Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi’s talk will discuss the political undertones of iconic artworks of the 20th century in the Arab world. Read more »
Arab World
How art can help diffuse Middle East tensions
Some Gulf Arab cities led by Dubai have defied the regional swing into sectarianism and suspicion by publicly displaying art from across the Middle East. With its vibrant 90,000-strong Iranian community active in cultural and commercial sectors, Dubai is today an essential link between communities on both sides. Read more »
LSE Kuwait Programme Annual Lecture | Politics in Modern Arab Art
In his lecture, UAE based writer and art collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi will be discussing the political undertones of iconic artworks of the 20th century in the Arab world. From the Baathist regimes of Syria and Iraq to Egypt’s pan-Arabism under Gamal Abdel Nasser, paintings and sculptures in addition to film and performance have been employed by various governments as a tool of soft power to propagate their policies to the public not only in their respective states but throughout the region and beyond. Read more »
Crossing Boundaries Lecture
UAE-based writer and art collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discussed the political undertones of iconic artworks of the 20th century in the Arab world for the first Crossing Boundaries Lecture of the 2016-2017 year. Read more »
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi to speak on The Politics of Arab Art at Zayed University
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi speaks about the politics of Arab art at Zayed University. Read more »
Mona Hatoum: The First Contemporary Arab Artist?
Attempting to pinpoint a specific date in which modern Arab art gave way to the contemporary is bound to raise more questions than answers. I propose that Arab contemporary art timeframe begins with artists who have come of age in the decade between the early 1980s and the early 1990s due to their general readiness to adopt the latest technologies and concepts in their work. In my opinion the artist that best embodies this definition is Beirut born British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum. Read more »