<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\u2018100 Found Objects\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Saudi-backed exhibition \u201cA Necessary Fiction:\u00a0Maps, Art, and Models of Our World\u201d is currently being staged alongside the 61st Venice Biennale in the Italian city\u2019s 13th-century\u00a0Abbazia\u00a0di San Gregorio. There are 78 works in the exhibition, with 29 contemporary artists contributing, nine of whom are from Saudi Arabia, including Mater, one of the Kingdom\u2019s most influential contemporary artists, who contributes this 2015 work that, like\u00a0many of his other pieces, is inspired by Makkah. It features objects found by the artist within the vicinity of the Kaaba over the course of several years. \u201cEach artefact connects to memories, ideas, symbols, and histories, and those embedded meanings that interest the artist,\u201d\u00a0material from the exhibition\u00a0states. \u201c(This) diagrammatic pink map\u00a0\u2026\u00a0organizes these objects into a spatial and conceptual system. Unlike conventional topographic representations, this map functions as an archival structure, positioning objects as nodes within a network of historical, spiritual, and affective relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn \u201cA Necessary Fiction,\u201d Mater\u2019s map is presented alongside ancient cartographies that placed \u201csacred cities like Makkah and Jerusalem\u201d at their center. But \u201c100 Found Objects,\u201d the\u00a0material\u00a0suggests, \u201cextends cartographic practice beyond the physical realm\u201d and \u201cperfectly illustrates how cartographic structures can be utilized to negotiate memory, meaning, and beliefs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tSarah Abu Abdallah\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/pictures\/June\/3915446\/2026\/sarah_abu_abdallah_following_the_lines_-_no_crop.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\u2018Following the Lines\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAbu Abdallah works across several mediums, including performance and video. Her large-scale paintings, such as this piece from 2022, \u201ccan be seen as mapping the emotional and mental landscapes explored in her films.\u201d\u00a0\u201cFollowing the Lines\u201d\u00a0consists of\u00a0isolated collaged photos and drawings \u2014 which include birds, watches, bananas, cigarettes, a\u00a0women\u00a0with her arms raised, technical diagrams, and more \u2014 connected by \u201cintricate webs of hand-drawn lines\u201d on a background that features clouds and a moon, \u201ccreating a celestial atmosphere.\u201d In the lower right corner, a white \u201clandmass\u201d is marked with a map of the\u00a0Arabian peninsula. \u201cDeciphering these\u00a0interconnected icons involves the white hand-drawn Arabic lettering and other collaged text fragments, some of which reference mental well-being or insects that sting and bite, adding a sense of tension and unease to this delicate matrix.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tNasser Al-Salem\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/pictures\/June\/3915446\/2026\/nasser_al-salem_-_each_time_a_star_goes_astray_-_no_crop.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\u2018Each Time a Star Goes Astray\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThis aluminum-and-stainless steel sculptural work was specially commissioned for this exhibition. In it, Al-Salem \u201ctransforms Arabic calligraphy into a spatial form that evokes\u00a0astronomical imagery.\u201d The work \u201ctakes the form of reconstructed Arabic letters expanded\u00a0into a geometric body that appears to oscillate between material weight and visual lightness.\u201d Visitors\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0expect to be able to read the words clearly, however. \u201cLetters overlap and curve into one another, forming a continuous metallic trajectory with no clear beginning or end that evokes a perpetual rotation through space.\u201d The work is inspired by a particular verse in \u201cThe Bedouins,\u201d a poem by the Sudanese writer Mohamed\u00a0Abdelbari, which reads: \u201cWhenever a star strays from its orbit\/It comes seeking their footsteps to guide it.\u201d That text \u201cdisrupts the traditional relationship between the Bedouins and the stars. Instead of guiding human movement through the desert, the stars become disoriented and turn to the Bedouins\u2019 paths for direction. Al-Salem\u00a0engages\u00a0the verse to challenge conventional\u00a0perceptions\u00a0of the bond between humans and\u00a0the heavens. Once symbols of guidance, the stars become\u00a0disoriented\u00a0travelers. This reversal reveals a collective loss of ancestral knowledge and a shared state of dislocation, where both humanity and the cosmos search for orientation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBasmah\u00a0Felemban\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/pictures\/June\/3915446\/2026\/basmah_felemban_voyage_01.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\u2018Voyage 01\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe first of a series of plywood prints in which\u00a0Felemban\u00a0uses AI to \u201ccreate new images inspired by cultural narratives and familiar landscapes.\u201d In the upper half of the print, trees, fields, and migrating birds\u00a0\u201ccreating an idyllic landscape.\u201d In the lower half, we see \u201cclustered forms that evoke crowds, pilgrims, and cosmic debris.\u201d The work \u201cguides the viewer through a landscape where history, regional geography,\u00a0and algorithmic imagination converge. This interplay between different planes of existence echoes the logic of historic mapmaking, where empirical observation, mythical creatures, and systems of belief coexisted without contradiction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tFilwa\u00a0Nazer\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/pictures\/June\/3915446\/2026\/filwa_nazer_-_topoanalysis_untitled_11.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\u2018Topoanalysis\u00a0Untitled 11\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn her \u201cTopoanalysis\u201d series, the Jeddah-based multimedia artist \u201csystematically studies the psychology of intimate spaces, such as houses, attics, and corners.\u00a0These spaces often play a formative role in our lives, becoming repositories for memories, dreams, and feelings.\u201d\u00a0Nazer\u00a0originally trained as a fashion designer in Milan, and that background is\u00a0apparent\u00a0in her use of textiles, sewing, and\u00a0pattern-making\u00a0in these works, which are maps of emotion, rather than physical spaces.\u00a0\u201cNazer\u00a0begins by constructing delicate textile compositions that layer architectural plans of her own house with technical patterns derived from her personal garments. These designs sometimes reference bodily parts, stitched and sewn together to create an overall sense of spatiality and abstract topographies. By exploring the tension between the inside and outside, the physicality of the body and space, and the emotional experience they carry,\u00a0Nazer\u00a0evokes the complexities of humans\u2019 interaction with their surroundings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahmed Mater\u00a0 \u2018100 Found Objects\u2019\u00a0 The Saudi-backed exhibition \u201cA Necessary Fiction:\u00a0Maps, Art, and Models of Our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\n
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