74. Bin Laden Group Promotion Kit | Artworks

From the moment you hold me in your hands, you will feel my finish, my luxury, the weight of my smooth, carved, wooden exterior. Open me up and you’ll see the silky chamois interior. Feel it, touch it – my beautiful insides. There, perfectly fitting, is a bright green brochure, as well as two smooth compact discs. You’ll want me before you even read the cover.

Remember those five-star hotels you once visited: the scent, the flowers, the marble, the faint music and trickling water? Well, you could be the next investor, the next part-owner of your own patch of luxury. Think Meridian, Hilton, Fairmont – the best of the best. All of you are welcome, from Las Vegas to Paris, London to New York. We seek your investment. OK, the rules say that as non-Muslims you may never visit this most exclusive of hotels, but perhaps we will make an exception. Have a listen, take a read, and let’s see what can be arranged if our bid succeeds.

This work transcends the objects. Ultimately, what I’m working with isn’t only the artefacts themselves, but the stories attached to them. For me, each tale is the manifestation of the object, and each object is a tangible materialisation of an underlying narrative. The work finds its equilibrium somewhere between the stories and chronology they’re chaptered into, the objects becoming knots or points along the timeline, woven into stories as part of the language of this artwork. Each story draws out a tale that intends to trigger imagination and memory, mixing fact with fiction, with the ultimate aim of straddling, conflating and confusing fixed notions of history to open up the unofficial histories that shape the character of place and memory.
Ahmed Mater
2014