AlBunt
2019
Commissioned by The Saudi Art Council
AlBunt (2019) is a 3D projection mapping depicting an abstracted visual representation of the historic Bab al Bunt Museum and its strategic geographical location. Projected onto the outer wall of the museum itself, it is a visual narrative of the more than one-hundred-year-old story of the expansion of the sea into the heart of Jeddah, where Al-Bunt acted as the main port, the customs authority and the marina.
The story goes on to tell how this building, throughout those years, was a place where pilgrims who came to the city of Jeddah from all over the world to perform hajj were embraced. The Al-Bunt building was used as a medical center, where pilgrims were provided with health services before they were transferred to Makkah. This not only accorded great importance to the building itself, but also brought vitality to the area as a whole. Believed to be one of Jeddah’s oldest buildings, the beauty of Al-Bunt, with its Ottoman architecture, is brought to life in AlMugait’s project.
Through lines that vary and intersect to form the structure of the building, AlBunt displays the beauty of its exterior walls and wooden windows, in addition to reflecting the interior design of its lobby and multiple rooms.
AlMugait’s art installation is an attempt to revive the memory of Al-Bunt and all those who lived the adventures of traveling over the sea, and all those who witnessed the arrival of the pilgrims from all around the world and helped to facilitate their arrival to Mecca. Through the utilization of digital projection technologies, it attempts to give life to these pilgrims’ stories about the length of their absence from their families and their journey’s hardships to perform their hajj.
The story concludes with a poem by the poet Abu Nawas, may God have mercy on him, when he performed the hajj.