Mounir Fatmi's 'Suspect Language' Explored in Skira Monograph

A new Skira monograph titled 'Suspect Language' examines the work of Moroccan-born artist Mounir Fatmi (b. 1970). The book features an essay by Lillian Davies that comments on a series of the artist's propositions, each with its own history and logic. Fatmi's practice, spanning over two decades, focuses on the fragility of ideological constructions, knowledge, and dogmas, which he seeks to desacralize. His work straddles forms and themes from the Muslim world and Western modernist vocabulary. Notable works include 'Save Manhattan 01', an installation made after the World Trade Center collapse, composed of books arranged so their shadows evoke the former skyline. 'Save Manhattan 03', presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale, featured about a hundred loudspeakers of different models broadcasting the characteristic hubbub of New York City. At the 2009 Lyon Biennale, he exhibited 'Ghosting', a floor installation of black shiny magnetic tape from gutted video cassettes, described as 'an outdated temple to duplication' and a staging of the absence of reality. Fatmi learned to see and hear by exploring a flea market in Tangier before studying in Rome with a camera. The monograph serves as an introduction to the paradoxes exposed by the artist.