Year: 2007
52o Venice Biennale
“Living in the Beauty” is a handmade carpet that uses the vernacular of an Azerbaijani traditional art form in a contemporized expression. The work contains a delicate intellectual intrigue in the paradoxical synthesis of tradition (carpet) and contemporaneity (means of expression). The conceptual format of the work consists of one semantic formative definition: the horse as a pictographic image module.
To expound on the concept:
1. The carpet is an ancient graphic form in Azerbaijani visual culture. It is half-functional and polysemantic by its nature. The first of its three functions is decorative and applied – the inner decorations of dwellings were adorned by carpets. Not depending on the owner of the house, the presence of carpets bought special coziness and comfort. The second function is communicative – its symbolic nature is understood in the giving of the carpet; people would hand each other ciphered information, as the carpet was capable of carrying confidential and intimate messages (such as a speech involving engagement). Its final function is the most basic. The meditative and metaphysical, canonical and geometrical structure of the carpet reflects the laws of the universe and thus the carpet presents the symbolic model of the universe.
2. The horse is one of the most frequently occurring characters of Eastern culture, including in the fine arts. In many Islamic countries horses were historically treated not as ordinary animals, but like special Magic Creatures, endowed with other-worldly wisdom. Indeed physical showings of this creature are amazing to the imagination. The horse is unique and irreplaceable in the East. He is splendidly adapted to different climactic conditions. Each element of his body is useful (milk, meat, and skin especially). In one word, he is intended for long and uncommon higher perfection by destiny. In this case horse serves as a war symbol.
Returning to the main point of the project, it is necessary to note that its basic aim of the project is to underline Karabakh story-dilemma. It is shown in the following: the Azerbaijani artist comes from the East to the West, brings with him his painful story described in carpet format. The actual message is art installation, which visually shows that assembled of flowers and fruits horses are without warrior riding them. Those horses came from Karabakh to Venice without riders, with the message about tragedy of the land left without inhabitants, about Light of True, Goodness and Beauty…
