Constituting the Ummah – أم

Lecture given during the conference "Considering Monoculture" at deBuren, Brussels. February 28, 2020.

This presentation investigates the constitution of the collective body of Muslims and how they are addressed from within and without, as affected by the development of global capitalism from the classical period. There are 1.8 Billion Muslims, 25% of the world’s population. What is the form of identity that constitutes this diverse and dispersed community? As an artist, he proposes artworks as linguistic and aesthetic protocols that probe the contemporary formulation of Muslims and Islam worldwide. What are the modes of identification at the heart of this community? Raised a Muslim by Pakistani parents in the US in a mosque built on Ottoman archetypes, he draws on personal experience in his writing and artwork. This paper serves as a pedestal to the artworks developed specifically for the exhibition MONOCULTURE – A Recent History at M HKA.