Jewel, 2010
film 35 mm transferré en video full HD, couleur, son stéréo, leds
The unique contemporaneity inherent in Hassan Khan’s artistic creation stems from his ability to ingeniously immerse the audience in multilayered spatio-temporal and textual contexts. His work is often a fusion of various elements composed of still and moving images, sculptures, objects, texts, music and performance. For Khan, these elements not only convey pure, personal feelings but also lead to multiple interpretations that allow one to extract cultural patterns and systematic structures from their complexity, while perceiving the characteristic synchronicity and coexistence in different facets of space and time. From macro narratives to individual lives, these elements fully embody the core spirit of "the personal is political".
Music is one of Hassan Khan's main creative mediums, mixed with high art, popular taste, pop culture and subculture. Techniques of sound generation and the results of these audio cultures are reproduced or recreated. This deliberate process allows the audience to assimilate into the scenario while retaining the ability to think dialectically, triggering reflection on the problems deeply embedded in identity, community, tradition, difference, variation, cultural symbols, time and the evolution of civilization.
At the beginning of Jewel (2010), Khan places the audience in the midst of deep oceanic darkness with an ancient creature- the anglerfish. This glowing fish gradually emerges from the darkness and sways with the music. Powerful high and low frequency sounds surge like waves pushing the tide of time. As the audience’s vision becomes clearer, the silhouette of this ancient creature emerges, surrounded by points of artificial blue light. The audience then sees a self-rotating technical object on the screen: an audio speaker. To psychedelic harmonies and rhythms, two modernly dressed men appear and dance around the speaker. The dance is inspired by Khan’s glimpse of everyday life as he once walked the streets of Cairo, and the music accompanying the performance is derived from the local popular music genre of electro-shaabi. Without the backdrop of the city streets, the dance around the speaker looks like a ritual, as if the two men are embracing the intangible unknown as they worship time, materiality and civilization.
Amy Cheng, 2024