mounir fatmi (Moroccan, born 1970). <em>Maximum Sensation</em>, 2010. Plywood, textile, plastic, metal, each skateboard: 5 × 8 × 31 11/16 in. (12.7 × 20.3 × 80.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia and John and Barbara Vogelstein, 2010.67. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.67_view1_PS4.jpg)

mounir fatmi (Moroccan, born 1970). Maximum Sensation, 2010. Plywood, textile, plastic, metal, each skateboard: 5 × 8 × 31 11/16 in. (12.7 × 20.3 × 80.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia and John and Barbara Vogelstein, 2010.67. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.67_view1_PS4.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is the description of this artwork?

This installation is by a Moroccan born artist named Mounir Fatmi and it is called, "Maximum Sensation." The textiles you see are contemporary copies of traditional prayer rugs that you can buy at Moroccan markets. The combination of skateboarding culture and prayer rugs made as commodity makes a certain point important to all of Fatmi's work. As he writes in his artist statement: My work "deals with the desecration of religious object, deconstruction and the end of dogmas and ideologies."

How did Mounir Fatmi come up with this piece, and how did the process of fabrication work (i.e. did he design the prayer rugs and affix them to the skateboard himself)?

Fatmi says that his work deals with the desecration of religious objects and the end of dogmas and ideologies...putting prayer rugs on skateboards definitely fits in this theme. (the fact that skateboarding culture is a counter-culture not normally associated with religious iconography and/or the fact that you would have to place your dirty shoe on the rug to properly "use" the board).

The prayer rugs are also a commodity, sold at the market. So an object normally associated with the 'sacred' comes at a price. By putting them slap-dab on top of another commodity (the skateboard), the sacred and commercial lose their differentiation from each other.

I am not quite sure if Fatmi designs the rug designs himself or if he himself affixes the rugs to the skate deck, but we do know they are commercially purchased. I'll leave you with a quote from a review of this installation by Blaire Dessent for Vitrine Projects: "In the case of Maximum Sensation, it’s a reminder that cultural codes have shifted. Identity cannot be defined by only one construct. Stereotypes need to be checked and assumptions reconsidered."

Why are the skateboards placed in this particular order?

This was actually just a choice by the curator and artist based on how they looked best in this particular space. It has been installed differently when it was shown elsewhere.

(We have some images of the piece being shown in galleries where they are clustered much more closely together in a circle with them all touching.)

I loved the combination of the very American skateboards with the (Eastern?) rugs.

This installation is from a Moroccan-born artist Mounir Fatmi, who resides in Paris. The fabrics used here to cover the skateboards are actually contemporary copies of prayer rugs that you can buy at the market. It speaks to the globalization of skateboard culture. Interestingly, this is part of a larger installation, and there are more skateboards that are part of this piece that are not on view.

My question is about "Maximum Sensation." Why did the artist use 50 skateboards?

The meaning behind the amount of skateboards is up to interpretation. Interestingly the skateboards you see in the gallery are actually not the entire work. The artist actually did use a total of 50 but I believe there are fewer than 50 shown in "Diverse Works," to fit the available space. The curators may have chosen them for a variety of colors and patterns.

Maximum Sensation

mounir fatmi

Contemporary Art

This sculpture unites two seemingly disparate, but global, activities: prayer and skateboarding. These prayer rugs were manufactured for sale to international tourists. mounir fatmi cuts and reassembles them to create “incomprehensible labyrinths,” while making an analogy between skateboarding and religion. Both foster a sense of community, unite their participants through cultural practices, and seek an elevated state of being, or a “maximum sensation.”

The artist, who identifies as Muslim, says of his work with prayer rugs, “the rug is thus removed from its sacrality; instead of a sacred object, it becomes an artifact. But at the same time, I introduce it into another sacrality, because I am making it into art.”

ARTIST mounir fatmi, Moroccan, born 1970

MEDIUM Plywood, textile, plastic, metal

DATES 2010

DIMENSIONS each skateboard: 5 × 8 × 31 11/16 in. (12.7 × 20.3 × 80.5 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2010.67

CREDIT LINE Purchase gift of Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia and John and Barbara Vogelstein

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION 50 custom made skateboards

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION mounir fatmi (Moroccan, born 1970). Maximum Sensation, 2010. Plywood, textile, plastic, metal, each skateboard: 5 × 8 × 31 11/16 in. (12.7 × 20.3 × 80.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia and John and Barbara Vogelstein, 2010.67. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.67_view1_PS4.jpg)

EDITION Edition: 2/5

IMAGE overall, 2010.67_view1_PS4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.