Hypnotic Illuminated Islamic art at the Barbican

In the Barbican at the moment, you can find a large geometric sculpture with geometric lines projected onto it and a background musical track.

This is Numina by the artist, Zarah Hussain.

The blurb says that blurring the boundaries between science and spirituality, Islamic geometry is traditionally drawn by hand with a ruler and pen, using mathematics that celebrate the order and structure found in the universe to create infinite repeating patterns.

Taking the essence of this, Numina combines designs found in the art and architecture of the Islamic world with contemporary digital arts, bringing to life a usually static artform by mapping animated geometric patterns onto a sculpture composed of tessellating pyramids arranged on a hexagonal grid.

As a fully paid up member of the “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like”, this is something that I like. A lot.

Possibly because as a child I used to spend hours colouring in books of Islamic patterns when living in the Middle-East, and I have a bit of a thing for mathematics. I also find that it was reminiscing of early computer graphics and rave music backgrounds.

The display is in the main foyer of the Barbican until 9th November.