'Fata Morgana' shows us a classic Dutch landscape, with the waters of a lake reflecting the light of an invisible sun behind blades of grass and reeds and in the background, very far away, a windmill and a church spire. The sky turns dark and a heavenly light shines through a hole in the clouds, which very subtly changes the world as if by an unearthly force. This only lasts for a moment, and when everything is back to normal, a mosque can be seen in the place where the church was before. The term 'fata morgana' suggests that we see something that is not there, but in contrast to subjective hallucinations, what we see does actually exist, only not in that place. Due to a multiple mirage, the image of something that can be found elsewhere looms up, something th…t is perhaps one kilometre away. Once there were thousands of kilometres between this church and this mosque. The appearance and disappearance of the sun and the contrasting falling of darkness turn this work into an enigmatic painting in motion, in which the slightest change in nature and a massive culture shift are registered in a seemingly casual way. Netherlands Media Art Institute, Esma Moukhtar Read more...