Winds, Origins and Towers

Storytelling, as a methodology, is a very powerful instrument to stir the idea of ‘origin’ up. No tradition is original; influence is essential. And this is what makes the process of transmutation very valuable.

During the past year, while working on my last film, 69, I have become highly fascinated by the idea of harnessing wind power and playfully relocating the ‘origin’ and the ‘outcome’ of this process. In the narrative, the figure supplies the ultimate source of wind, delivered from within the eggs she lays.

My mind was occupied with winds and origins until I received a very flattering invite from Antonia Carver to participate in AiR Dubai, for two commissions; one for Art Dubai Projects, and one for the open studio programme, during Sikka. After accepting this offer, I started to prepare for this long journey.

Al Bastakiya, where I will be based for three months, is one of the oldest residential areas in the city of Dubai. Apparently, the immigrants were Arabs who first migrated to Iran throughout history, and then moved back again. For that reason, the architecture is quite different than the rest of the city, as far as I can understand from the images. Such a hybrid formation, immediately struck me as a place worth investigating.

The wind catchers of Bastakiya, I am assuming, are the most well known parts of its architecture. Every house has wind towers that funnel the breeze indoors, and the multiplicity of these towers are said to be the indicators of the wealth of the family owning the house.

I am aware of the dangers of inspiring from an imagery that is very much likely to be clichéd, but it’s a risk worth to take! Any production of energy, or benefit behind these structures is waiting for me to invert them, to achieve dissipation and dysfunctionality. They should be given new duties; new stories should be written.  

For my residency, I intend to produce three altered wind towers possessing the same ‘crossbred’ look on the outside, and three different inner sculptures/mechanisms dedicated to first Istanbul, then Glasgow, and finally Dubai.

I won’t start disclosing all of them one by one yet, but would like to share the maquette for the Glasgow tower I made while I am still here, in the beautiful and notorious city where I live.

 

 

 

                                                                        
Remnants of a very different context of post-industrial terrain, modern ruins, together with lush and scenic beauty exist at the heart of Glasgow.

Complimenting these contrasts and the unique juxtaposition, I am intending to construct a somatosensory system in which humidity, represented as the continuously rainy weather of Glasgow, invades the interior of the sculpture and the vicinity around the tower.

For the sculpture interior, industrial materials will be utilised together with organic materials that will grow during the exhibition. A shower system will rain down through a cloud produced with expanding foam, nourishing the grass and the tree growing from a car tyre.

Al-Jazari, My Personal Hero

‘Form follows function’ was the terminology used in architecture and industrial design in the modern West. This principle broadened its context and easily situated itself in the everyday life and social studies. Was it not the architecture anyway, that initiated Postmodernism? It is rather easy to grasp the fact that inhabiting structures influence masses faster than literature or plastic arts.

The concept of the ‘utilitarian’ and the ‘pragmatic’ have still been relevant when machines and their functions are considered. ‘Benefit’ is indispensable and machines are expected to serve mankind.

On the other hand, the Western idea of machinery with its uses have always been in contrast with the Eastern understanding of functionality.

The foremost example for this is, Al-Jazari, an Anatolian polymath who served as the chief engineer at the Artuklu Palace in 12th century. He designed and constructed fifty mechanical devices and automata literally to ‘entertain’ the Ruler, with more aesthetic concerns, rather than practical . Thus he was more curious about the craftsmanship necessary to construct his devices, in spite of the technology laying behind them. For that reason his machines were usually put together with errors and troubles rather than theoretical calculation.  He was extremely ‘ingenious’ though, as reflected in the English title of his book.

 He designed and constructed a drink-serving waitress, a hand-washing automaton with flush mechanism, a peacock fountain with automated servants, a musical robot band, various candle clocks and an elephant clock... 

Complimenting on Byzantine ‘siphon’ for draining, Al-Jazari introduced the first suction pipes, double action pump, and early uses of valves and a crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism, while building machines such as an automaton which assisted the Ruler with his ablutions, finishing up with handing a dry towel. What an impressive way of showing off to his foreign guests!