Muhannad Shono: Towers of Infinite Horizons, 2026 / Art Basel 2026 Unlimited

Muhannad Shono: Towers of Infinite Horizons, 2026, presented by Athr at Art Basel 2026 Unlimited. Official description: For Art Basel Unlimited, ATHR presents Towers of Infinite Horizons by Muhannad Shono, a 17-metrewide installation housed within a lightweight metal lattice structure. Segments of reclaimed foundry sand form the sculp ture's dark, granular sur-face, transforming industrial residue into a tactile landscape. By reconfiguring the ritual of ascent into a lateral, bodily traversal, Shono interrogates the vertical logic of towers, historically machines of authority and doctrine, presenting instead a fallen monolith: an attentive, listening structure.
Towers were historically raised to command the horizon of ideas. From watchtowers to transmission spires, they projected signals, ideology, and authority from the high ground of the few to the many below. Height rendered hierarchy visible, enforcing a singular narrative that directed imagination upward toward a fixed source rather than outward toward multiplicity.
The tower lies fractured and suspended within a bespoke lattice scaffolding, held in a state of arrested decay. Neither complete nor erased, it becomes a listening structure, attentive rather than directive. Constructed from reclaimed foundry sand, a material designed to be temporary, the work reverses the logic of casting. Here, the sand is not a means to form, but the form itself: fractured, unstable, and open to continuous transformation.
To "climb" the tower is no longer to rise above the world, but to move laterally through its interior. Like tracing exposed roots or navigating a fallen tree, the body becomes the activating force. Architecture no longer projects ideology; it absorbs interpretation.
For new narratives to emerge, monoliths must fall. In collapse, space opens. When towers fall, they relinquish singular authority and unfold into infinite horizons.

Muhannad Shono: Towers of Infinite Horizons, 2026, presented by Athr at Art Basel 2026 Unlimited. Basel (Switzerland), June 19, 2026.