ATHR is pleased to announce Basmah Felemban’s first solo exhibition titled “Consecrated Networks”, curated by Ruba Al-Sweel. The exhibition is set to open on the 6th of March during ATHR’s 15-year anniversary event.
Inspired by the urban landscape of Jeddah, as well as the evolution of networked communications and data systems, “Consecrated Networks” presents across three gallery spaces a backlog of documentation, experimentation and supporting material that built her decade-long portfolio of multimedia, research-based works. Felemban translates our physical world through data exchange, using references from Islamic cosmology, architecture and pop culture. She manipulates language into form or lack of, such as using catfish for erasure, to guide a narrative that explores world-building, nostalgia, theology and larger geopolitical structures of migration.
This exhibit reveals how archives shape the future in an imaginative way. Felemban sees archives as a hidden memory bank, sometimes changed to fit new situations. She explores the creative potential of dreams and the subconscious in world-building. Felemban breaks down architecture to understand its symbolic significance and connections.
“Consecrated Networks” will be on display from March 6th until the end of May, 2024.
Press release from ATHR
Image: Basmah Felemban. School as a Model. 2024. Image courtesy of the artist and ATHR