Aircraft soar over Saudi Arabia’s legendary skies, drawn by the unchanging call of the spirit along the ancient pilgrimage route that was formerly traveled by trembling feet and camel convoys. While pilgrims continue to swarm Jeddah’s Eastern Hajj Terminal, just across a barrier of palm trees, a totally different crowd congregates at the nearby Western Terminal to see stars cluster through the canopy of the 1983 Aga Khan Award-winning building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Awe-inspiring collections of modern artworks and priceless artifacts converged at the entrance of Makkah for the opening ceremony of the first Islamic Arts Biennale, which was held on Sunday night, according to the National. As dawn broke, throngs of tourists descended upon the location to witness a turning point in Islamic art and culture. The first biennale, titled Awwal Bait, or “First House,” examines the significance of home, place, and belonging in the Islamic faith.
In her collaborative work with co-curators Julian Raby, Saad Alrashid, and Omniya Abdel Barr, Vally drew on her firsthand knowledge of the Hajj Terminal. “I recall being so intensely moved and overcome by recollections of visiting the site as a pilgrim or Hajj and witnessing people from all over the world assemble under this limitless canopy. Actually, this is the world’s entrance and reception area.
“I remember very clearly seeing people leading one other in prayer groups, people sharing food who had obviously been waiting for hours and hours, sounds and accents from all over the world – this really huge sense of community,” the author recalls.
The curriculum specifically aims to investigate this sense of belonging, focusing on the “original principles of belonging” that predate subsequent aesthetic innovations like domes and muqarnas, a type of decorated vaulting.
The subject of Qiblah is basically thinking about these imperceptible lines of direction that draw us in the direction of a magnetic centre, according to Vally. “For me, it was crucial to express the idea that every time we stand in prayer, we are connected with people past, present, and future who have done the same and who are facing this exact same direction, from the molecular level to the size of the infinite.”
The event is not an “ordinary” biennale nor even an ordinary Islamic Arts Exhibition, according to curator Julian Raby, director emeritus of the National Museum of Asian Art — Smithsonian Institution. It’s actually a very organized presentation that almost feels dramatic.
“I could see how an anthropological museum may talk about prayer, but that would be a very staged, dry discussion of the sensations.” The Islamic Arts Biennale, in contrast, “is very much about the emotional element of some of these ceremonies,” he claims.
The pilgrims encircling the Kaaba are seen in a series of photographs by Saudi artist Nora Alissa titled Epiphamania: The First Light that were taken from underneath her abaya. The photographs, which were taken from the ground up, immerse the audience in the actual experience. The biennale begins with this connection to the centre, according to Vally.
A reminder of the significant contributions Islamic philosophies have made to the arts, astronomy, mathematics, and geometry is provided by the two pieces’ interaction with what Raby calls “one of the greatest astrolabes of all time,” which looks toward Makkah.
Later, the biennale finds a piece by South African Igshaan Adams, who gathered used prayer mats from his house in Cape Town’s Bonteheuwel neighborhood. As part of a brand-new group tapestry called Salat al-jama’ah, Adams has replicated these as well as their marks of use using cotton thread, dye, wire, beads, and semi-precious stones.
The biennale explores the many ways people assemble and build communities outside, particularly in regard to the Hejaz as a hub for cultural interchange. One such is Syn Architects’ Anywhere Can Be A Place of Worship, an architectural intervention made of sand, palm reeds, and other natural materials. According to Vally, the location reflects the oldest musalla, or places of prayer, dating back to the time of the Prophet Mohammed.
Additional works of art, architectural features, and archaeological wonders are also on display. We have been waiting for a place and a chance to identify ourselves in our own images, from our perspectives, and from our voices for so long, adds Vally.