10 February—29 March, 2016
POINTS OF PERCEPTION
Curated by Claudio Libero Pisano
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
Rome, Italy
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
Rome, Italy
SHARED ORIGIN
Claudio Libero Pisano
In the collection of short stories El Aleph (1949) by Jorge Luis Borges we can find most of the key elements of his poetry. Immortality, the labyrinth as well as infinite and circular time play a decisive role in the maze of knowledge that the Argentine author has used to narrate the world. Each topic—social, political, religious—has its own code which is rarely confronted by the ones next to it, which makes it almost impossible to disentangle. The language and the geographic limits are only walls constructed to be free from any constraint.
Faig Ahmed’s most recent artistic research starts with the need to find a center, a reason that defines identity, outside of political and religious constraints. It is a conscious path that does not seek established truths, rather attempting to understand how the circle is completed, trying to find a dimension that is finally inclusive and empathetic with the world. For Ahmed the common thread is Sufism, a mystical form of research through which the artist creates the relationship between consciousness and all that exists outside of it.
Art is a tool to expand the senses; the figure of the artist is the vehicle for sharing. Experimenting with different techniques and connecting them to mystical practices, Faig Ahmed has found his own unique solution to the question on the perception of truth. Art is a discipline—without boundaries and serves to understand human history, its routes climbed on the narrow border between consciousness and perception. Between mysticism and reality. Through Sufi asceticism the artist interprets reality in its most concrete aspects.
Faig Ahmed’s most recent artistic research starts with the need to find a center, a reason that defines identity, outside of political and religious constraints. It is a conscious path that does not seek established truths, rather attempting to understand how the circle is completed, trying to find a dimension that is finally inclusive and empathetic with the world. For Ahmed the common thread is Sufism, a mystical form of research through which the artist creates the relationship between consciousness and all that exists outside of it.
Art is a tool to expand the senses; the figure of the artist is the vehicle for sharing. Experimenting with different techniques and connecting them to mystical practices, Faig Ahmed has found his own unique solution to the question on the perception of truth. Art is a discipline—without boundaries and serves to understand human history, its routes climbed on the narrow border between consciousness and perception. Between mysticism and reality. Through Sufi asceticism the artist interprets reality in its most concrete aspects.
The search for a balance, a—standard of happiness is something ancient, and human history is an inexhaustible treasure chest from which to draw in order to find answers. What matters is not the result but to set all possible connections in motion in order to embark on a journey into the identity and the thought of human beings, in order to understand and recover the equilibrium that allows us to relate harmoniously to everything that lives around us. One of the Sufi mystical concepts is “in the world but not of the world,” as if to say that to BE not only means to exist here and now, but that it is the result of all the worlds that have preceded us.
We are the sum of countless experiences that human beings have lived and this awareness allows us to access the deeper knowledge of things. The subject, his experiences and his choices, are not the product of this—temporary present, but the result of an accumulation of time that has stratified for thousands of years and that creates the new on the roots of what has been. The exhibition “Points of Perception” at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO) offers a complete picture of the research carried out by Faig Ahmed so far. The short video Pir (2016) was filmed in Gobustan, not far from Baku, a fundamental place for the history of
Azerbaijan because on these rocks the first traces of human beings are engraved, dating back as far as the Stone Age. It is not a coincidence that since 2007 the entire area has been a World Heritage Site. The particular geological conformation, full of caves and underground tunnels, has made this place a refuge of hermits and mystic thinkers over time. The artist repeatedly performs a simple and apparently meaningless gesture, walking around a rock and wrapping it with a red thread. The color red plays a decisive role in the tradition of the country; in fact it symbolizes protection and good wishes for the future.
Ahmed chose a secluded place, full of marks of previous eras, and with a repeated gesture and a thin red thread he recognizes previous experiences and makes them his own. Connecting them to the present. Alef (2016) is a video installation starting with a large hand-made book, where in over a hundred pages the symbol alif, like a mantra, is continually repeated. A vertical mark with a curl on the top right and a slightly wavy declining line. It is the basic symbol from which the whole alphabet evolves. An entire book written with a single element, which is the prerequisite for writing itself. On the ground a huge rosary composed of clay beads. On the opposite side a fixed video camera frames the artist from above. He is seated and is counting off an endless rosary while browsing the book. He reads a text on which there is nothing written, but at the same time has the potential of all the world’s knowledge.
In the series of exhibited carpets, traditional Azerbaijani patterns are altered to make products that seem projected into the future thanks to a daring and futuristic aesthetic, despite the fact that their executive aspect remains faithful to ancient methods. They are hypnotic works in which one is likely to get lost, where the sign is dismembered (Outflow, 2014), pixelated, liquefied (Liquid, 2014). In some the artist plays with painting without using paint (Gara, 2014); in others the decomposition of a design, reminiscent of the colors of a mandala, melts on traditional decorations (Invert, 2014). The design is doubled like reflections in a distorting mirror (Double Tension, 2011) or melting like magmatic substances (Oiling, 2012). The choice of exhibiting the carpets in the upright position increases the alienating effect in the observer and gives a new role to a work that, in addition to aesthetic value has a functional feature, which explains its existence.
In these works, which show the signature style that has most characterized the work of Ahmed so far, the woven sign is constantly recomposed in different forms, suggesting movement and three-dimensionality even in the stillness of a flat surface. The loom weaving of the carpets has ancient origins and is crucial to the identity of a country like Azerbaijan. Some scholars attribute the origin of this technique to this very country, a technique later exported to Turkey, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. Azerbaijani carpets are exhibited in the most important museums throughout the world and are a crucial part of the image we all have of this part of the world. It is no coincidence that Ahmed has chosen the queen of the traditions of his country for revisiting it in his own way, with the language of his time. Distorting the iconography and illustrating the present with a very ancient instrument.
"Points of Perception" project
Photos by Alessandro Vasari and Giovanni De Angelis
Photos by Alessandro Vasari and Giovanni De Angelis
The Limits, 2016 | Rug, nails and blood
Photo by Alessandro Vasari and Giovanni De Angelis
Photo by Alessandro Vasari and Giovanni De Angelis
The Limits, 2016
Documentation of the art practice
Documentation of the art practice
The Limits, 2016
Documentation of the art practice
Documentation of the art practice
With respect to the perfect execution, always the same and unchanging, the design consists of surfaces that float and create relationships with the tradition. In the West it is what the contemporary artists who use painting as the primary means of expression are doing, a confrontation with the cumbersome Italian and European painting tradition, trying to free themselves from it—without canceling it. For the video installation Dance (2016) Ahmed looked at the aesthetics of hypnotic Sufi dances, making a series of typical cylindrical hats, but of improbable size. Too large or too small to be worn, let alone to dance. In the video people walk in a circular pattern, raise the hats and try to move forward by keeping them in place. An impossible task, but that does not deter the protagonists of the video performance. The quest for equilibrium is not a secondary component of the Sufi mystic. Attempts to take a position once a center is found is a goal that should be pursued consistently. A large part of the museum is occupied by the monumental installation Wave (2016) in the center of the pavilion. An imposing work, about 20 meters long and almost 15 meters wide. The central structure is raised to a height of eight meters. The floor of a place of prayer becomes a sculptural element that proceeds vertically and, defying the laws of physics, rises in the environment, surrounding the spectator with a majestic wave. The carpet of a mosque located in the museum also incorporates the existing architectural elements and manages to transform the space that becomes more than a simple art container, but is itself a viable artwork. The possibility of walking barefoot on soft decorations has an inherent meaning, where, once again, Ahmed focuses on the connection between art and life, and the work is itself a shareable experience. The obvious beauty and the evident connections to the sacred don’t make it a lofty and detached work to be admired with reverential respect.
The Limits, 2016
Photo by Alessandro Vasari
Photo by Alessandro Vasari
Limits (2016) is a large round carpet with a strong aesthetic impact. The central part is completely covered with golden nails and some red spots on the surface anticipate the real nature of the work. A nearby video illustrates that the carpet, as it appears to us, is the result of a performance achieved on the work itself. The camera shows the artist’s feet advancing insecurely on the nailed area; two ox hearts are attached to his soles, tied to the calves in a rough way. The discomfort in front of these images, where a closeup view shows even the pressure of the nails on the flesh, is the final part of Ahmed’s story for this exhibition. Gold, blood, sacrifice, and pain are the elements used by the artist to emphasize the need for a path that results in an understanding, by putting oneself on the line, of the reasons for thought and of the indissoluble relationship between mind and body.
The whole exhibition is accompanied by a sound, designed by the artist, which unites the individual works into a single body of work. Several chapters of a book. Art, according to Ahmed, is an excellent passe-partout to reconnect past and present, tradition and modernity. Its nature and its techniques have no boundaries, and everything that is inside and outside of perception can be interpreted through its infinite languages. The artist is an active explorer who, like a shaman, connects mind and body. His works are a message to share that ask questions and call for awe and wonder. The aesthetic aspect plays a decisive role only if seen in the context of the process that has created it and made it possible. Ahmed knows the difference between boundaries and borders; for him art is a continuous search for freedom and overcoming any obstacle is the path necessary to reach it.