DUBAI: “Art is a pretext,” wrote French-Tunisian artist eLseed on Instagram, speaking about his first virtual collage that he created on Zoom, the social app, on Monday. The renowned calligraffiti artist depicted the words of French novelist André Malraux: “Art is the shortest path from one human being to another human being,” on a digital artwork that was divided among 49 participants from around the world. Each piece was sent to the assigned members, who were told to use it as a virtual background, a function available on Zoom that allows users to change the background against which they appear to an image of their liking, during the call. To organize the final collage, eLseed allowed people to enter the call according to their position on the artwork. The artist likened the artwork to conducting a symphony. “Each person was a single instrument playing a solo,” eLseed wrote to his 133,000 Instagram followers. “Person by person, I could witness the artwork taking shape.” “It was amazing to see each person entering the room and to their surprise, being greeted by people from all over the world whether they knew them or not,” he added. The participants spoke for over an hour as they listened to US musician Aloe Blacc perform throughout the call. The Dutch dancers Norah, Yarah and Rosa also performed during the meeting. “We were all at the same level, in unison, sharing the same human condition,” eLseed wrote. “The best part of it was not the artwork, it was the ambiance, the energy, and the love everyone shared during the call.”