0123456789 by Noon Passama

In 2017, Noon Passama developed a group of jewellery pieces influenced by the idea of a numeral system. The body of work has become the starting point of a collaboration with graphic design and art direction Studio Amanda Haas. The result is a publication: 0123456789, titled after the jewellery series. It documents the precise information of each piece which equals a numeric value. The book is a pseudo-scientific archeological undertaking, describing a post-apocalyptic world. In this dusty sandy world, the remaining human beings occasionally encounter objects of wonder. 

This book contains a science-fictional text written by curator Gabriela Acha and otherworldly images of excavation sites by photographer Christian Hagemann. It got published in Berlin by School of Observation. Studio Amanda Haas created the overall concept, story-line and set design of the photography. 

The book undertakes an experimental research that, while visually exploring the shapes of numbers and the dynamics they create, it also suggests an alternative understanding of their visual manifestations. Each contributor in this book looked at the particular jewellery series from a personal perspective, keeping in mind the overarching questions of possible origin, belonging and cultural affiliation. The fictional story-line established itself surrounding the following presumptions: What if a past or future tribe of (human) beings had created pieces of jewellery that in themselves are not only beautiful, but might even bear a secret force or knowledge beyond the evident? Could there be a transmission of knowledge long after the existence of such a tribe? And if so, what would this lost knowledge be?

The project was realised with support from Creative Industries Fund NL.

Texts in English