Mohammed's Head
In an improvised belly dance, Marcin transforms herself into a female conqueror of the desert at Ras Muhammad National Park. Draped in a scarf and traditional outfit, her alien, almost defiant movements shimmer with a hint of hope for freedom and self-expression, set against the harsh realities of conflict, repression, and stagnation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Ras Muhammad was created as a sanctuary from the urban sprawl of Sharm el Sheikh and other coastal developments. The park’s name, "Mohammad's Head," refers to a local legend that the cliff’s profile resembles a bearded man’s face, with the horizontal rock layers forming a nose and chin. On a remote hill, Marcin's endurance dance unfolds in a surreal, dream-like atmosphere. Her body, wrapped in traditional attire, glimmers with both vulnerability and control, blending playful irony with an intense awareness of her physicality.
The video cuts between this surreal dance and fragmented images collected from around the Sinai: a man and a woman moving in slow motion along the sun-baked asphalt of an empty road, a weathered billboard of an Arab ruler, dusty vases stacked in a corner, the ruins of the abandoned Regina Sharm hotel, a distant airplane. These glimpses evoke a haunting sense of decay and disillusionment.
The video was developed from a performance commissioned by Dortmunder Kunstverein, the Sculpture Museum Glaskasten Marl, and Werkstatt Bleichhäuschen in Rheda, Germany.
Mohammad’s Head
2012
Video, HD, 2.28 min
Ras Muhammad, Sinai
In an improvised belly dance, Marcin transforms herself into a female conqueror of the desert at Ras Muhammad National Park. Draped in a scarf and traditional outfit, her alien, almost defiant movements shimmer with a hint of hope for freedom and self-expression, set against the harsh realities of conflict, repression, and stagnation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Ras Muhammad was created as a sanctuary from the urban sprawl of Sharm el Sheikh and other coastal developments. The park’s name, “Mohammad’s Head,” refers to a local legend that the cliff’s profile resembles a bearded man’s face, with the horizontal rock layers forming a nose and chin. On a remote hill, Marcin’s endurance dance unfolds in a surreal, dream-like atmosphere. Her body, wrapped in traditional attire, glimmers with both vulnerability and control, blending playful irony with an intense awareness of her physicality.
The video cuts between this surreal dance and fragmented images collected from around the Sinai: a man and a woman moving in slow motion along the sun-baked asphalt of an empty road, a weathered billboard of an Arab ruler, dusty vases stacked in a corner, the ruins of the abandoned Regina Sharm hotel, a distant airplane. These glimpses evoke a haunting sense of decay and disillusionment.
The video was developed from a performance commissioned by Dortmunder Kunstverein, the Sculpture Museum Glaskasten Marl, and Werkstatt Bleichhäuschen in Rheda, Germany.
Mohammed's Head
In an improvised belly dance, Marcin transforms herself into a female conqueror of the desert at Ras Muhammad National Park. Draped in a scarf and traditional outfit, her alien, almost defiant movements shimmer with a hint of hope for freedom and self-expression, set against the harsh realities of conflict, repression, and stagnation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Ras Muhammad was created as a sanctuary from the urban sprawl of Sharm el Sheikh and other coastal developments. The park’s name, "Mohammad's Head," refers to a local legend that the cliff’s profile resembles a bearded man’s face, with the horizontal rock layers forming a nose and chin. On a remote hill, Marcin's endurance dance unfolds in a surreal, dream-like atmosphere. Her body, wrapped in traditional attire, glimmers with both vulnerability and control, blending playful irony with an intense awareness of her physicality.
The video cuts between this surreal dance and fragmented images collected from around the Sinai: a man and a woman moving in slow motion along the sun-baked asphalt of an empty road, a weathered billboard of an Arab ruler, dusty vases stacked in a corner, the ruins of the abandoned Regina Sharm hotel, a distant airplane. These glimpses evoke a haunting sense of decay and disillusionment.
The video was developed from a performance commissioned by Dortmunder Kunstverein, the Sculpture Museum Glaskasten Marl, and Werkstatt Bleichhäuschen in Rheda, Germany.
Exhibitions / Catalogs:
Action Manual I + II, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, 2012
Pavilion at The Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017
Press / Literature:
N/A
Collections:
N/A
Credits:
N/A
