Mobile video still, showing the spires of the Petronas Twin towers during call to Subuh prayers at dawn.
Mobile video still, showing the spires of the Petronas Twin towers during call to mid-morning Zohor prayers.
Mobile video still, showing the spires of the Petronas Twin towers during call to Azhar prayers at noon.
Mobile video still, showing the spires of the Petronas Twin towers during call to Maghrib prayers in the evening.
Mobile video still, showing the spires of the Petronas Twin towers during call to Ishak prayers at night.
Pole Positions, 2007, Installation with mobile phone video, sound and carpets.
Audience interacting with 'Pole Positions'.
Concept sketch showing the floorplate of the Twin Towers, which is based on Islamic geometry of two interlocking squares.
Pole Positions
When they were completed in 1998, the Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world. Although now surpassed by other nations’ skyscrapers, they have become the most recognizable icons of Malaysia’s modern development.
Using my mobile phone, I shot the topmost spires of the Towers during the times of azan, the Islamic call to prayer heard five times a day. From where I stood, the sound of the azan floated by faintly from a nearby mosque.
The installation consists of this footage projected high on the wall. Oriental carpets cut in the shape of the floor plan of the Towers were laid on the floor. Visitors were invited to sit on the carpets, look up at the video of the spires and listen to the azan through headphones.
This work was shown in Selamat Datang ke Malaysia, at Valentine Willie Fine Art and Gallery 4A, Sydney in 2007, and Negaraku Boleh! at Evil Empire, Singapore in 2010. It is in the collection of Muzium dan Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
