The Beginning Mohammed Alani is presenting us with stories about history from a beautiful and interesting cultural perspective. He does this with a piece of art showing an ochre tin can that got hit in the center, creating a deep dent and in the middle of that dent is a tennis ball. Despite the violent act causing the dent, it is a beautiful piece of art that has nothing to do with chaos and destruction. It reminds us of the Big Bang, the creation of the universe and the beautiful world we live in that all came into being through a chaotic event. No one can imagine this huge destructive force that we are the result of. It’s not an explosion as we know, but rather a chemical process mixing multiple materials in order to produce a new one. Mohammed Alani created an aesthetic process by merging industrial materials, resulting in a wonderful piece of art. The aesthetic process of this experiment continues in the interaction between de audience and the artwork. As there is a biological process happening among mankind represented by the formation of an embryo, The shape of the ball with the groove sitting in the tin can resembles a human fetus in its mother’s womb, referring to the beginning. Starting from one specific action and leading to many expected and unexpected results. This is the history of mankind from its dawn until today. The round shape of the ball, the size of an apple, also has more than one symbolic meaning referring to our daily life. The apple has had a huge impact on mankind. It is the reason man was sent down to earth from heaven according to several religious traditions. The apple also reminds us of Newton and how the apple falling down in front of him was the basis for discovering the law of gravity which was a huge scientific progress. And then there is Steve Jobs’ apple, that changed the world with its concept and new technology. The collision between the piece of art itself and location it has been placed in, evokes ideas of the absurd, the contradictory and the imaginary in this world. Planting this work of art in this environment is intended to break expectations, surprising the audience by using a location like the wing of a Classic Art Museum as a backdrop. This is our first impression of the piece, however the artist also wanted to declare that every beginning is different and with time will develop and grow to become something else. The Classic Arts didn’t come into being in the form we know now. It originates from the dawn of mankind on the face of this earth, starting with lines and vague symbols on rocks. Later these evolved into the shape of a mother goddess and continuing to evolve until it reached its peak during the Renaissance. This shows us that something incompatible can result in a new beginning. An idea starts with a small spark that develops into a creative achievement, whether the idea is artistic or scientific, it is like the embryo. The small piece of art contrasting with the location it is placed in proves that things shouldn’t be measured by size, but rather by their impact. Like the tiny screw that holds together the engine of the car. Like meteorites, some of them seem barely the size of a grape, yet they can light up the sky at night. Like a small bullet that can kill. And so simple ideas are more effective and influential than complex, exaggerated and colossal ones. We can see abstract art that is based on reduction and simplification, such as the work of Piet Mondrian and Joseph Boyes, who use small and simple proportions to convey a large meaning. Like the huge and gorgeous Pyramids in Egypt and the Iraqi cylinder seal which is no more than 3 cm, yet its splendor rivals that of the pyramids. And so artists, especially those belonging to the postmodernist era, illustrate the increasingly consumerist reality by using waste and especially metals. They have changed the materials used in art from alabaster and bronze to everyday, banal things that no one cares about, turning them into creative art that parallels the grandeur of Classical Art. For example the French artist César Baldaccini using metal plates and turning them into cubes using huge metal presses and John Chamberlain who also uses metal, especially from cars. Mohammed Alani merges two materials in order to produce a work of art. He didn’t opt for a lot of different materials like Rauschenberg did, nor did he use similar materials like Arman. It is a kind of controversy to say everything is measured by human standards because mankind is dominant in this world. Beauty is something that mankind perceives and enjoys differently in different periods of time. Every era has its own beauty standards. And so the artist is presenting beautiful material that tells the history of beauty through a contemporary piece of art, carrying us through different stages of human life. Dr. Ahmed Khlaif Mankhi translation: Sofie Van Den Abbeele See less — with Ahmed Almankhi and Sofie Van Den Abbeele in Saint-Gilles.