Absent Sky

With his immersive installation Absent Sky, Muhannad Shono plunges visitors into a room entirely submerged in white light. Above them hovers a black, light-absorbing void ostensibly lacking form and depth. Appearing to possess no beginning nor end, this empty space begins to move, descend, and deform. Coming alive, the shapeless gains form and exists on its own as a moving entity, as if drawing lines in the space. Playing with luminescence and obscurity, emptiness and fullness, Absent Sky transforms the void into the source of an imagined universe. By recreating a moving cosmic sky above, the work invites the viewer to observe this living, breathing essence of the imagination, and to reflect on the porous border between light and darkness, the physical and the invisible.

Absent Sky, 2023 ©Muhannad Shono
Commissioned by RCRC and Riyadh Art