vista in the sky (2023)

• 79%
• 2023
• Ruba Al Sweel
• Rojda Yavuz
• Shamiran Istifan

An incisive and disturbing meditation, vista in the sky involves the viewer in a journey to the dark heart of contemporary society's ambitions of growth and success under capitalism. The meditation is guided by Dhātu-Ba'dan*, a spiritual healer named after an ancient Himyarite goddess of the oasis and worshiped at tree-circled pools. Dhātu-Ba'dan was said to forbid any invocation to her without a priestess in her sanctuary, employing a khalimah (i.e. 'Dreamer') who would sleep to receive an oracle in the form of a prophetic dream. Today, tarot card readers take on this mediating role, inhabiting the damp, leaky corners of the web and using network technology to mediate the relationship with their earnest followers.