The Book of Curiosities, 2022
Kunsthalle Görlitz (DE)
Multimedia installation, 32’00’’
[1] The project on The Book of Curiosities was developed as part of the solo research residency “TANZPAKT in residence.”
[2] During the residency, I researched the history of navigation (shipping) and specifically early Arabic navigation systems (hand and body gestures) that revolutionized nautical orientation. The Book of Curiosities is an 11th century Arabic manuscript collection that assembles the first cartographic records of the earth. Using a digitized version of these maps through the Bodleian Library, I made freehand sketches that formed a visual score. The spatial installation included several moving panels of fabric, reminiscent of sails, which created different spatial situations during the performance. Inspired by the history of the Silk Road, Arabic incense was also burnt and transported through the space.
The rectangular world map from the
Book of Curiosities is considered the earliest
preserved map with a graphic scale,
not only in Islamic, but also in
the history of European cartography.
The map is reminiscent in its features of
the cartographic systems of antiquity as well as
to the works of Islamic astronomers
such as Al-Khwarazmi.