Factum Foundation x antimatter
Factum Foundation's recreation of the lost silver map of al-Idrisi was included in the display at the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (25th January - 25th May 2025), as part of the Al Madar section curated by Abdul Rahman Azzam, Heather Ecker, Marika Sardar, and Masa Al-Kutoubi. Al-Idrisi's groundbreaking contribution to cartography is also highlighted in a short film accompanying the exhibition, written by Factum Foundation and created& edited by POCKO’s AWolff Studio.
The silver map of al-Idrisi, in its recreated form, is currently at the heart of the Al Madar (Orbits of the Imagination) section of the Islamic Biennale in Jeddah, accompanied by a short film also made by Factum (English | Arabic). The re-construction of the silver map was originally created for 'Talking Maps' at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, curated by Jerry Brotton who is now a trustee of Factum Foundation London. Al-Idrisi's is the first scientifically accurate depiction of the whole earth with seas, cities, mountains, roads and rivers all mapped out by a group of cartographers based in Palermo, Sicily. It’s hard to imagine the complexity of this task as we have all seen the image from Apollo 17 and the endless satellite images that condition our perception of the whole planet. To have accomplished this in the 12th century is totally mind-enhancing, if not mind-boggling.
Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah
