Notes on Paradise: Five Perspectives on Peace
In a relative perspective the center of the circle is well protected; Animation; 2024.
In a relative perspective the center has always a periphery; Animation; 2024.
In relative perspectives the circle is always confronted with its excluded outer side; Animation; 2024
In the absolute perspective the circle has no form, no center, no periphery, no outer side; Animation; 2024
Relative and absolute perspectives; Animation; 2025
'Notes on Paradise: Five Perspectives on Peace: 1) In a relative perspective the center of the circle is well protected; 2) In a relative perspective a circle has always a periphery; 3) In relative perspectives the circle is always confronted with its excluded outer side; 4) In the absolute perspective the circle has no form, no center, no periphery, no outer side; 5) Relative and absolute perspectives.'
Completed in 2024
From the project 'Notes on Paradise: Five perspectives on Peace'
Artist: Artemis Akchoti Shahbazi
Curator: Matt Saba
AE Consultant: Kurosh ValaNejad
Materials: animation made with mixed media art works using a copy of Architect Mohamed Makia's notes from the archives at the Agha Khan Center for Documentation at MIT and 'Rustam fighting with Suhrab', XIVth century Persian miniature from the collection of the Isabella Gardner Museum.
Is it possible to organize a society in a way that is peaceful while not being exclusionary or relying on dualistic concepts such as self and other?
In the 'Notes on Paradise: Five perspectives on Peace' project, we use the legend of the round city of Baghdad to visually explore these questions. Baghdad, known today as the capital of Iraq, was founded in 762 by the Abbasid caliph Mansur. Located in Mesopotamia at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come closest to each other, it was intended to serve as the center of an empire whose lands encompassed the area between modern-day Tunisia and Pakistan. Mansur’s foundation was called The City of Peace (in Arabic, “Madinat al-Salam”) and The Encircled City (“al-Madina al- Mudawwara”), and its plan is said to have taken the form of a circle surrounded by two enclosure walls. While the original plan of Mansur was quickly eclipsed by the more organic urban development outside its walls, the “Encircled City” remained a potent symbol and source of pride for medieval Arab historians. Thinking about the encircled city and the narratives describing it raises a number of questions pertinent to the process of planning cities and organizing societies beyond the context of medieval Baghdad. For example, the plan of Mansur’s foundation contained what appear to be defensive features: what is the meaning of defense in a “city of peace”? The city’s plan emphasizes the idea of centrality (implying a margin), and yet it was also known as a cosmopolitan, multi-confessional space of learning, only possible due to the immigration of people. In this situation, is it possible to distinguish between the imperial margin and its center? The city has been understood as an expression of Islamic imperial aspirations, and yet its circular form evokes pre- Islamic and pagan ideas. In imperial conquests, to what extent do local, indigenous traditions guide the formation of the new ruling culture? The form of the circle itself seemingly contains various contradictions: the geometry of a circle is such that a tangent point with any other form is infinitely small, and yet the idea of the circle is widely associated with inclusion. Why is this project relevant today? Divisions between groups of humans (economic, ethnic, religious), and between humans and the natural world, seem more entrenched than ever in contemporary society. Moreover, there is an illusion that these divisions are necessary for our existence. This project hopes to question this mindset by asking whether there are other ways of existing that are not predicated on division, marginalization, or exclusion. In raising questions rather than attempting to offer conclusive answers, we want to allow space for viewers to reflect on our contemporary condition and formulate their own insights. The abstract form of the works in this project and the inconclusive nature of our interpretation of historical examples are meant to stimulate a diverse set of personal responses. Such is the power of art in today’s highly polarized political climate.
The installation intend to show the five videos concurrently on a naked wall.
Completed in 2024
From the project 'Notes on Paradise: Five perspectives on Peace'
Artist: Artemis Akchoti Shahbazi
Curator: Matt Saba
AE Consultant: Kurosh ValaNejad
Materials: animation made with mixed media art works using a copy of Architect Mohamed Makia's notes from the archives at the Agha Khan Center for Documentation at MIT and 'Rustam fighting with Suhrab', XIVth century Persian miniature from the collection of the Isabella Gardner Museum.
Is it possible to organize a society in a way that is peaceful while not being exclusionary or relying on dualistic concepts such as self and other?
In the 'Notes on Paradise: Five perspectives on Peace' project, we use the legend of the round city of Baghdad to visually explore these questions. Baghdad, known today as the capital of Iraq, was founded in 762 by the Abbasid caliph Mansur. Located in Mesopotamia at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come closest to each other, it was intended to serve as the center of an empire whose lands encompassed the area between modern-day Tunisia and Pakistan. Mansur’s foundation was called The City of Peace (in Arabic, “Madinat al-Salam”) and The Encircled City (“al-Madina al- Mudawwara”), and its plan is said to have taken the form of a circle surrounded by two enclosure walls. While the original plan of Mansur was quickly eclipsed by the more organic urban development outside its walls, the “Encircled City” remained a potent symbol and source of pride for medieval Arab historians. Thinking about the encircled city and the narratives describing it raises a number of questions pertinent to the process of planning cities and organizing societies beyond the context of medieval Baghdad. For example, the plan of Mansur’s foundation contained what appear to be defensive features: what is the meaning of defense in a “city of peace”? The city’s plan emphasizes the idea of centrality (implying a margin), and yet it was also known as a cosmopolitan, multi-confessional space of learning, only possible due to the immigration of people. In this situation, is it possible to distinguish between the imperial margin and its center? The city has been understood as an expression of Islamic imperial aspirations, and yet its circular form evokes pre- Islamic and pagan ideas. In imperial conquests, to what extent do local, indigenous traditions guide the formation of the new ruling culture? The form of the circle itself seemingly contains various contradictions: the geometry of a circle is such that a tangent point with any other form is infinitely small, and yet the idea of the circle is widely associated with inclusion. Why is this project relevant today? Divisions between groups of humans (economic, ethnic, religious), and between humans and the natural world, seem more entrenched than ever in contemporary society. Moreover, there is an illusion that these divisions are necessary for our existence. This project hopes to question this mindset by asking whether there are other ways of existing that are not predicated on division, marginalization, or exclusion. In raising questions rather than attempting to offer conclusive answers, we want to allow space for viewers to reflect on our contemporary condition and formulate their own insights. The abstract form of the works in this project and the inconclusive nature of our interpretation of historical examples are meant to stimulate a diverse set of personal responses. Such is the power of art in today’s highly polarized political climate.
The installation intend to show the five videos concurrently on a naked wall.