveniences come at? What’s behind these systems? It all ties back to the same cycle.

Right now, I am mostly focusing on manganese. I like it as a material, quite fun to paint with. But to give another example, I’ve been collecting rust from the streets, from fences or different metal surfaces. Most of the iron in these materials also traces back to places like South Africa and former colonies. And iron is everywhere; it’s in the fences, in the infrastructure, even in something as ordinary as the yellow lines on the road. This is also called red chromate, and it’s extracted from different countries, like Morocco and Congo.

But for me, it’s not just about the space or physical materials; it’s about the gesture of presenting this whole idea. Because the world of consumerism and capitalism blocks you from seeing things behind the product.

How do you present this idea of what is behind the product in your paintings?

So, for each pigment I use, I trace it back to its origin. I researched the sources of manganese oxide for the batteries for example and found a company based in Lusaka, Zambia. Its owner had posted a lot of photos on his Facebook account and there were many photos of him posing in front of these massive mines, surrounded by hundreds of African workers extracting resources for him. These photos were very symbolic, allowing us to see the modern-day colonizers that shape these industries today. With the pigment I extracted from the batteries, I paint these photos back.

Where do you see this project leading to? Do you have a vision for how the different elements like the paintings, pigments, field research will come together?

The visual works, the paintings on paper, already represent different phases and materials. But my idea is to create a watercolor palette out of the pigments I extract. The reason for making this palette is that it gives me a way to present the research in a leaflet that comes with it. The product itself will become a way to communicate the research on where these colors come from.

It will be an edition. I like working in editions, it feels more accessible, more as a social approach. I also work with printmaking, and for me, it’s about making the work reproducible while still keeping the concept intact. I won’t mass-produce it, but I’ll make a small edition of these pigment sets as a product.

And finally, I’m curious about how living in Barcelona has affected you. Do you feel like the work you produce changes depending on the city you’re in, especially compared to when you're working in Lebanon?

Definitely, I think the city you’re in always offers something different, especially since I like investigating the urban landscape. I start from something I see, focus on one element or subject, then repeating and going more in depth.

In Beirut, for example, my interest was mostly around the alternative solutions that people create to survive. The water trucks as alternative solutions became a coping mechanism, then eventually a whole system on its own. I think in Beirut, you see different things and realize it’s more systematic, relating to the government.

It’s different here in Barcelona. To be honest, I don’t know if the urban space here is as interesting as Beirut, it feels more flat, more subtle. The city feels neat, clean, very well maintained, it reflects a kind of order.

But at the same time, I can see that the city is a very vicious place. In the first weeks here, I felt like if I fell down, no one would pick me, people might pass over me. There is a certain aggressiveness in the city. It is also a very touristic city, there is a certain image of Barcelona and honestly it feels a bit washed. I can also see that there’s a lot of consumerism that happens here. So definitely, the place changes things, of what I notice, what I respond to.

Entrevista a Renoz per / Interview to Renoz by: Zeynep Ayta
Fotografia de / Photo by: Renoz & Sebastián Peinado

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