Material for a Sculpture Commemorating an Economist whose Name Now Marks the Street and Squares He Once Frequented, 2011
Iman Issa explores the lack of meaning in public monuments and how political regimes manipulate their symbolism. On this basis, between 2010 and 2012, she made ten installations under the title of Material. Each work refers to a real monument, known to the artist, especially in her native city of Cairo, but which she never identifies by name. Each consists of a series of objects and a lengthy wall text. Rather than revealing the name of the monument, the text describes it or speaks about its location and symbolism. These objects are the result of the deconstruction performed by the artist of the monument in question, refining its materials and symbolism and inviting the viewer to ascribe a new meaning. Thus she merges the coldness of the monuments with the subjectivity of the receiver.
The MACBA Collection owns two works in this series. The piece Material for a Sculpture Commemorating an Economist whose Name Now Marks the Street and Squares He Once Frequented consists of a large glass case with different objects belonging to a male character: a pair of binoculars, a pocket watch, a letter opener, two albums of photographs in black and white, elastic straps, a dice game and scissors, among other objects. The second piece, Material for a Sculpture Commemorating The Life of a Soldier Who Died Defending His Nation Against Intruding Enemies, presents us with four wooden sculptures on a white exhibition stand. A red cube, two blue rectangular shapes that intersect diagonally, three green ovals arranged from the largest to the smallest and a black sphere. Alongside is placed an open white book with four sheets whose colour corresponds to those of the figures accompanying the work.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Material for a Sculpture Commemorating an Economist whose Name Now Marks the Street and Squares He Once Frequented
- Registration number:
- 5247
- Artist:
- Issa, Iman
- Date created:
- 2011
- Date acquired:
- 2014
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation
- Object type:
- Installation
- Media:
- Various materials
- Dimensions:
- vitrina 215 x 156 x 58 cm (height x width x depth)
- Edition number:
- Ed. 2/3 + 2 P.A.
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation
- Copyright:
- © Iman Issa
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.
