Faig Ahmed Weaves Mysticism, Science, Technology, and Craft into 'The Attention'

"Faig Ahmed is known for his vibrant textile sculptures that take traditional Azerbaijani ornamental carpets as starting point, often appearing to melt, pool, or glitch. In his current solo presentation at the 61st Venice Biennale, where he is representing Azerbaijan, the Baku-based artist branches out into more conceptual territory, exploring science, alchemy, spirituality, and perceptions of self in a sprawling, maze-like installation called The Attention."

"Curated by Gwendolyn Collaço, the exhibition expands upon Ahmed's interest in the dialectic between digital processes and time-honored, hand-crafted techniques. The artist considers how advanced scientific inquiry, such as quantum physics and neuroscience, relates to how we "articulate cosmologies of belonging," says a statement."

"Ornamental carpets continue as a through-line in The Attention, undulating, scrunching, distending, and balling up through a series of rooms. They even extend outdoors, creating a kind of continuous runner that spills out of doorways and stretches into long lines of color."

""Ahmed bridges the 15th-century Hurufi mystic tradition-which viewed the universe as a coded text-with modern information theory," says a statement. "By channeling the 'human energy' of the weave, he uses this ancient textile paradigm to address our era's information overload and collective grief.""

Faig Ahmed creates textile sculptures rooted in traditional Azerbaijani ornamental carpets, often transforming them into forms that melt, pool, or glitch. At the 61st Venice Biennale representing Azerbaijan, he presents The Attention, a sprawling maze-like installation that moves into conceptual territory involving science, alchemy, spirituality, and self-perception. The installation is curated to connect digital processes with time-honored hand-crafted techniques. Ornamental carpets remain a through-line, undulating and distending through multiple rooms and extending outdoors as a continuous runner. The work links the Hurufi mystic view of the universe as coded text with modern information theory, using the weave’s human energy to address information overload and collective grief. It also draws on John Wheeler’s “it from bit,” describing how physical reality derives meaning and existence from binary answers.

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