Zarah Hussain
27 Sep - 09 Nov 2016
ZARAH HUSSAIN
Numina
27 September - 9 November 2016
Lose yourself in the mesmerising, shifting patterns of Zarah Hussain’s sculptural installation Numina - a piece that takes the artform of Islamic geometry and adds a whole new dimension to it.
Blurring the boundaries between science and spirituality, Islamic geometry is traditionally drawn by hand with a ruler and pen, using mathematics that celebrate the order and structure found in the universe to create infinite repeating patterns. Taking the essence of this, Numina combines designs found in the art and architecture of the Islamic world with contemporary digital arts, bringing to life a usually static artform by mapping animated geometric patterns onto a sculpture composed of tessellating pyramids arranged on a hexagonal grid.
The presence of infinite repeating patterns in Islamic spaces is conducive to meditative and transcendent states. In the same way, Numina creates a space within the Barbican for contemplation and reflection, as the perfect accompaniment to Transcender – the Barbican’s season of ecstatic, hypnotic and psychedelic music from across the globe.
Numina
27 September - 9 November 2016
Lose yourself in the mesmerising, shifting patterns of Zarah Hussain’s sculptural installation Numina - a piece that takes the artform of Islamic geometry and adds a whole new dimension to it.
Blurring the boundaries between science and spirituality, Islamic geometry is traditionally drawn by hand with a ruler and pen, using mathematics that celebrate the order and structure found in the universe to create infinite repeating patterns. Taking the essence of this, Numina combines designs found in the art and architecture of the Islamic world with contemporary digital arts, bringing to life a usually static artform by mapping animated geometric patterns onto a sculpture composed of tessellating pyramids arranged on a hexagonal grid.
The presence of infinite repeating patterns in Islamic spaces is conducive to meditative and transcendent states. In the same way, Numina creates a space within the Barbican for contemplation and reflection, as the perfect accompaniment to Transcender – the Barbican’s season of ecstatic, hypnotic and psychedelic music from across the globe.