British Museum celebrates over a decade of collecting Contemporary Art of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) with new exhibition as per BWW News Desk. But why a decade of collecting contemporary art of the MENA? Let us find out.
The exhibition will debut in February 2021.
In February 2021, the British Museum will celebrate over a decade of collecting contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa. Featuring over 100 works on paper from the collection, Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa weaves together a rich tapestry of artistic expression from artists born in or connected to countries from Iran to Morocco. These artists reflect on their own societies, all of which have experienced extraordinary changes in living memory. From drawings by artists trained in Paris, Rome, Beirut or Jerusalem (1) to works associated with the Syrian uprisings (2), the exhibition challenges perceptions of the contemporary art of the region, with a range of works of great complexity and beauty.
The works in this exhibition reflect the British Museum’s position as a museum of human history, past, present and future. The CaMMEA (Contemporary and Modern Middle Eastern Art) acquisition group has been central to the speed at which this collection has come together in recent years and its remarkable breadth. This collection of works on paper includes drawings, screenprints, photography and artist’s books. While works by artists of this region have been collected by the British Museum since the 1980s, CaMMEA was formed in 2009 with the guiding principle of enabling future generations to see what was being produced during a particular time as well as to record significant moments in the history of the MENA region.
Reflections highlights issues of gender, identity, faith, politics and memory. Also communicated within the exhibition are ideas about poetry, music and war. The artists whether living in the countries of their birth or in diaspora, belong within the globalised world of art, and many allude to the artistic or literary heritage with which they are associated.
At the outset of the exhibition, Nicky Nodjoumi’s The Accident (2013) (3) challenges preconceptions about Middle Eastern art and highlights the complexities of being an artist in diaspora. From there, the first room focuses on the uses of figuration and abstraction with important works including Marwan’s Gesichtslandschaft (4) (Face Landscape, 1973) in which he transforms his own likeness into a landscape reminiscent of the land of Syria, or Yehuda Bacon who evokes the memory of family members who perished in the Holocaust (5). Huda Lutfi’s Al-Sitt and her Sunglasses (2008) (6) and Hayv Kahraman’s Honor Killing (2006) (7) bring their own perspectives to the female gaze. Monir’s captivating mirror drawing is informed both by the architectural heritage of Iran, and by philosophies of minimalism and abstraction (8). For Burhan Doğançay, inspiration for his abstract paintings is found in the urban walls of New York (9).
The second room is entitled Tangled Histories and shows political struggle, revolution and war across the region through the eyes of artists. While there are works relating to a specific event, such as the burning of the National Library of Baghdad in 2003,(10) or the demonstration by women against the enforced wearing of the hijab in 1979, (11) others emerge from and address longer-running struggles, and focus on the complexities of the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Lebanese Civil War or the ongoing war in Syria. Further works highlight one of the defining issues of our time, that of exile and migration through the photographs of the late Leila Alaoui. (12)
Visitors will be encouraged to explore further by visiting the British Museum’s Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic world (Rooms 42-43) where additional works from this collection will be displayed including Taysir Batniji’s painting (13) exploring the notion of being between worlds, Khalil Joreije and Joana Hadjithomas’ photography and drawing series Faces (2009) (14), and a collection of artist books.
Venetia Porter, Curator, Islamic and contemporary Middle Eastern art, British Museum said: ‘The acquisition of many of the works in this exhibition is thanks to the tireless work of the members of the CaMMEA group. We are so grateful to them for working with the museum to acquire such interesting and important works for the collection. Through the prism of personal experience, the artists in this exhibition present us with a refracted image of a region: there is no one narrative here, but a multiplicity of stories.’
Pace, one of the Gulf region’s leading architecture and engineering practices’ ‘Future Schools of Kuwait’ project shortlisted is acknowledged to be its second international accolade, recognizing its progressive and adaptive design approach.
KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) announced that the design of the ‘Future Schools of Kuwait’ project has been shortlisted for the World Architecture News (WAN) Award 2020 in the ‘Future Projects – Education’ category. This is the project’s second international accolade, recognizing its progressive and adaptive design approach.
In its efforts to improve the standards of education in the country, PAHW had collaborated with Pace – a leading Kuwait-based multidisciplinary firm in the region – to embark upon a program to radically redesign schools within the country and to offer more student-centered, technological and experiential forms of learning. The partnership between PAHW and Pace began following a design competition launched by authority, which the firm eventually won. The prototype design model is set to be replicated and developed for schools across the country, in an effort to address the needs of a new generation of students.
On this occasion, Nasser Khraibut, Deputy General Manager for Planning and Design Sector at PAHW, said: “We are very pleased to have won yet another prestigious global award for this promising future project in collaboration with Pace. The ‘Future Schools of Kuwait’ design initiative came as part of our commitment to develop educational facilities with modern and progressive standards, in line with Kuwait’s National Development Plan emanating from the His Highness the Amir’s Vision 2035.”
Known across the region as a partner of national development for decades, Pace had delivered initial prototypes to develop primary and middle government schools. Speaking about the Award, Architect Tarek Shuaib, Pace CEO, said: “We are excited to witness our ‘Unbuilt’ future design garnering international recognition for its innovative approach. We are confident enough to say that the project succeeded in critically examining the outdated platforms found in a region desperate for change in the educational model, which are in need of an open and creative educational adaptation.”
Generation Alpha
Speaking about the project, Khraibut said that PAHW’s vision was to design a school for the next generation, Generation Alpha, that will live through the next 50 years and transition Kuwait from an outdated schooling model into the future of education – with experiential learning being a big part of it. He explained how Alpha are considered the first generation to be born entirely within the 21st century, not having experienced the world without technology and smart devices.
As for the design itself, Shuaib noted that Pace’s award-winning concept designs for the schools break down the boundaries of conventional learning by extending the functionality of the building to spaces, such as corridors, staircases or outdoor areas, with more flexibility to house multiple activities. “The highly-functional designs ensure that they respond to the site and program, as well as being adaptable, sustainable and inclusive of future change,” he added.
Elaborating further on the design, Khraibut discussed how it is centered on creating open and transparent spaces to foster a safe and secure environment, eliminating “dead areas” that are more concealed from sight. According to Khraibut, this reduces opportunities for bullying and helps create a more controlled environment where students feel safe to learn and explore. The designs are also led by their belief in creating completely accessible spaces that are inclusive of people of all different capabilities.
In terms of sustainability within the buildings, Shuaib pointed out that it has been achieved in the design primarily through passive cooling methods such as shading and the extensive use of vegetation, which also creates a pleasant environment for kids to play and will encourage them to explore their outdoors while being friendly to the environment.
“Our design aims to reduce temperature-controlled spaces and maximize outdoor covered areas in order to reduce load. In addition to cooling techniques, sustainability is also used as a learning tool. The future generations can be taught to be more conscious of their environment by providing space for outdoor classes, planting gardens and other green areas,” he said.
It is worth mentioning as well that the ‘Future Schools of Kuwait’ project had previously won the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Merit Award in the ‘Architecture Unbuilt’ category. The AIA jury recognized the project at the annual AIA – Middle East Conference and Design Awards 2019.
Hany Abdel Kader has worked stitching khayamiya since his childhood. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer for Asia Times
There is a soft smile on Hany Abdel Kader’s face as he takes out the carefully folded cotton piece, kept at the back of his small shop.
As he unfolds the fabric, a decorated front appears, with carefully stitched appliqué in bright colors – typical of Cairo’s long-established khayamiya (needlework) tradition. But this piece is unlike any other in the neighborhood’s workshops, where the art has been practiced for centuries. It has none of khayamiya’s customary patterns, based on geometry or Arabic calligraphy, but army tanks and masses of people – scenes from the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
‘That’s when I did my first piece, when we were all unsure about what would happen in the future,’ Abdel Kader, 44, told Asia Times.
He points to images stitched along the borders of the quilt, each depicting a different scene during the revolution. One shows a figure trying to climb the enormous government building, the Mogammaa; another, the infamous camels brought in to fight protesters in the street. Most of the scenes are set in Tahrir Square, the symbolic epicenter of the revolution.
Details from the quilt show state violence and wounded protesters being carried away. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer ‘I felt the need to describe what I saw. And I had the fabric at home, so I just laid out a big piece on the floor and started creating the design,’ said Abdel Kader.
As the days passed he added elements to the outer border, based on what he saw himself, heard from friends, or watched on TV. He embroidered words like ‘Peacefully’ and ‘Step down’.
He also stitched the slogan heard across the Arab world in 2011: ‘The people want the fall of the regime’.He added protesters getting hurt by bullets – and others coming to their rescue.
Appliqué showing scenes from Tahrir Square: tanks and protesters praying in the street, plus the demand ‘step down’. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer for Asia Times
Eight years ago, on 25 January 2011, Egypt witnessed the start of mass protests. They came on the heels of similar demonstrations in Tunisia, which set the Arab Spring in motion. After 18 days of protests in Cairo, which spread to cities across Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak – in power since 1981 – was forced to resign.Protests continued throughout 2011 demanding the armed forces that took power after Mubarak’s resignation hand over the reigns of power to civilian rule. Elections in 2012 brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power, but the elected President Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a military coup led by current ruler Abdel Fatah El Sisi, who has since been accused of rights abuses and criticized for giving the military unchecked power.
Abdel Kader recalls the period of the revolution eight years ago as a step into the unknown.
‘It was a very strange and unknown time for us. Suddenly, there were tanks underneath our windows. We had never seen that before,’ he said.An ancient craft Khayamiya, which takes its name from the Arabic word for ‘tent’, historically involved the production of tents and panels to be used in a range of settings, from political gatherings to funerals to celebrations. Its usage dates back at least one thousand years in Egypt.
The Cairo district of Darb al-Ahmar. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer for Asia Times
The view over Cairo’s ancient Al-Darb Al-Ahmar quarter, where many of the city’s craftspeople are located. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer Throughout the centuries, the craft has evolved. Ottoman rulers, kings Fuad and Farouk, presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat would all receive guests in rooms decorated with khayamiya.The opening (and, almost one century later, nationalization) of the Suez Canal had tents to host guests and officials.
Traditional celebratory tents are seen at a festival in the Egyptian city of Ismailia, on the west bank of the Suez Canal, for the occasion of the canal’s grand opening in 1869. Photo: Collection of Roger-Viollet Egyptian musicians, when traveling, would often bring stitched panels to put up as backdrops at their performances.The popularity of khayamiya remains until present – only now, fabrics are mostly printed by machine.
Photo: Claudia Willmitzer for Asia Times
‘You find them all over Egypt, they are so common that people rarely think about them,’ said art historian Seif El Rashidi, who recently co-authored a book on the topic.The most revered work done by Cairo’s khayamiya guild was doubtless on the kiswa, the elaborate cover for the holy Kaaba, the black cube in Mecca, which was historically produced each year in Cairo’s alleys and ceremoniously brought all the way to the holiest city in Islam. Abdel Kader comes from a family of such prominent crafters: his grandfather Mahmoud earned the name Al-Mekkawi, ‘of Mecca’, from being one of the leading kiswa artisans.
Amm Hassan, the colleague of Abdel Kader, works on a piece of khayamiya. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer Seated in the inner corner of his shop, with his long-time colleague Amm (uncle) Hassan working on a cushion next to the entrance, Abdel Kader takes out images of his first two revolution pieces.Both are in museum collections now, at Durham University and Victoria and Albert Museum in London – destinations he never imagined when drawing that first design during the revolution.
It is not entirely uncommon that political art develops this way, historian Rashidi tells Asia Times: ‘It might be spontaneous at first. An artist starts working on something, and only later on it takes on a specific meaning.
Transforming folk art
Many of the most powerful artworks from 2011 were street art, such as Ammar Abo Bakr’s portraits of martyred protesters with angel-like wings, or Bahia Shehab’s stencilled blue bra for the protester who was dragged in the streets by members of the military until her clothes ripped – creations symbolizing the ongoing regime brutality. Or the dozens of artists who came daily to the sidewalks around Tahrir, to draw what was happening. Abdel Kader’s work is different, belonging as it does to the much less utilized craft tradition.
‘Sketches for new pieces and photographs of Abdel Kader’s trips to exhibit his work abroad. Photo: Claudia Willmitzer for Asia Times
Usually, Abdel Kader’s work is not a commentary on society. Like all of Cairo’s khayamiya artists, he spends his days cutting, folding and stitching colorful pieces of cloth onto canvas to create vivid and detailed tapestries.
“Khayamiya is usually not a form of art that lends itself to this kind of work. That’s what makes Hany’s pieces so interesting,” said historian El Rashidi.
Eight years after the onset of the revolution, under another strong and repressive state apparatus, looking back at what happened is for many Egyptians associated with gloom, even a sense of despair.
But for Abdel Kader, the events that took place in Tahrir Square still form a source of inspiration.
In his home on the top floor of an apartment building in Muqattam, a dusty hill on the outskirts of Cairo, he has several sketches for new pieces.They portray the same crowds, the same skyline of Cairo and the same commemorative date, January 25th.
‘If I think about my craft there is something else that I would like to do,’ he said. That is to work on a big, traditional tent. But, he says, with the advent of machine printing, no asks for them these days. ♦
Rima Alsammarae report on Middle East Architect of 9 April 2019 that “Jordanian architect and artist Ammar Khammash is a 2019 laureate of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, along with four other architects including Dr Werner Sobek, Ersen Gursel, Rozana Montiel and Jorge Lobos.”
Created by architect and scholar Jana Revedin in 2006, the international award recognises five architects each year who have contributed to sustainable development and created innovative and participatory approaches to meet societal needs.
Royal Academy for Nature Conservation in Jabal Ajloun, Jordan by Khammash Architects
According to the award’s website, Khammash was recognised for his dedication to interdisciplinary scientific research, as well as his artisanal and artistic approaches to architecture.
Khammash’s projects include the Wild Jordan Center, the Royal Academy for Nature Conservation, the Darat Al Funun workspace and the Columbia University Middle East Research Center in Amman, as well as the Church of the Apostles in Madaba. His approach involves the use of locally-sourced, natural materials to achieve context-relevant designs.
The Middle East Modern Art Space in New Badr, Amman by Khammash Architects
“It appears that there is a growing international trend to put architecture back on the track of social and environmental responsibilities, and away from being a hostage of powerful visual output that publishes well in the media,” he said. “Our philosophy and methodology of approach is entirely based on the role of architecture in solving problems, finding creative ways to co-exist with the larger context, which includes society and nature.”
Currently finalising two ecolodges in Jordan (one in Yarmouk Reserve and the other on the hot spring of Al Himmeh in Mukhaibeh), Khammash and his team are also working on a number of competitions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He noted that the award will help him further his approach and convince clients who see things differently.
Heedan Visitors Center by Khammash Architects
“The recognition from this prestigious award will help me change the mentality of clients, politicians and students,” he said, “ensuring that architecture retains some degree of modesty and symbiotic relationship to people and nature, instead of overwhelming, overpowering and outsmarting the very reason we need to build for.”
Khammash will be speaking at the award’s symposium, to be held in Paris in May.
Ammar Khammash talks on CNN’s program “Inside the Middle East” about Feynan Eco-Lodge, designed by Khammash Architects, and which is one of the first Eco-Lodges in Jordan and the Middle East. Watch the interview: Inside the Middle East
Mehdi was born and raised in Iran. Coming from a
farming family, he was by all expectations supposed to be a shepherd. However,
going to University in Tehran to study fine art and film changed this path.
Today he is a world-renowned muralist and the artist chosen to present his
large-scale artwork at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos.
Here we discuss his work for the
Congress Centre, the role of the artist in society and how art can be a
catalyst for change in today’s fast-moving world.
Do you think artists have a duty to
society?
Most definitely. I feel our duty is
double that of an average citizen because we have the ability to grab people’s attention
and point it towards specific objectives. We have the skill to magnify
problems, incite feelings (both negative and positive) and really make a point.
This puts us in a privileged position, but it also comes with responsibility.
Propaganda is messaging created by artists, after all.
What is art for?
The role of art has changed. Artists
no longer just make art in the pursuit of beauty or to assist those in
positions of power, such as monarchs or the Church. Today art is very much
mixed with activism. For me, art is a reaction to what goes on around us and is
there to reflect what is happening in the world. For example, we have seen many
artists recently focus on the migration crisis, bringing specific attention to
this issue. Already during the Vietnam war, the work of photographers was
instrumental in raising awareness and galvanising the movements needed to bring
the war to an end.
An artwork the size of yours has
never been presented at Davos. It will be seen by many important influencers
and politicians. How has this influenced the work you will show?
I have never produced work for this
kind of audience. Usually my work is shown in public places, intended to be
viewed by everyday individuals. Thinking about the audience made me feel a
heavy burden of responsibility. I felt challenged to produce work with a
lasting effect. Work of this type and scale is hard to miss. It leaves an
impression on people – whether they like it or not. I knew narrative art would
not work in this context, so I rather focused on creating a thought-provoking
atmosphere that will hopefully affect the context in which discussions take
place in Davos.
Some of the people that may see your
work at Davos may look at your home country primarily through a geopolitical
lens. How does that make you feel?
Generally, I am an artist that
strives to go beyond my own geography and this work is no exception. I have
thus far managed to reach out to different people with different nationalities
in part by distancing myself from country-specific icons and visuals. I try
very hard to use visuals that are globally recognisable. For example, balloons
are used in celebrations throughout the world. I very deliberately attempted to
connect with my audience through a universal language rooted in “feeling”, and
that is something common to us all.
What do you hope to achieve with your
art at Davos?
I feel that currently the health of
planet earth and climate change are at the forefront of all our minds. For
example, water scarcity is a real issue here in Iran. While some still say that
this has not been caused by humans, I feel we are all responsible for the fate
of our planet. Be it those in positions of power or simple individuals, we are
all interconnected. For me, the future of our children is a central concern,
and I hope it will be also for those who see my work at the Davos meeting.
Recently you became a father for the
second time. How does fatherhood affect your work?
I feel a great responsibility towards
my children and towards all the other little ones on this planet. Parenthood
makes one a more responsible, interconnected person with a sharper sense of
urgency for the duty we have to ensure our collective future. My first-born is
a girl and having her showed me the real gender divide that exists in our world
today. I learned to appreciate the importance of feminist movements and the
regrettable endurance of “glass ceilings”. That is why I have chosen a female
figure to be the centre of my work for the Congress Centre. The closed doors in
my work are not accidental. I feel there is really still a long way to go.
Nonetheless, the piece has an atmosphere and message of hope.
Can art change the world?
As I already mentioned, artists
possess a powerful tool. We have a unique and special vantage point – that of
an outsider. Documentary makers, painters, photographers and performers can all
present an “outsider” point of view. This change of perspectives is a catalyst
for change and that’s what I try to achieve with my murals.
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