Lot 2
  • 2

Wael Shawky

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Wael Shawky
  • The Cave: Amsterdam
  • Beta filmtape
  • Duration: 12 minutes, 43 seconds
  • Executed in 2005, this work is number 4 from an edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs.

Provenance

Private Collection, London 

Exhibited

New York, Queens Museum of Art, Tarjama/Translation, August - October 2009 (another example exhibited)

Condition

This work is in very good condition. There are no apparent condition issues with this work.
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Catalogue Note

Arguably the most captivating aspect of Wael Shawky's work is the humour and irony with which he presents issues of great importance. The artist addresses the paradoxical condition of the young Arab with a consummate wit, highlighting the inconsistencies of the norm within the modern Middle East.

Throughout his work Shawky broaches such major concerns as the effect of globalisation on the region, the role of religion in its development, the dichotomy between rural and urban, the educated and uneducated, the sense of displacement and the acute identity issues of the Arab youth. All of these poignant issues indicate a culture in transition, and it is this very transition, with its inherent contradictions, that Shawky tackles.

Shawky's video, The Cave, was produced in three different cities (Istanbul, Hamburg and Amsterdam) but was initially conceived of in Istanbul for the eponymous Biennial of 2005. The video shows Shawky in smart western clothing declaiming The Cave verse from memory in a loud and confident tone, within the somewhat incongruous setting of a supermarket. The camera tracks him, trained on his intense gaze, as he wanders through the shop. The experience is rendered clinically austere amongst the brightly coloured tins of food, juice cans and cereal packet that Shawky glides past in the aisles. The market is clean, modern and totally characterless, despite the abundance of consumer goods. The shop could be anywhere, a point further highlighted by the triumvirate of countries and cultures in which The Cave was filmed.

The verse which Shawky recites has a unique place in Islamic tradition. It is said that whoever memorises the first ten verses of the chapter would be secure against evil, be illuminated and be kept safe for several days. It is a deeply pious verse. This juxtaposition of one of the Qur'ans holiest verses, with a totally mundane consumerist haven is simultaneously both incisive and comical.

In this unusual combination of the Occident and the Orient, religious and secular, the artist alludes to the effect of globalisation and westernisation on local cultures, the impact of consumerism, of mass-marketing and branding. He points out the anaesthetization of these local cultures, and systems; yet he also presents a bridge across religions and cultures, a positive unification of the modern world and all its peoples. The Cave: Amsterdam is a powerful work, opening an international dialogue that is not confined to the Middle East.