On the invention of Geometry, Chapter 1

3 series of drawings, acrylics, graphite on recycled paper, printed paper.

Through this series, which I imagine as a single work (quasi-assemblage) in four articulations:

1- Modern hydraulic system, in which I take a drawing from an article by Paul Pascon in which he develops a notion of rural psychogeography vs. the technical planning of space by state technicians. This drawing demonstrates in a very direct way this dimension of geometry that emanates from a process of modernization of hydraulic systems.

Modern hydraulic system, drawing on Paper #AZ_OOR

Modern Hydraulic System
Drawing on Paper 21X29cm

2- Prost 1 and Prost 2 begin with unusual maps from the colonial period in Morocco, when urban planning was just getting underway. Both maps trace the beginning of the creation of the new city (a colonial city in Fanon's sense) of Marrakech. We are faced with a new kind of geometry, based on the clear vocabulary of “Perspective” and “Military”. This geometry is imagined through lines and “a plunging view”, of control of space and mastery of territory (I take Khatibi's words from his famous article on segregation in the colonial city of Rabat).

Prost 2
Pen on paper 21x29 cm

Prost 2
Oil on paper 21x29 cm

Prost 2
Pen on paper 21x29 cm

3- Etudes géométriques is a set of compositions based on the idea of perspective, vanishing point and the invention of deep space, but above all futuristic space.