Model of Motions
Sama Alshaibi & Michael Fadel
Swell
Medium: Anchor, gypsum sand, wood and mechanical elements
Size: 57 x 14 x 45 inches (length x width x height) or 36 x 12 inches footprint
Year: 2014
Footsteps
Medium: Single‐channel color video
Running time: 5 minutes 16 sec
Year: 2014
“Model of Motions” is a collaboration between artists Sama Alshaibi and Michael Fadel. The multi-media installation includes “Swell,” a kinetic wood and metal vessel filled with white sand that seesaws as if gently rocking over the waves of a sea, while also undulating the sand through a second kinetic mechanism inside the boat. The installation also includes a video artwork, “Footsteps” that features a male protagonist futilely rowing an oar in an endless white desert. The figure multiplies over time, alluding to Islamic art in which the singular mirrors upon itself, creating formations that suggest an extension towards the divine. “Swell” and “Footsteps” are connected by a rustic ship anchor partially buried in white sand on the ground, and linked together by a metal chain. The installation forms a snaked pathway that conceptually journeys over sand and water, history, imagination, earthly desire, and celestial wonder. “Model of Motions” references the historical intertwining of cultures, communities, and commodities that have resulted in movement through the geographic trade routes of the Silk Road.
The ecological condition of the Middle East is one that is struggling with depleted freshwater sources due to climate change, desertification, and famine triggered by non-indigenous farming practices imposed by Colonialists. Model of Motions delivers an ominous message, that in the age of globalization we are on a path towards annihilation. Our nonsustainable systems of large-scale transfers of goods and materials, the pillaging of resources from struggling nations, and the loss of local farming traditions—once viable in the semi-arid and desert climate of the Middle East and North Africa—are escalating and contributing to the region's destabilization. The project stands as a metaphor for the eco-political refugees who have been stripped of all roots, aimlessly wandering into the unknown. Both artists are refugees to the USA, displaced by war in their homelands. As such, the installation was informed by their own personal experiences with global movement and a desire to call attention to the ongoing plight of refugees. The work was commissioned by The International Symposium on Electronic Art in 2014 and was first exhibited in Dubai. It was then exhibited at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona (2016), and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum in New York (2017).
