WHITWORTH ART GALLERY has the first UK showing of Idris Khan’s new installation The Devil’s Wall (2011).
During this act, pilgrims chant and throw seven stones at three walls in three different locations, each of the walls representing the devil.
This draws inspiration from rituals and practices of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the seven pillars of Islam and is undertaken by millions of Muslims each year.
Exhibited in the Whitworth’s Mezzanine Court, these three new sculptures and a series of drawings are based on an aspect of Hajj ritual where pilgrims are encouraged to turn their attention inward through physical action, contemplation and meditation, with the aim of bringing them closer to the divine.
Khan’s artistic practice follows patterns and rules that blur the cultural boundaries between the secular and spiritual. He uses repeated actions and engraved or printed words to explore his Islamic heritage.
The first elements of the installation are three large, black, cylindrical sculptures, each with a central, downward sloping funnel. Radiating out from, and sometimes plunging into, the dark centre of each sculpture are selected texts from the Quran in Arabic and English, sometimes in distinct lines but also sometimes overlapping each other.
Exhibited in the Whitworth’s Mezzanine Court, these three new sculptures and a series of drawings are based on an aspect of Hajj ritual where pilgrims are encouraged to turn their attention inward through physical action, contemplation and meditation, with the aim of bringing them closer to the divine.
Khan’s artistic practice follows patterns and rules that blur the cultural boundaries between the secular and spiritual. He uses repeated actions and engraved or printed words to explore his Islamic heritage.
The first elements of the installation are three large, black, cylindrical sculptures, each with a central, downward sloping funnel. Radiating out from, and sometimes plunging into, the dark centre of each sculpture are selected texts from the Quran in Arabic and English, sometimes in distinct lines but also sometimes overlapping each other.
These sculptures are created in reference to the ritual stoning of the Jamarat, an important part of the Hajj pilgrimage that takes place in Mina, East of Mecca. During this act, pilgrims chant and throw seven stones at three walls in three different locations, each of the walls representing the devil. The ritual symbolises the sufferings experienced by the prophet Ibrahim when he had been asked by Allah to sacrifice his own son to prove his devotion.
For these sculptures, Khan has not referenced the three walls of the Jamarat directly, but instead the cylindrical forms of the works allude to the circular dishes into which the stones gather after hitting the walls.
The gesture of throwing is central to this work in the artist’s focus on transferring thoughts into objects and text. Khan engraves texts into the black-painted metal surfaces and the words curve through space, subtly disappearing into the central vortex of each sculpture.
HI i really liked your post but i will prefer if you'll work on the graphics since it was hard for me to read the text. However great effort!
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