FIROUZ FARMANFARMAIAN TO UNVEIL MONUMENTAL INSTALLATION AT 1-54 MARRAKECH ART FAIR

​The Persian multidisciplinary artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian has returned to Marrakech to source, create and produce his post-tribal exhibition Memorandum of the Unknown Path. Nominated for the Jameel Prize 2021, the powerful site-specific installation will be integrated within the main halls of the Théâtre Royal de Marrakech on the VIP public program of 1-54 Marrakech 2020 African art fair. The show will open February 21st, 2020.

Artist Statement
This body of work stems from an urge to create a Wagnerian ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, a total work of art. Knotting tribal cultures in a sufi circling structure upon which woven sacred fabrics and millenary symbols hang tall. Sourced and produced in the Moroccan Draa Valley and the Sahara, the work calls for the use of air and space, shadow and light, envisioned as an ensemble of imaginary banners mirroring nomadic cosmogonies. Held together by Touareg raw camel wool, tent elements are here turned into work of art. A circle of contemplation and meditation, a haven where different cultures can meet and reflect.

As in recent explorations into post-tribalism such as in Poetry of the Tribe ( Salomon Arts & Leonard Tourné Gallery - Tribeca, NYC / Oct-Nov 2018 ) and into the idea of Trace with Permanence of Trace ( We R the Nomads Agency & Space 50 - Mayfair, London / March - May 2019 ), I here intend to build on a universal nomadic quality. Not unlike works of Korean artist Kimsooja or Colombian artist Oscar Murillo it attends to cross cultural thematics such as identity, memory and exile. The exhibition presents itself as a synthesis with a look set upon the uncertain path forward. The balance between archaic spirit and tech-age philosophies. The juncture of cultures crossing and creating new tribes. The unicity of our planet. Contemporary revolutions.

The work intends to trigger the necessary question of a return to the source: if ecology of the planet is the restoration of a natural world order, then ecology of the spirit is a restoration of a link to our millenary archaic selves. The exhibition includes Talkhimt-Tadounit (World-Tent in Tamazight) a 9:58’ art film created by FarmanFarmaian freely documenting his path into the sourcing of the installation alongside sonic signatures inspired by contemporary Sub-Saharian sonorities recorded and composed by FORRM his new experimental sound platform.

For more information and high-resolution pictures please contact Red City PR: patrick@redcitypr.com

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