Azerbaijan will be represented at the 61st Venice Biennale with the project “The Attention” by Honored Artist Faig Ahmed, organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of our country in Italy.
Elchi.az reports that the exposition in the Azerbaijani national pavilion will be open from May 9 to November 22.
“The Attention” is Azerbaijan’s contribution to one of the most important international platforms of contemporary art.
The center of the pavilion will feature a carpet, a key and recurring element in Faig Ahmed’s artistic practice. The carpet, associated with cultural memory and collective identity, becomes an element that guides visitors throughout the exhibition.
Conceptually inspired by the philosophical and poetic heritage of Imadaddin Nasimi, an outstanding Azerbaijani poet and thinker, a representative of the Hurufi tradition, the project is conceived as an immersive, multimodal artistic environment that unfolds through a sequence of interconnected spaces.
The project explores the themes of inner consciousness and reconnection in response to the uncertainty, anxiety and information overload that characterize the modern world – where art can emerge from chaos.
The “Attention” project integrates advanced technologies, including quantum-based systems, as well as neuro-reactive and data-based processes, along with traditional approaches. Here, a direct parallel is presented between Hurufi thought and modern quantum concepts of reality. While Hurufism frames the world as a meaningful code consisting of letters and symbols, quantum physics describes reality as probabilistic, informative, and interconnected. In both systems, reality is not a fixed entity, but is shaped through interpretation, interaction, and attention. The “Attention” project clearly demonstrates this parallel, conveying quantum information as a modern counterpart to the Hurufi concept of the universe.
Gwendolyn Collaço will be the curator of Azerbaijan’s national pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Her research and curatorial experience focuses on Islamic art, material culture, and intercultural exchange.