Shahpour Pouyan b. 1979
Incarnation of the Body Politic, 2017-18
Wood, black paint
2.13 H x 3.05 W x 4.88 L m
7 H x 10 W x 16 L ft
7 H x 10 W x 16 L ft
Copyright The Artist
Incarnation of the Body Politic, an enormous wood sculpture painted in the blackest black paint, over 4m long by 2m high, combines aspects of the guillotine (the revolutionary killing machine...
Incarnation of the Body Politic, an enormous wood sculpture painted in the blackest black paint, over 4m long by 2m high, combines aspects of the guillotine (the revolutionary killing machine from the industrial age) and the trebuchet (a masterpiece of engineering from the medieval period). It is envisaged as a machine that filters and purifies the state, by treating the body as the political property of the state and as the place where the vengeance of the sovereign can be applied - the anchoring point of the manifestation of power. One component of this sculpture, the trebuchet, was a product of the Middle East - developed by Persian prisoners of the Mongols and used in their campaigns in Europe. The first recorded instance of biological warfare was at the siege of Kaffa in October 1347, when the Khanate of the Golden Horde employed such machines to hurl the plague victims into the city, using enslaved Persian engineers to operate it. Its other component, the guillotine, represents the more recent import of Western industrialization. Simplified, refined, and devoid of details such as ropes and metal parts, this sculpture is stripped of its obvious primary function. On the other hand, the addition of a plinth and pedestal suggests a secondary purpose for the apparatus, which having inflicted punishment, then uplifts its sacrificial victim to a status worthy of awe and emulation. Revolutionary thought and thinkers, thus disposed of, can then be reincorporated back into the body politic, as “martyrs” or “visionaries”.
Incarnation of the Body Politic shows the repetition of history and human errors in different periods, a structure of impressive proportions but without a practical purpose - a failed construct. Pouyan states, “This sculpture is the missing part from the world of my Miniatures. It is a piece of machinery from the East that was lost in history. We do not know that much about its usage, who used it and against whom”. The project, in progress for the last five years, was intiated by Pouyan at first in response to the breakdown of the Arab Spring. At the time much talk, including serious journalism, related to how the protests and demonstrations that swept across the region were the Middle East’s “Enlightenment” or “French Revolution” – that hundreds of years later history and the course of human destiny was catching up.
Incarnation of the Body Politic shows the repetition of history and human errors in different periods, a structure of impressive proportions but without a practical purpose - a failed construct. Pouyan states, “This sculpture is the missing part from the world of my Miniatures. It is a piece of machinery from the East that was lost in history. We do not know that much about its usage, who used it and against whom”. The project, in progress for the last five years, was intiated by Pouyan at first in response to the breakdown of the Arab Spring. At the time much talk, including serious journalism, related to how the protests and demonstrations that swept across the region were the Middle East’s “Enlightenment” or “French Revolution” – that hundreds of years later history and the course of human destiny was catching up.