By form, shabaka is a decorative surface assembled from elements of carved wood as the foundational matrix and colored glass pieces inserted into the matrix without glue or nails. Originally, shabaka is a product of spiritual quest — Islamic in particular and Eastern in general — for perfect forms. Realizing the rich potential hidden in geometrical figures and colors, it reaches artistic ecstasies in limitless fractal development. On the individual level, each cell represents a quantum of human consciousness; but perceived in unity, cells create a potentially infinitive network — translated as ‘shabaka’ into Arabic — very akin to God’s immeasurable wisdom. So incapable of fully comprehending it, traditional Azerbaijani artists have been trying at least to mimic it and come up with cell-fantasies that embellish the places where God’s earthly presence is believed to be maximum: namely, in mosques and residences of anointed rulers. As such polished since medieval ages, the art of shabaka reached its climax in the masterpiece of the Palace of Shaki Khans, built in 1797; and ever since, it continues to drive artistic imaginations in Azerbaijan as well as being a landmark symbol in the labyrinth of national narratives. Shabaka attracts me as an artist because of its visual and conceptual complexity. I want to test the well-established sacred and social connotations engraved into the endlessly repeatable beauty of its patterns. To start with, I wonder how it would behave if deprived of its conventionally beautifying function and distorted into all kinds of chaotic shapes. Being structurally altered, the original potential infinity of its grace flounders; it becomes unable to provide the viewers’ minds with the joy of everlasting reproduction. The godlike ‘eternal now’, which used to captivate devout traditional craftsmen, now turns into a temporary one-time art-work experience in a secular environment of gallery/museum. How does such transformation jeopardize shabaka’s aesthetics? On the thematic level, shabaka allows me to fill it with manifold socio-cultural references. Usually keeping the compositional edges in classical forms, I mutate its center; it helps me retain the discourse in conventional borders by simultaneously introducing new allusions and dialogues. In some cases, barbed wire pops up and fastens shabaka’s ethereal aspiration; in others, two or more shabaka pieces clash in the attempt to stretch out and connect. On the whole, the confrontation of ‘bad’ old and ‘good’ new, confusing chaos and calming order constitutes the leading motive of this series of installations.