A few months ago, a controversy erupted after I suggested in an article for Al Monitor that Gulf cities are slowly replacing the traditional Arab capitals of Beirut, Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus as centres of culture in the Arab world. The premise was based on the underinvestment in culture – museums and galleries in these abovementioned cities and by association the production and display of art, is diminishing, while it is expanding in the Gulf cities where museums are being built and cultural programmes developed. Algeria’s art scene, abundant with talent and a rich history of modern and contemporary art, can provide a counter-balance to the burgeoning Gulf art scene. Read more »
Arts & Culture
Regional strife destroying historical Arab treasures
Sadly, over the past few decades, much of the heritage of the Arab world has come under threat or has been destroyed. During the 1990-1991 Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, the National Museum was ransacked and looted. Even today, hundreds of treasures remain lost, possibly forever. Read more »
Can Mathaf Restore a Pan-Arab Artistic Identity?
In 2010, Mathaf (the Arab Museum of Modern Art) was opened in the Gulf state of Qatar. In his essay, I provide an overview of pan-Arabism in recent decades and looks at what this museum can do to restore a pan-Arab cultural identity that has been neglected and in some cases even vilified for decades. Read more »
Of Politics and Art – The Barjeel Art Foundation
With a quarter of a million Twitter followers and dozens of political articles published on notable news sites such as the Huffington Post, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi may well have established himself as one of the most resonating voices on current affairs in the Arab world. Rising to fame through his coverage of political unrest in the Middle East, Al Qassemi is increasingly representing the region by way of an ever widening platform and his audience thankfully follows his insightful analysis of current affairs. Due to his constant exposure to the public eye, many may believe that they know who Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is and what he stands for. But how much does a 140-character tweet reveal about a person? To understand what motivates this young Emirati to reach out to the world in the way he does, it is advisable to take a closer look at his great passion for the arts. Read more »
Correcting misconceptions of the Gulf’s modern art movement
On Oct. 25, after a brief visit to the region, a Wall Street Journal writer declared, “The Arabic-speaking part of the Gulf has essentially no indigenous tradition of visual or plastic arts.” It isn’t the first time that the modern art movement in the Gulf was dismissed by those who don’t know better. In fact, modern art as defined in the West stretches back several decades across the Gulf with multiple generations of artists. Read more »
محمد كاظم: تجاوز الحدود الجغرافية
An Arabic language interview in which Sultan discuss the UAE’s participation in the Venice Bienalle with Mohammed Kazem, an Emirati pioneering artist. Read more »