Abstract
In an article much circulated and contested, Emirati writer Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi argued that Gulf cities have become the cultural and intellectual centers of the Arab World. Regardless of whether Al-Qassemi’s contention is accurate, his piece sheds light on the recent profusion of world-class museums, galleries, and film festivals in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states that are increasingly playing a commanding role in the global art scene. GCC presence in the world of contemporary art is not restricted to providing a forum for showcasing artwork and film or offering generous endowments. Artists from the Gulf, such as Ahmed Mater, the GCC collective, and Farah Al Qasimi, are garnering world attention and exhibiting their art in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries and museums. This proliferation of modern artists from the Gulf indexes a more substantial Khaleeji presence in spheres hitherto uncharted by many Gulf citizens. More importantly, and what this chapter seeks to explore, the increasing prominence of a number of Khaleeji visual artists raises the question of the role they play in shaping ideas of self, national identity, and citizenship in the region. GCC governments have their distinctive goals and means for creating productive and, to quote miriam cooke, “tribal modern” citizens. Artists, however, are neither limited in their conceptualizations nor burdened by the exigencies of nation building. The art they produce, therefore, communicates ideas of nation and citizenship that may dovetail with, diverge from, or altogether subvert what is officially sanctioned by the government. To that end, this chapter will examine the artwork of three contemporary visual artists from the Arab Gulf to explore how they articulate ideas of nationhood and contest state-sanctioned narratives on its past, present, and future. Furthermore, by analyzing their discourse in written and video interviews as well as public talks and lectures available on YouTube in addition to the ways they engage with state institutions, the discussion will illustrate the tension between their professed cosmopolitanism and their nation-oriented artistic and discursive practice.
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Notes
- 1.
This article was first published in October 2013 in the Washington, DC-based, online news site Al-Monitor. This piece as well as all others, penned by Al Qassemi for Al-Monitor, have since been removed. The article, however, is available on Al Qassemi’s personal website: http://sultanalqassemi.com/articles/thriving-gulf-cities-emerge-as-new-centers-of-arab-world/
- 2.
This chapter will use Khaleej, Arab Gulf, Gulf, and GCC interchangeably to refer to the six countries comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait. Similarly, Khaleeji and Gulf nationals are used as synonyms referring solely to citizens of GCC states (Derderian 2017, 23).
- 3.
In her definition of art-making, Winegar (2006) includes activities that are not restricted to producing art objects. Banal undertakings, such as going to graduate school, getting married, and conversing in coffee shops, are all part of what constitutes art production. Discourse is the most important activity that goes into art-making (pp. 9–10).
- 4.
It is important to point out that the value judgments about art are socially and historically contingent. There are no universal parameters through which to analyze a piece of art or even to deem one as art and another as not. There are no ascendant aesthetic principles that are not produced and perpetuated by certain actors in certain contexts (Winegar 2006, p. 12).
- 5.
See pp. 70–76 in Tribal Modern for cooke’s definition and elaboration of the concept of barzakh, which derives from the Quran, in the contemporary Gulf states.
- 6.
Ironically, the Gulf states are themselves seeking to cultivate global, autonomous citizens, and supporting artists and establishing cultural institutions is a part of that project. However, the global citizen they are seeking to produce is not of the humanist cosmopolitan variety that Mater, AlDowayan, and GCC are claiming themselves to be. Rather, it is the neoliberal kind that can compete in an ever-globalizing economy and guarantee the State’s reputation and survival after the eventual exhaustion of its natural resources (Maziad 2016).
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Hamid, N. (2020). The Nation and Its Artists: Contemporary Khaleeji Artists Between Critique and Capture. In: Karolak, M., Allam, N. (eds) Gulf Cooperation Council Culture and Identities in the New Millennium. Contemporary Gulf Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1529-3_6
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