In this article Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi profiles Jewad Selim, who was a central figure in Iraq’s 20th century cultural scene, responsible for some of the country’s most important post-revolution art. Read more »
Archives for 2021
Investigating the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi joined the Middle East Initiative as the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar. One of the ways he has engaged with the Harvard community and shared his expertise during the fall semester is through his study group titled “Investigating the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art.” The study group provided students and fellows from across Harvard with the opportunity to understand Middle Eastern politics from a unique perspective: through the study of the region’s art production. Read more »
The UAE’s J Curve
Successful nations are born of hard sacrifices made to attain giant leaps. In the world of finance, a J Curve is a trendline in which an initial loss is immediately followed by a dramatic gain. In this article, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discusses this phenomenon as it relates to the formation of the UAE. Read more »
Building Sharjah
In a new book, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi and Todd Reisz trace the early boom days of modern Sharjah, drawing on personal archives as well as crowd-sourced photographs and documents. Read more »
‘Building Sharjah’: Book Documents the Rise of a Modern Gulf City
A new book titled “Building Sharjah” traces the architectural history of the city of Sharjah and the social and political contexts of its urbanization from the mid-20th century, from before the discovery of oil off its shores until the present day. Read more »
Insights from Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi: On Cultural Majlis and the Transition to the Digital Sphere
An insightful conversation between Khaleejesque and Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi about his Cultural Majlis platform, which has provided inspiration to so many artists and creatives during the lockdown. Read more »