JoCr8 brings you an interview with Ahmad Sabbagh of Ninth Circle; an audio-visual collaboration between musicians and video artists from Jordan and Germany. His work/play with urban art through Blouzaat eventually led him to collaborate with first with hip-hop artists and now with improvisational musicians.
JoCr8: Would you say that Blouzaat was it: the platform that really launched your brand of urban art into the public? Or were there previous projects that led up to it that you think are worth mentioning?
AS: Blouzaat www.blouzaat.com was my first substantial endeavor in urban art. I had dabbled before in smaller projects with my colleague Ehteok www.typism.de, who introduced me to this form of art during his stay in Amman. Ehteok had a passion for urban art and had worked on several projects in his native Germany. We worked together on different artworks and animation, when our new found common zeal for urban art eventually led us to create Blouzaat, along with [two] of our colleagues, Akut and Assaf.
JoCr8: Did you set out to do something that just expressed your attitudes as individuals, or to voice a mostly bilingual generation's cry for a style that expresses who they are. Or did the two just happen to overlap?
AS: I think it was a bit of both. We were, in a sense, trying to find our own visual 'voice', so to speak. But we all had some sort of an agenda behind Blouzaat, which was to try to create a new vent for artists through a new urban language. The idea was to create a cross-cultural project between artists from both regions, as we found a lot in common between a western culture, that [of] Germany, and our own. Blouzaat was a platform for dialogue between the two.
JoCr8: Most of your design is typography and calligraphy-based...where did this interest stem from? Would you say it's more a love of preserving a language or advancing the art-form tied to that language?
AS: Arabic typography is a very prominent part of art in our culture, but it hasn't been experimented with enough, in Jordan, at least. Our background in graphic design sparked an interest in typography for all of us, and at the end of the day our aim is to introduce a new visual language that includes Arabic typography, as well as positioning it as an art-form and a means of self expression in a style that is different than the common practices of calligraphy and Arabic type. Our own aggressive and bold approach in calligraphy and type holds no fear of controversy and is brave enough to experiment and re-evaluate the set standards of typography,
JoCr8: You (Blouzaat) have publicly branched out to video art, when did you start dabbling in that? Was it with the Takseer Snan Project?
AS: I started experimenting with VJing around two years ago. I used to VJ friends' parties and jump at any chance to try out new visuals. I wanted to find a way to make my art interact with music. VJing seemed to be the perfect opportunity.
Ninth Circle Jam Session
JoCr8: Having witnessed both Takseer Snan and Ninth Circle @100LIVE Electronic Music Fest. I can clearly see a development. The graphic elements used with 9th seemed "custom-made" whereas with the Takseer Snan project, you seemed to just adapt already existing graphics from your previous work (but still, in a versatile way).
AS: There definitely was a development, it's a process, and the term process encompasses progression. The main difference between Takseer Snan and 9th circle was that the former was an event that I participated in. It was basically a live jam session, the sole purpose of which was to spontaneously mix and create visuals on the spot. The material I created for Takseer Snan, which included some older work as well as specially designed art work, was more versatile because the type of music that was played there was more varied than that of 9th circle. As for ninth circle, it was a project that I was involved in from its inception, and I worked closely with the musicians to come up with something that reflected the music that they were developing.
JoCr8: Who worked with you on both projects? What can you say about the development in retrospect?
The visuals were conceived in parallel with the music. The difference between the two was the fact that Takseer Snan was more spontaneous and intuitive, while the Ninth Circle was more thoughtfully planned and designed. Ninth Circle is an ongoing project that we hope to develop further as time goes by.
The artwork was created by me for Ninth Circle, although Ehteok performed with me during the event on animating Arabic calligraphy that was synchronized with the Oud.
JoCr8: Did you find that working closely with musicians resulted in a more cohesive experience for both performers (during the preparation process) and the audience?
AS: Definitely, the experience brought the performers together in a whole new way, each of them found new depth in their work, the visuals become a layer of the music, and vice versa, and it all flows together into a hybrid, a dual existence. The audience is exposed to an unusual mixture of art forms that engages them on a visual and auditory levels, each simultaneously maintaining its own identity and merging together to create a synchronized composition.
JoCr8: Can you site any influences on your work?
AS: No one in particular. I always try to stay up to date on this type of art. My biggest influences are the people I work with.
JoCr8: And since you mentioned that the 9th Circle is ongoing, I have one more question to wrap things up: I have to ask about the name?
AS: EP -one on the musicians involved- suggested this name, connecting the project to Amman our beloved city by referring to the non-existing landmark. No-one knows the direction to the 9th circle and no taxi driver can take you there no matter how perverted he was!
