Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 15 hours ago
In a new Lunchtime Lecture for the #MuseumWithoutWalls, Baku-based contemporary artist Faig Ahmed, in conversation with internationally renowned textile researcher Dr. Jessica Hemmings, untangles the ideas and inspiration behind his art practice and Dissolving Order, the Museum exhibition celebrating his work.
Moderated by Assistant Curator Bita Pourvash, the discussion unpacks the role of centuries-old weaving traditions in the artist’s playful and sometimes controversial work. Through the course of their wide-ranging discussion, Ahmed and Hemmings touch upon the artist’s continued fascination with pattern, how tradition can be manipulated to fashion something surprising and new, and the relationships that exist between the raw materials available to an artist and the works they create.
Faig Ahmed: Dissolving Order, which opened at the Museum on October 31, 2020, contemplates how age-old structures can be disrupted, overturned, or reorganized in an instant, inviting new possibilities into the world. Like many of Ahmed’s sculptures, the exhibition’s centrepiece, 2017’s Gautama, is a colourful deconstruction of one of the world’s most enduring, remarkably consistent art forms: the carpet.
To learn more about the exhibition: agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/dissolving-order
Editorial note: The ideas and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Museum.
BIOS
A graduate of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts in Baku, Faig Ahmed creates contemporary sculptures by breaking down the visual elements of traditional carpets as well as the conventions surrounding how they are used. In 2013, he was shortlisted for the V&A Museum’s Jameel Prize, an award celebrating contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic traditions.
Dr. Jessica Hemmings is currently Professor of Craft and Vice-Prefekt of Research at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the 2020-2021 Rita Bolland Fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture, the Netherlands. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Textile: the journal of cloth & culture (Taylor & Francis) and Craft Research (Intellect).
SUPPORT
Bringing online Museum experiences to you is part of our mission to connect cultures and promote understanding between peoples. To learn more about how you can support the Museum by making a donation or becoming a Friend or Patron, please visit: agakhanmuseum.org/support
In a new Lunchtime Lecture for the #MuseumWithoutWalls, Baku-based contemporary artist Faig Ahmed, in conversation with internationally renowned textile researcher Dr. Jessica Hemmings, untangles the ideas and inspiration behind his art practice and Dissolving Order, the Museum exhibition celebrating his work.
Moderated by Assistant Curator Bita Pourvash, the discussion unpacks the role of centuries-old weaving traditions in the artist’s playful and sometimes controversial work. Through the course of their wide-ranging discussion, Ahmed and Hemmings touch upon the artist’s continued fascination with pattern, how tradition can be manipulated to fashion something surprising and new, and the relationships that exist between the raw materials available to an artist and the works they create.
Faig Ahmed: Dissolving Order, which opened at the Museum on October 31, 2020, contemplates how age-old structures can be disrupted, overturned, or reorganized in an instant, inviting new possibilities into the world. Like many of Ahmed’s sculptures, the exhibition’s centrepiece, 2017’s Gautama, is a colourful deconstruction of one of the world’s most enduring, remarkably consistent art forms: the carpet.
To learn more about the exhibition: agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/dissolving-order
Editorial note: The ideas and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Museum.
BIOS
A graduate of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts in Baku, Faig Ahmed creates contemporary sculptures by breaking down the visual elements of traditional carpets as well as the conventions surrounding how they are used. In 2013, he was shortlisted for the V&A Museum’s Jameel Prize, an award celebrating contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic traditions.
Dr. Jessica Hemmings is currently Professor of Craft and Vice-Prefekt of Research at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the 2020-2021 Rita Bolland Fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture, the Netherlands. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Textile: the journal of cloth & culture (Taylor & Francis) and Craft Research (Intellect).
SUPPORT
Bringing online Museum experiences to you is part of our mission to connect cultures and promote understanding between peoples. To learn more about how you can support the Museum by making a donation or becoming a Friend or Patron, please visit: agakhanmuseum.org/support
