CURRENTLY ON VIEW AS PART OF THE ARTISTS SOLO EXHIBITION ‘SAFEHOUSE DE S.W.I.F.T.I.E.’ AT MEADOW IN SOUTH LONDON — OPEN UNTIL 28TH JUNE 2026. EMAIL JARELLE@VISUAL-ARTS.UK TO BOOK A VISIT.

IN THE PRE-MODERN ISLAMICATE WORLD, INTELLECTUAL PRODUCTION WAS NOT ONLY SPIRITUAL RESOURCE BUT ALSO POLITICAL CURRENCY. THE WORKS OF GOLDEN AGE PHILOSOPHER AL FARABI ARE LARGELY MARKED BY HIS COMMENCING OF THE TRANSLATION MOVEMENT, THE OPENING OF PERSIAN AND GREEK LIBRARIES IN EARLY ISLAMIC HISTORY AND THE TRANSLATION OF THEIR WORKS INTO ARABIC. HIS PHILOSOPHICAL PROJECT THUS MIRRORED THE WORKS OF HIS MUSES, PLATO AND ARISTOTLE, AND CULMINATED IN THE CONCEPTION OF AN IDEAL CITY OF VIRTUE OR MADINATUL FADILAH. DESPITE THIS IDEALIST PROJECTION ONTO ISLAMIC FUTURES HOWEVER, FARABI AND MANY OTHERS’ WORKS BECAME TRANSPORTED AS MUCH AS THEY WERE READ ACROSS THE ISLAMIC WORLD. THE SILK ROAD FUNCTIONED AS A HIGHWAY FOR TRADE AND DIPLOMATIC OLIVE BRANCHES BETWEEN POLITIES — CARAVANS CARRYING SPICES, SILKS, SAGES, HAREMS, ARMS AND OFTEN BOOKS OF LEARNED MEN. BEING BORN IN MODERN DAY KAZAKHSTAN, FARABI IS TODAY HONOURED AS A PATRON SAINT OF KAZAKHSTAN, AND THE WIDER CENTRAL ASIAN REGION; HE HAS BEEN FEATURED ON SOVIET POSTAL STAMPS THROUGHOUT THE 20TH CENTURY AND EVEN ON THE 1992 KAZAKH 1-TENGE BANKNOTE. IT'S ARGUABLE THAT HIS FACE THUS HAS BECOME MORE RECOGNISABLE IN THESE REGIONS THAN HIS WORKS. IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN THAT THE NOTES CARRYING HIS LIKENESS HAVE BEEN USED ACROSS ARMS DEALS, DRUG DEALS AND THE DEALING OF HUMANS BEINGS. THE HOPEFUL REACH TO CREATE A CITY OF VIRTUE BY LENIN AND TROTSKY MAY HAVE ONLY SURVIVED IN NAME TODAY, JUST AS THE ISLAMICATE EQUIVALENT DREAMS OF AL FARABI WHOSE MEMORY IS IMMORTALISED ON THE NOW DEFUNCT CIVIC TOKENS OF CURRENCIES, STAMPS AND BOOKS BELONGING TO LITANY OF NATIONS THAT HAVE SUCCEEDED THE LAND IN WHICH HE WAS BORN.

HOWEVER ONE MIGHT SPECULATE THAT THE JOURNEY OF MEANING IS NOT OVER FOR AL FARABI AND HIS SYSTEM OF VIRTUE PRINCIPLED UPON THE ONE ABSOLUTE WHICH HE DESCRIBES. THE ANALOGUE GEO-FINANCIAL SWIFT NETWORK (SOCIETY FOR WORLDWIDE INTERBANK FINANCIAL TELECOMMUNICATION) IS TODAY THE NEW SILK ROAD HIGHWAY FOR MEANING, COMMERCE AND DIPLOMACY ACROSS BORDERS AND CONFLICT. THE UNSEEN SPIRITUAL REALM THAT AL FARABI ONCE ARGUED FOR THE CASE OF BUILDING A SOCIETY ON THE BASIS OF PERHAPS EXISTS NOW, NOT AS IT ONCE DID IN THE HEARTS OF PRE-MODERN MAN, BUT IN THE CLOSED-LOOP FINANCIAL NETWORKS AND ALGORITHMS OF AN EQUALLY DEIFYING AND ALL-ENCOMPASSING TECHNO-FINANCIAL MYSTIC SYSTEM.

IT ONCE MAY HAVE BEEN A MYTH TO IMAGINE RUSSIA OR ANOTHER CENTRAL ASIAN POLITY BANNED FROM THE SILK ROAD AND ITS TRADE. HOWEVER TODAY IN THE WAKE OF RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE, THIS WAS THE EXACT MEASURE TAKEN. RUSSIA BANNED FROM SWIFT, THE INSTANTANEOUS, ALMOST MAGIC FINGER-TOUCH DAILY TRANSACTING OF BILLIONS ACROSS UNSEEN NETWORKS INDICATES THAT PERHAPS AL FARABI’S IDEAS OF A SPIRITUALISED SOCIETY DOES EXIST – HOWEVER PERHAPS NOW MUCH-LIKE HIS NOTES ARE HIDDEN IN THE HOLLOWED OUT PAGE-SIZED WALLS OF “SWIFT”, THERE IS A PRICE OF ENTRY TO PAY FIRST TO ACCESS THIS NEW SPIRITUAL REALM.

ROUND THE NECK OF ALL WISDOMS HANGS A PRICE-TAG.

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