"I Am a Stranger. Twofold a Stranger (2021) is a project commissioned by the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, in which I attempted to deconstruct and reconstruct the displacement of the Mshatta facade. The installation revolves around the concept of the Mashrabiya (Arabic: مشربية), a type of window grille structure. The installation is conceived using cutting, engraving and CNC techniques; flatbed Inkjet printing on milled aluminum composite panels and sprayed wooden panels (MDF)." Ali Kaaf
Project review: Ali Kaaf approached me to collaborate on his idea for a memorial-type sculptural artwork. He wanted to portray the journey of the Mshatta facade, this ancient palace frontage from the 8th century, that was gifted to German emperor William II. by Sultan Abdulhamid II. to have it represent Jordan artistry in the center of Europe. In 1903 the massive work of art was sent to Germany in nearly 500 pieces that had to be reassembled with care and dedication. Kaaf presented me with his vision of a huge picture frame appearing out of the ground and in it the image of a column cap. That was our starting point. So, my first step into realizing this project was to take the photograph that Kaaf had taken and put it through digital transformation, changing measurements and manipulating the perspective until it fit our concept and also his prototypes.
The next step was to communicate the physical requirements to the metal manufacturers of Bernd Euler GmbH. Aesthetics had to be translated into buildable shapes, more precisely, into a full three-dimension sketch of the pyramidal construction.
Kaaf took this picture of a byzantine column cap of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The Proconnesian, or Marmara marble has been retrenched and transported overseas for over 2,000 years from Marmara Island, formerly known as Proconnesus under Greek rulership.
The photograph had to be edited in such a way that the perspective would be more striking in a triangular shape.
We then went on to create three different layers of this picture that would later overlap. Besides the manipulated photo, there's a layer with wholes torn into it and one with dark color spots.
Finding the position and shape of the wholes was a special challenge in this project. We first tried to model them after the patterns of the marble column itself, then got experimental with forms and sizes.
We were able to work on the wholes in realtime, using a true-to-size projection of the image to try and find the exact effect Kaaf wanted to create.
Kaaf then worked on a smaller-scale version of the altered photograph with black ink he splashed by hand. I scanned the piece and transformed it digitally into a pattern to later be placed on our image.
When it came to choosing the color of the frame, we decided on simple methods by placing straight colored wooden pieces on both sides of the installation.
As you can see here, we also took the topic of waste into consideration. After all, aluminum is another material that isn’t easily gained and has often traveled long distances. We managed to construct the piece with just two instead of four aluminum plates.
The final artwork was showcased in Pergamon museum in 2021.