During their childhood summers in Damascus, Syria, brothers Bady and Jade Dalloul created fictional countries, ‘Badland’ and ‘Jadland,’ where they imagined themselves as kings of imagined lands. Using their grandfather’s old diaries, they made “real, fake books,” complete with detailed flags, street maps, currencies, car plates and even TV programmes.

In Island Playground, Bady and Jade reunite to guide children aged 8–12 in a similar act of imagination, inventing their own countries. Participants divide up their imagined territory, national symbols and administer different regions.

Through drawing, collage, and storytelling, children design maps, and build national symbols, from flags and uniforms to palaces, stamps, and fictitious banknotes.

This hands-on workshop encourages creativity and collaboration while teaching children essential communication and critical thinking skills. Children practice expressing thoughts and imagination and explore important topics such as decision-making and solution finding – while having fun inventing their own worlds!

Breakdown:

• 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Tour of Bady Dalloul’s Self portrait with a cat I don’t have
• 11:30 AM – 12:00 AM: Collective brainstorming 
• 12:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Participants take a trip to the Jameel library,  researching various different books and resources to scan and take inspiration from
• 12:30 AM – 1:30 PM Collaging and prompt based activities to begin building and creating the different parts of their imaginary country. 
• 1:30 – 2:00 PM: Regrouping, tying in ideas together while each group presents their findings and creations 

This workshop is free to attend and is suitable for ages 8-12. No prior art experience is required. All materials and equipment are provided.

About Bady Dalloul 

Bady Dalloul (b. 1986) is a multimedia artist whose work entwines historical events, personal facts and fiction. His works are imbued with sociological and historical reflections on his heritage and issues of global migration. Reflecting on territorial demarcations, Dalloul questions Western-centric historiography and knowledge production. Through drawing, video and objects, Dalloul engages a dialogue between the imagined and the real by questioning the logic of writing history.

Bady Dalloul has had solo exhibitions at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2025); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar (2022); Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan (2019).

About Jade Dalloul

Jade Dalloul (1993) is a designer and artist based in Paris and Dubai. He graduated from ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels in 2017. His path led him through game design, special effects, and art direction before completing his studies in interactive design at Gobelins in Paris in 2019. He now teaches interactive design at Gobelins.

His work highlights the place of multinationals in our world. Questioning the way in which certain States are administered like companies, and companies undertake like States.

In 2017, his project “Brand Currency” was covered by a range of media, including CNN, Fubiz, El Financiero, China Times, and Étapes.

In 2020, he was the artistic director of “Prism 7”, the first video game produced by the Centre Pompidou.

In 2024, he co-founded Mirage, a design studio focused on interactive design and on making complex information easier to understand through gamification and 3D. The studio works with brands such as Maison Margiela, Ubisoft, L’Oréal, and KPMG.

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