Installation Art
The Door
EXPO POP-UP MOSQUE
Thursday 5 March 2020
CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam
The art of decoration includes a set of rules derived mainly from the elements of nature, and its purpose lies in giving the architecture aesthetic and creative connotation that fascinates the viewer, and creates a visual attraction, simulating the physiological and psychological aspects of the category of connoisseurs of the beauty in architecture. There are many types of symbols, the most prominent of which are the stars, which also have many types, named according to the number of their sides.
The Arabic calligraphy on the wall of the Pop-Up Mosque functioned as a central marker of the installation. breaking the rhythmic pattern and meaning with this drawing, where script often carries both visual and spiritual authority, the calligraphy transformed the exhibition wall into a symbolic threshold. Its presence recalled mosques where inscriptions guide the faithful toward reflection, while here it reframed the secular gallery as a temporary sacred site.
For Arabic-speaking audiences the text triggers to find the words through empty meaning. For others it operated as image, with the rhythm of the lines and the balance of form conveying a sense of harmony and continuity. This dual reception highlighted the calligraphy’s capacity to move between legibility and abstraction, devotion and aesthetics. By embedding sacred language in a temporary, movable structure, the work questioned how cultural memory persists and adapts in new contexts.
