Islam Shabana

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Talsam

Practicing Metaphysical Protection        


2018



This project is an on-going collaboration with artist Yazan El Zo’bi


Arduino
Internet API
JavaScript
Installation
Print
Witchcraft
Speculative Design
طلسم (Arabic word for Talisman) stems from a modern Arab society that still keep traditions while using today’s technologies. And like some traditions perish and die, either by convenience, taboo, or economics, we wanted to research old Arabic talismans; small objects, pieces of paper, and other sorcery, and how a tradition tha is almost extinct in an urban context can be brought up to daylight.

Therefore, we would like to propose a sensitive yet highly spiritual machine create using different chips creating a circuit that is motivated by planet movement and tides. It will allow the user to put their name, and the name of their desired into thi machine in order to generate a talisman print that can be gifted from the user to thei desired. This exchange will simulate the relationship the society used to have with men of religion, but in this age it’s being generated just as easily as a horoscop reading, aligning perfectly with our fast paced world.




The installation consists of 3 standalone small micro controllers (Arduino Uno), one is detecting the moon positions and phases, one is detecting the sun positions, and the last one is detecting different planets’ positions using online APIs. The data are all sent to a PC to be processed according to a mathematical order of an ancient study of numerology called Al-Jafr. All the data collected by the chips are broadcasted to a web application running on a computer where people can enter some personal information like name, age, and horoscope. The platform finally gathers all the data together and generates a talisman that can be projected on a screen or printed.

Talsam is based on an on-going research in which digital mediums are observed and studied as transcendental mediums. The project is part of a series of project revolving around researching metaphysical realms in the digital medium. Relating the digital image to the mental image, programming languages (code) to magi diagrams, and digital processes as alchemy.