by Maria Sofou
Iranian artist Shirin Abedinirad created a beautiful installation, inspired by the story of the Babel Tower.
While collaborating with Italian designer and digital artist Gugo Torelli to help her with the mechanical part of the installation, Abedinirad created Babel Tower by combining the ancient tale with modern materials : the installation consists of various mirrors as a vessel to carry light while its technical skills include moving and reacting to weather changes and the audience’s movement!
“The mystical tale of the Tower of Babel marks the disruption of singularity in language, human beings and the image of the world. The story dates back to a time when all human beings shared the same language, obsessed by their desire to build a tower whose tops may reach onto heavens; they lived freely and had no conception of boundaries, be it physical or ideological. The Lord, distressed by the choices people had made, shattered the very structure of language, as a form of punishment; a falling from heavens became a falling from language a transition from unity to discord. “The Tower of Babel” is an interactive installation that decontextualizes the spiritual architecture of the tower by integrating modern materials, creating a union between ancient history and our present world. As audience members move, the tower moves with them; turning relative to their movement as well as their distance to the tower. This transformation compels the audience to have a transformative image of themselves and a new image of the world. The top part of this installation incorporates the use of mirrors, representing a reflective vessel for light, an integral part of paradise.”
Amazing!
