Chefchaouen 2004
Essence and existence was part of the installation ‘Direct/Indirect’ by the London based group Pangaea Arts in the kasbah of Chefchaouen (Morocco), during the Arts festival in July 2004.
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| acrylic and letraset on canvas. 2004. | |
All cultures interact with each other. Not only have they always done, but the more they interact the more they deserve to be called culture. Essence and existence is about the myth that the European and Arabic cultures are so different that they are bound to clash. It celebrates the cross-fertilization of cultures in Andalusian Spain between 711 and 1492, through which the major scientific and philosophycal works of antiquity were transmitted to Northern Europe. These currents of thought and scientific discoveries played a major role in the development of the European culture.
To illustrate this cultural exchange and its influence on contemporary Europe I based my work on the aristotelian concepts of essence and existence. Aristotle’s theories are one of the main pillars of western thought. However, his work would be unknown in Europe had it not been for the translation and comments of it made by Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Andalusian philosopher and thinker. Thanks to Ibn Rushd’s work, Aristotles was introduced in Europe, where he influenced science and religion enormously. It is interesting that in Europe we know the work of one of the most important philosophers in our culture thanks to one of the most important Arab philosophers, who happened to be European.
Essence and existence define the project both visually and conceptually. Essence contains the world of thought, ideas and science. Philosophers like Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi, pharmacists like Ibn al-Baitar, algebra, aritmetics, logarythms and algorythms (al-Jwarizmi), the decimal system and the 0. Existence refers to the tangible. Instruments like the astrolabius, things like paper, cotton or soap. Vegetables and flowers like citrics, asparragus, rose or jasmin, etc. Essence is represented by white and existence by black.
The written language used is HTML, representing western technology condensed in the Internet phenomenon, which so much depends on the Arab cultural legacy. Computers’ binary code would not exist without the 0, nor would database management be possible without algorythms. Equally, aristotelian logic would not be an essencial element of western metaphysics were it not for Ibn Rushd’s work. Cultures depend on exchange for their flourishing and development.
This interdependence is precisely what the project of essence and existence wanted to show and materialize during the festival in Chefchaouen. The circle of theory closed in practice with the collaboration of artists and audience, Arabs and Europeans. In the resulting paintings the white and HTML background was a european co-production, and the black stroke representing the putting into existence the essence of the project, was an Arabic co-production.
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| essence and existence as part of the installation
in the kasbah in chefchaouen, together with their "explanations". |
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| acrylic, charcoal, blue chaouen pigment on cardboard. |
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| The cultural exchange expressed in the work. These two pieces, amongst others, were produced during the festival in conjunction with Ahmed Ben Abdellah, Zineb Makdad and Miranda Sharp. |
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Pangaea Arts and the project ‘Direct/Indirect’ for the festival
Pangaea Arts is a curatorial group who selects and invites artists for specific projects. It has experience and a track record for working in heritage sites and for being sensitive to the non physical aspects of cultural heritage. Pangaea engages with notions of architecture, meaning of architecture, regeneration, dereliction, memory encapsulated in cherished buildings and history embedded in historic sites.
For the Journee Theatrales de Chefchaouen Pangaea’s project was called ‘Direct/Indirect’. In this proyect the group wanted to address its initially indirect and, when the group arrived in Chefchaouen, increasingly direct relationship between Chefchaouen and the Kasbah. Also to somehow express its firm belief that there is common human ground between human beings. With this in mind, the group worked collaboratively, and each artist had designed one or two proposals as part of ‘Direct/Indirect’, for which this person was the lead person and the others supported him or her in the realisation of their idea.
PANGAEA ARTS ARTISTS:
Bettina Reiber (Germany) · (Pangaea Arts)
Milo Taylor (United Kingdom) · [suborg.com]
Miranda Sharp (United Kingdom)
Ruby Wright (United Kingdom)
Takako Hasegawa (Japan)
Verónica Pérez Karleson (Spain/Sweden) · [grafeo.com]
encrypted feminist
magazine
on-line qstnnr
laaaotfohc
grafeos
essence and existence
you,
fascist (or the holy trinity of manipulation)
the
book of madness
propaganda
paintings and drawings
photography
