“IBEARWITNESS10” Press Release
“IBEARWITNESS10” tells the story of fiqh circuitry gone haywire. In a technocapitalist wild West, Muslims of the algorithm automate dislocation into brands, products and digital signatures which venerate lines which they cannot transgress, by inventing products which tiptoe around them. Halal 808s, which sound like 808s, but are produced by pitched, processed throat recordings. Halal surveillance systems which advise to goodness. Halal Chatbots, which punctuate mentions of the Beloved with ﷺ. An expanse of Muslim conscience-friendly products stranglehold spiritual phenomena into technocommercial transcendent experiences. In a world of encroaching powers, surveillance and technologies, believers seek refuge from evil eyes in ALLAH SEEING EYES. Traditional protective amulets charmed with protective incantations now digitise in the form of low-exposure, gaming thumbnail edit, capcut whiteface Murshid Wallpapers and Lock Screens. But as we lock the shayateen out, with digital lights, what darkness is left inside?
Some notes on specific works…
THE ALLAH SEEING EYE ( FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE, SCREEN)
Being watched, observed, notified, coerced and reproduced physically and digitally gives rise to spiritual questions about the merge of digital powers, increasing in transcendence, omniscience and penetration, and the potence and presence of the divine eye. I came up with the idea for an Islamic Surveillance Software which randomly casts judgements, categorising and sorting faces into spiritual herds. With the help of AI coding agents I produced a Facial Recognition Software which does not store data, but rather actively engages with it, forgetting as it absorbs.
NASHEED MACHINE (FL STUDIO PLUGIN, LAPTOP, MONITORS, AMP, NEON STRIP LIGHTS)
Inspired by the industry of innovations that have emerged to circumvent prohibitions surrounding music within conservative, populist Islamic circles in Urban centres around the western world: the artist has collaborated here with sound artist Saia Dugan and his programmer brother Saul Dugan to produce a functional, interractive VST or ‘Plugin’ for FL Studio. Installed by the artist as the mock workstation of a home beatmaker, turned Nasheed and Islamic Content Creator complete with Temu neon strip lights.
I AM THE DAJJAL (PERFORMANCE, CHATGPT VOICE MODE)
With the increasing symbiosis of AI voices and faces into the digital feed and the human brain's ability to discern emotion and sincerity becoming increasingly blurred, questions surrounding the soul and divine interlocution arise. Many Muslims world over, concern at Artificial General Intelligence's encroachment towards end-times Islamic Eschatalogical phenomena such as the emergence of Dajjal. And whether AGI itself, cybernetics or a resultant singularity may be its impetus.
THE MAHDI’S FIRST MUSALLA (MARKER AND BIRO ON WII FIT BOARD, MASKING TAPE)
If the Dajjal is to emerge in the next few cycles of AI’s evolution then that means according to the hadith tradition that The Mahdi (Islamic Messiah) is also to emerge shortly after. This will mean that The Mahdi may be Gen Z, or Gen Alpha…
Inspired by rabid biro and marker drawings straight onto plaster in my cousin’s family homes in Birmingham or Derby, I have imitated, transcribed and remixed expressive styles of my cousins’ ADHD induced wall art, but instead imbued them with a Messianic fervour.
SCREEN PROTECTIONS (PAPER, PLASTIC)
Traditional amulet necklaces, bracelets or other wearables and carry-items used to historically store incantations and prayers against spiritual evils. Often nodding to works or even the likeness of certain saints in Sufi islam for protection in the form of images on home walls or the windows of cars. In the modern context, followers of the world's largest Sufi Murshids often don their sheikh’s face as their mobile Lock Screen, even editing their faces into cosmic galaxy appearances. I thus created my own Lock Screens of various widely followed sheikhs from Senegal, Yemen, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia, respectively, and sourced edits from their followers: superimposing these images onto Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo homescreens. These images sit attached to plastic phone screen protectors.