The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Artists The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 64 (above and opposite) In Lieu of What Was (details) 2019 Fibre-reinforced polymer / Five pieces: 297 x 100 x 100cm; 280 x 260 x 260cm; 240 x 130 x 130cm; 255 x 123 x 123cm; 240 x 160 x 160cm / Courtesy: The artist and Portikus, Frankfurt / Photograph: Diana Pfammatter As climate change continues seemingly unabated, water has become an acute political topic across the world — but especially in West Asia. Kuwait has no rivers, yet its water consumption is among the highest in the world. The country is heavily reliant on the ultimately unsustainable practices of energy-intensive desalination plants and water importation. Alia Farid — an artist known for her videos and installations that bring together art, architecture and urban anthropology — has spent a significant part of her practice focusing on spiritual and infrastructural water. At the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture, Farid installed a diminutive version of the iconic modernist Kuwaiti water tower designed in 1967–68 by the Swedish architects Malene Björn and Sune Lindström for Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works. 1 The unmistakable mushroom-like silhouette saw Farid’s sculpture become a landmark in the busy biennale, especially as it also functioned as a water tap where thirsty visitors could fill their drink bottles over the summer. The original water tower, with its elegant curves and Daniel Buren-esque blue-and-white vertical stripes, came to epitomise the international outlook of this Gulf State, which had declared its independence from Britain in 1961. The Björn/ Lindström water tower was just one part of a major public infrastructure initiative that was underwritten by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, ensuring that profits gained from the country’s status as one of the world’s largest oil exporters would benefit the citizens of Kuwait. More than a piece of elegant design, the water tower is also a symbol of a collectively prosperous, modern future. The way in which social ideas are entwined within technological advancements is at the core of In Lieu of What Was 2019, and expands Farid’s research on the iconic water tower design to other vessels of water. Cast in glass-reinforced plastic, the installation takes the form of five oversized containers that reflect changes in the storage of water in West Asia. The individual objects include the infamous water tower, the ubiquitous plastic water bottle, a jarrah (copper pitcher), heb (a clay pot lifted off the ground in a wooden structure for cooling purposes) and a zamzamiyah (earthenware container used for carrying holy water from the Zamzam well in Mecca, Saudi Arabia). The work speaks to the different ways people consume water, from respectfully carried sacred liquid to environmentally harmful disposable plastic containers. As people around the world face the rapid advancement of water scarcity, In Lieu of What Was asks what vessel (that is, what technology) will be next in line? Operating as artistic readymades in the gallery space, these objects are unpainted sabil (public drinking fountains) manufactured by a Kuwaiti plastics company — Farid upends their usual function by placing them in the public gallery. Sabil were historically decorative structures built over springs or cisterns. 2 They have long been a key feature of Islamic city architecture, due, in part, to the observance of purification rituals — physical cleansing being a symbol of spiritual hygiene. Positioned at major intersections, sabil provide sustenance to regular passers-by as well as those on longer spiritual journeys. 3 Some of the most ornate surviving examples of sabil from the Mamluk and Ottoman Empires were built in stone and tiles, while Farid’s iterations represent the contemporary fibreglass-plastic resin versions now found on the streets of Kuwait City. Unlike the brightly painted, street-side structures, the artist displays her sabil unadorned. 4 The gallery lighting makes visible the intersecting glass fibres and viscosity of the plastic in In Lieu of What Was , which gives these oversized vessels a material delicacy. It also draws attention to the origins of one of Farid’s materials — petrochemical plastics. Produced from oil, the result of fossils transformed by heat and pressure over millions of years, it is due to become a relic of this era. As tubular cast impressions, In Lieu of What Was references Sumerian stone, glass or ceramic cylinder seals that date back to the seventh millennium BCE. The seals were small intaglios that were pressed into wet clay to leave an imprint when a signature or authentication was required. While some depicted religious imagery, many were sociological in theme and as such they are invaluable time capsules for understanding this ancient civilisation. Future generations may look back on the plastic water bottle in In Lieu of What Was with similar fascination. Ellie Buttrose Endnotes 1 Farid was the curator of the Kuwait Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and this project was realised in partnership with the Nordic Pavilion. 2 The word sabil in Arabic also means ‘path’ or ‘way’ and is used often in the Qu’ran to denote balance, stability and decorum. 3 Longer spiritual journeys may include the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca as prescribed by the Islamic faith. 4 Realised in industrial materials and presented in a single file, the artwork nods towards minimalist influences by artists such as Donald Judd and Eva Hesse, renowned for her experimental use of fibreglass and plastic. The legacy of Marcel Duchamp’s The fountain 1917 could also be invoked by the readymade aspect of the work and the fact that In Lieu of What Was takes the form of a fountain. Alia Farid Born 1985, Kuwait City, Kuwait Lives and works in Kuwait City and San Juan, Puerto Rico