Capsule 12: Monira Al Qadiri. Holy Quarter

For this project, Al Qadiri has produced nine sculptures, as well as a new virtuoso film, Holy Quarter, shot in the world’s largest desert region, the Rub’ al Khali (‘Empty Quarter’) between Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen. Within the visual arts, her work assumes the role of a seismograph for a world that has been globalised by force. Throughout her artistic career, Al Qadiri has been concerned with dissension as a consequence of prosperity, repressive religious beliefs and magical hinking. She focuses on imbalances in economic policies, the contradictions between conservative structures and new technologies, and forced social visions of the future. Holy Quarter sees the artist searching for a missing empirical certainty and, for the first time, centring on the myth-enshrouded places such as the Majlis al Jinn cave (also known as the ‘Meeting Place of the Spirits’), in order to recover lost stories and the tales of ancestors.

More info: https://hausderkunst.de/en/exhibitions/capsule-12-monira-al-qadiri?locale=en

Picture: Majlis Al Jinn, Ms_2981, MECET Middle East Caving Expeditionary Team, Album, 20th January, 2012