In 2007, I initiated an art project about the history of art in the Arab world. My project leans on the recent emergence of large new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arab world. These developments, when viewed alongside the geo-political, economic, social and military conflicts that consumed the region in the past few decades, shape a rich yet thorny ground for creative work. The artworks and stories I present with this project were shaped by encounters on this ground with individuals, institutions, economies, concepts and forms.
2007 initiierte ich ein Kunstprojekt über die Geschichte der Kunst in der ara- bischen Welt. Mein Projekt stützt sich auf die in letzter Zeit zu beobachtende Entstehung großer neuer Infrastrukturen für die bildenden Künste in der ara- bischen Welt. Betrachtet man diese Entwicklungen neben den geopolitischen, ökonomischen, sozialen und militärischen Konflikten, die die Region in den letzten Jahrzehnten in Mitleidenschaft gezogen haben, so bilden sie einen ebenso ergiebigen wie dornigen Grund für kreative Arbeit. Die Kunstwerke und Geschichten, die ich mit diesem Projekt präsentiere, sind von Begegnungen mit Individuen, Institutionen, Ökonomien, Konzepten und Formen auf diesem Grund geprägt.
(Arabic) In 2007, I initiated an art project about the history of art in the Arab world. My project leans on the recent emergence of large new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arab world. These developments, when viewed alongside the geo-political, economic, social and military conflicts that consumed the region in the past few decades, shape a rich yet thorny ground for creative work. The artworks and stories I present with this project were shaped by encounters on this ground with individuals, institutions, economies, concepts and forms.
(French) In 2007, I initiated an art project about the history of art in the Arab world. My project leans on the recent emergence of large new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arab world. These developments, when viewed alongside the geo-political, economic, social and military conflicts that consumed the region in the past few decades, shape a rich yet thorny ground for creative work. The artworks and stories I present with this project were shaped by encounters on this ground with individuals, institutions, economies, concepts and forms.
Background
Over the past few years, I have been fascinated by the emergence of new art museums, galleries, schools and cultural foundations in cities such as Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Istanbul, Ramallah and Sharjah, among others. I am intrigued by the increased visibility of the makers, sponsors, consumers and histories of “Arab art,” and more so by the acceleration in the development of new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arabian Gulf. Suffice it to cite the Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi which will soon include the largest-to-date Guggenheim museum by Frank Gehry; a Louvre museum by Jean Nouvel; a Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid; a maritime museum by Tadao Ando; and a Sheikh Zayed National Museum by Foster and Partners. Forthcoming and recently-unveiled museums, galleries and foundations elsewhere in the Gulf, whether in Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Sharjah are no less remarkable in scale and ambition. Such plans clearly attest to the Gulf states’ laudable mandate to showcase local and regional cultures in their full complexity. They also shore up nascent cultural tourism industries, and substantiate the benevolent intentions of the Gulf states’ rulers, further sanctioning their hereditary rule. In my project, I am not interested in identifying and unpacking the complex and/or simple motives that prompt the sheikhs and sheikhas, emirs, kings, princes, ministers of culture and others in the Gulf and elsewhere in the Arab world to invest massively in the arts. Rather, I concentrate on some of the gestures, stories, forms and colors made available by the emerging infratrsuctures, especially when these are screened alongside Jalal Toufic’s concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.”
In his book titled Forthcoming, the writer and artist Jalal Toufic proposes the concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.” With this concept, Toufic considers how disasters affect tradition. He pays particular attention to the rare instances when artworks are affected immaterially, in more subtle and insidious ways than has hitherto been thought. Moerover, Toufic characterizes such immaterial effect as a “withdrawal,” not in the sense that an artwork is hidden (to safeguard against its destruction; nor because it does not conform to the reigning ideological and political outlook of the time) but in the sense that extant cultural artifacts are treated by sensitive artists in their own artworks as though destroyed, as unavailable to vision, for example. In his essay, Toufic also proposes that artists have at times attempted to resurrect such withdrawn artworks, albeit with great doubt as to their resurrecting efforts. In this project, I lean on Toufic’s concept because it has provided me with a precise and apt language to frame some of the material, aesthetic and conceptual considerations that I am confronting as I engage the history of Art in the Arab world.
Hintergrund
In den letzten Jahren fesselte mich die Entstehung neuer Kunstmuseen, Galerien, Schulen und Kulturstiftungen in Städten wie Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Kairo, Doha, Istanbul, Ramallah und Sharjah. Mich faszinierten die zunehmende Sichtbarkeit der Macher, Sponsoren, Konsumenten und Geschichten »arabischer Kunst«, und noch mehr die Beschleunigung bei der Entwicklung neuer Infrastrukturen für die bildenden Künste am Arabischen Golf. Die folgenden Beispiele mögen in diesem Zusammenhang genügen: die Insel Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, auf der bald das bislang größte Guggenheim-Museum von Frank Gehry stehen wird, sowie ein Ableger des Louvre von Jean Nouvel, ein Zentrum für die darstellen- den Künste von Zaha Hadid, ein maritimes Museum von Tadao Ando, und das Zayed National Museum von Foster und Partners. Im Entstehen begriffene und vor Kurzem eröffnete Museen, Galerien und Stiftungen an anderen Orten der Golfregion, ob in Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabien oder Sharjah sind hin- sichtlich ihrer Größe und Ambition nicht weniger bemerkenswert. Mit Sicher- heit sind diese Pläne Ausdruck des lobenswerten Auftrags, lokale und regionale Kulturen in ihrer vollen Komplexität zu präsentieren. Zugleich verstärken sie die aufstrebende Industrie des Kulturtourismus, unterstreichen die positiven Ab- sichten der Herrscher der Golfstaaten und sanktionieren auf diese Weise zugleich ihre erbliche Herrschaft. In meinem Projekt geht es mir nicht darum, die kom- plexen und/oder einfachen Motive zu identifizieren und offenzulegen, die die Scheichs und ihre Frauen und Töchter, die Emire, Könige, Prinzen, Kulturminis- ter und andere Personen in der Golfregion und anderswo in der arabischen Welt motivieren, massiv in die Künste zu investieren. Vielmehr konzentriere ich mich auf einige der Gesten, Geschichten, Formen und Farben, die durch die entstehen- den Infrastrukturen zugänglich werden, vor allem wenn man diese parallel zu Jalal Toufics Konzept des »Rückzugs der Tradition nach einem unermesslichen Desaster« betrachtet.
In seinem Buch mit dem Titel Forthcoming schlägt der Schriftsteller und Künst- ler das Konzept des »Rückzugs der Tradition nach einem unermesslichen Desaster« vor. Mit diesem Konzept setzt sich Toufic mit der Frage auseinander, wie Katastrophen die Tradition beeinflussen. Sein besonderes Augenmerk rich- tet er auf die seltenen Fälle, in denen Kunstwerke auf immaterielle Weise und auf subtilere und heimtückischere Weise betroffen sind, als man bislang angenom- men hatte. Darüber hinaus charakterisiert Toufic solche immateriellen Effekte als einen »Rückzug«, nicht in dem Sinne, dass ein Kunstwerk versteckt wird (um es vor seiner Zerstörung zu bewahren, und auch nicht, weil es der in dieser Zeit herrschenden ideologischen und politischen Perspektive nicht genügt), sondern in dem Sinne, dass existierende kulturelle Artefakte von sensiblen Künstlern in ihren eigenen Kunstwerken so behandelt werden, als seien sie zerstört worden, als seien sie beispielsweise den Blicken entzogen. In seinem Essay vertritt Toufic außerdem die These, Künstler hätten von Zeit zu Zeit versucht, solche zurück- gezogenen Kunstwerke wiederauferstehen zu lassen, wenn auch mit großen Zweifeln hinsichtlich ihrer entsprechenden Bemühungen. Ich stütze mich bei diesem Projekt auf Toufics Konzept, weil es mir eine präzise und angemessene Sprache zur Verfügung stellt, um damit einige der materiellen, ästhetischen und konzeptionellen Überlegungen zu formulieren, die mich bei meiner Ausein- andersetzung mit der Geschichte der Kunst in der arabischen Welt beschäftigen.
Background
(Arabic) Over the past few years, I have been fascinated by the emergence of new art museums, galleries, schools and cultural foundations in cities such as Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Istanbul, Ramallah and Sharjah, among others. I am intrigued by the increased visibility of the makers, sponsors, consumers and histories of “Arab art,” and more so by the acceleration in the development of new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arabian Gulf. Suffice it to cite the Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi which will soon include the largest-to-date Guggenheim museum by Frank Gehry; a Louvre museum by Jean Nouvel; a Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid; a maritime museum by Tadao Ando; and a Sheikh Zayed National Museum by Foster and Partners. Forthcoming and recently-unveiled museums, galleries and foundations elsewhere in the Gulf, whether in Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Sharjah are no less remarkable in scale and ambition. Such plans clearly attest to the Gulf states’ laudable mandate to showcase local and regional cultures in their full complexity. They also shore up nascent cultural tourism industries, and substantiate the benevolent intentions of the Gulf states’ rulers, further sanctioning their hereditary rule. In my project, I am not interested in identifying and unpacking the complex and/or simple motives that prompt the sheikhs and sheikhas, emirs, kings, princes, ministers of culture and others in the Gulf and elsewhere in the Arab world to invest massively in the arts. Rather, I concentrate on some of the gestures, stories, forms and colors made available by the emerging infratrsuctures, especially when these are screened alongside Jalal Toufic’s concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.”
In his book titled Forthcoming, the writer and artist Jalal Toufic proposes the concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.” With this concept, Toufic considers how disasters affect tradition. He pays particular attention to the rare instances when artworks are affected immaterially, in more subtle and insidious ways than has hitherto been thought. Moerover, Toufic characterizes such immaterial effect as a “withdrawal,” not in the sense that an artwork is hidden (to safeguard against its destruction; nor because it does not conform to the reigning ideological and political outlook of the time) but in the sense that extant cultural artifacts are treated by sensitive artists in their own artworks as though destroyed, as unavailable to vision, for example. In his essay, Toufic also proposes that artists have at times attempted to resurrect such withdrawn artworks, albeit with great doubt as to their resurrecting efforts. In this project, I lean on Toufic’s concept because it has provided me with a precise and apt language to frame some of the material, aesthetic and conceptual considerations that I am confronting as I engage the history of Art in the Arab world.
Background
(French) Over the past few years, I have been fascinated by the emergence of new art museums, galleries, schools and cultural foundations in cities such as Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Istanbul, Ramallah and Sharjah, among others. I am intrigued by the increased visibility of the makers, sponsors, consumers and histories of “Arab art,” and more so by the acceleration in the development of new infrastructures for the visual arts in the Arabian Gulf. Suffice it to cite the Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi which will soon include the largest-to-date Guggenheim museum by Frank Gehry; a Louvre museum by Jean Nouvel; a Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid; a maritime museum by Tadao Ando; and a Sheikh Zayed National Museum by Foster and Partners. Forthcoming and recently-unveiled museums, galleries and foundations elsewhere in the Gulf, whether in Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Sharjah are no less remarkable in scale and ambition. Such plans clearly attest to the Gulf states’ laudable mandate to showcase local and regional cultures in their full complexity. They also shore up nascent cultural tourism industries, and substantiate the benevolent intentions of the Gulf states’ rulers, further sanctioning their hereditary rule. In my project, I am not interested in identifying and unpacking the complex and/or simple motives that prompt the sheikhs and sheikhas, emirs, kings, princes, ministers of culture and others in the Gulf and elsewhere in the Arab world to invest massively in the arts. Rather, I concentrate on some of the gestures, stories, forms and colors made available by the emerging infratrsuctures, especially when these are screened alongside Jalal Toufic’s concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.”
In his book titled Forthcoming, the writer and artist Jalal Toufic proposes the concept of “the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster.” With this concept, Toufic considers how disasters affect tradition. He pays particular attention to the rare instances when artworks are affected immaterially, in more subtle and insidious ways than has hitherto been thought. Moerover, Toufic characterizes such immaterial effect as a “withdrawal,” not in the sense that an artwork is hidden (to safeguard against its destruction; nor because it does not conform to the reigning ideological and political outlook of the time) but in the sense that extant cultural artifacts are treated by sensitive artists in their own artworks as though destroyed, as unavailable to vision, for example. In his essay, Toufic also proposes that artists have at times attempted to resurrect such withdrawn artworks, albeit with great doubt as to their resurrecting efforts. In this project, I lean on Toufic’s concept because it has provided me with a precise and apt language to frame some of the material, aesthetic and conceptual considerations that I am confronting as I engage the history of Art in the Arab world.
