The Machinery

"The Machinery" forms part of a series of works by Mounir Fatmi utilizing steel saw blades and Arabic script. The sharp machinery symbolically contrasts with the lyrical calligraphy containing repeated messages of the Islamic faith. For example, the text from one blade comes from the Hadith, which includes actions or sayings by the Prophet Muhammad. It reads: “God is beautiful and loves beauty." Another blade contains a line from the Qur’an (the most sacred text of Islam, compiled (609 – 632 CE), chapter 39, verse 9: “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”

The blades, placed like cogs in a machine, lie too far apart to function. In this way, Fatmi offers a complex examination of ancient and modern modes of production, and the power of language, religion, industry, and politics in a contemporary global society.