“What is your place — your makan?” curator Venetia Porter asked the artists for the latest 21,39 exhibition, The Saudi Art Council's annual initiative. “Can you take me to it?”
Porter’s show, Amakin, opened in March in Jeddah. It has now travelled for the first time in the programme's history, launching on Thursday at the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture — Ithra, the Saudi Aramco-funded art centre in the Eastern Province.
Porter's question yielded an intimate, personal and cross-generational exhibition, as visions of home — a changing home, a home one cannot go back to, a home being destroyed by climate change — emerge among the works by 28 artists.
Scroll through the gallery above to see some of the works on show at Ithra
“It was the era of endless Zoom conversations,” she recalls about her preparations for the exhibition, saying her initial plan had been to organise a group field trip across Saudi Arabia. The Covid-19 pandemic gave her video meetings instead, and an extra year to organise it, which she put to use researching young artists or lesser-known parts of historical practices, showing these alongside established Saudi and international names.
Places emerge through stories, with many of the works gesturing towards recalled or imaginary narratives, or personal and family memories. In a lovely pairing, Emy Kat captures Al Balad in Jeddah without a single image of a mashrabiya or carved woodwork. Instead, he exhibits close-ups of the bright cerulean blue found in the Old Town, in a choppy, stop-and-start grid — a throwback, he says, to when he used to wander through Al Balad as a boy and get lost in its labyrinth. The memory from his childhood sits alongside portraits of the small children who accompanied him when he went to shoot the photographs on a residency in 2012, on a visit from France.
Placed next to this is a wall made of the crumbling coral material of Al Balad, by Asma Bahmim, in which she has incorporated folded up bits of paper featuring her wishes, with snippets of their hoped-for outcomes barely visible.
Bashaer Hawsawi shows wall-based textile works in Cleansing (2019), for which she places the bristles of a red plastic broom on to African fabrics in neat, gridded patterns. Here, the materials tell of Hawsawi’s family history: some of her family were mutawifun, who take care of the pilgrims to Makkah, and who came from Nigeria generations ago.
One of the exhibition's highlights is the video Yallah, Yallah Beenah! (2022) by Mohammed Hammad, a surrealist take on the entrance into adulthood, complete with talking feet and laser-eyed witches. This note of surrealism and visual spectacle resonates throughout several works by young creators in the show, co-existing with Porter’s predilection towards artists’ books and works on paper.
At times, the tempo shift from spectacle towards the intimacy of artists' book is abrupt, but it is interesting to watch how the younger cohort of creators sought after both scale and the private reflection usually associated with drawing or notebooks. Obadah Aljefri, for example, created a giant lavender Moleskine notebook, adorned with kitsch, fantastical drawings that he describes as a collaboration between himself in the present and the child he used to be. Ending the show is Sara Abdu's sublime presentation of The Infinite Now, 15 hanging scrolls of paper in which she attempted to write a straight line in henna ink — a perforative act that attempted to site her “place” as out of body, out of mind.
Porter is the longtime curator of Islamic and contemporary Middle East art at the British Museum, where she has built up for the museum an important collection of works on paper. Her specialism in this area also grounds the 21,39 exhibition in a classicism, of the skills of draughtsmanship and calligraphy, which are on the wane in contemporary art. In some cases, that means showing the work of artists who still come up through classical training, such as Pakistani creators Imran Qureshi or Aisha Khalid, both in Lahore. Khalid’s green-textured patterns, minutely drawn, are overlaid with gold-leaf shapes in an evocation of the Kaaba.
Porter also reaches back into the past to show substantial presentations of senior names, such as Dia al-Azzawi, Safeya Binzagr and Abdulhalim Radwi, where the focus on the works on paper provides a glimpse of the artists' hand, something the formality of major creations usually obscures.
“I’m interested in artists who use paper. That is, I'm interested in process. In drawings, you can feel the hand of the artist, see their thought process,” Porter tells The National.
For Binzagr, for example, instead of her oil paintings, Porter chooses her watercolours, sketches and etchings — by far her more interesting work — in which Binzagr documents traditional rites, activities, children’s games and the dresses of different tribes of the kingdom. Juxtapositions of preparatory sketches and their outcome in etchings and prints demonstrate the process Binzagr took towards her final product.
Similarly, Porter shows not only Radwi's well-known, symbolist paintings, but the trove of sketches that he kept in his studio.
“For Radwi, too, most people know him for his oil paintings,” she says. “At one point I asked, what else does he have in his estate? And his son brought out an enormous portfolio with these drawings, which are completely unknown, unpublished. They’re undated, so they’re obviously pieces he did not expect to exhibit.
"You see in these drawings an informality that you lose in the oil paintings. And at one point, he clearly decided he wanted to experiment with print gouaches. So this has been an opportunity to find, even from the established artists, work that people don't normally associate with them.”
Porter also researched the artists of the Department of the Cultural and Arts Society in the Eastern Province (the Jame’a Al Thagafah wa Alfunoon), which emerged in the 1990s and is less well known than other modernist art societies in the kingdom. Some exquisite works by Abdulrahman AlSoliman, new for the Ithra exhibition, display the Al Sharqiya painter’s responses to the damage done to the coast during the First Gulf War, when oil spills travelled up from Kuwait and decimated bird and plant life.
The historical additions help move the exhibition away from the same roster of artists that Saudi Arabia's scene at times cycles through. Indeed, this is the first fully public 21,39 since the Covid-19 hiatus (the art historian Fabien Danesi curated a show for last year that was unable to open), and it emerges in a new context in the kingdom's contemporary art landscape.
Once alone in its goals, it now sits among Diriyah Biennale, Desert X AlUla, the myriad Ministry of Culture projects and those of the new Jeddah arts complex Hayy Jameel, located not far from 21,39’s traditional Gold Moor mall digs.
Having 21,39 at Ithra underlines the fact that all these exist in a spirit of collaboration instead of competition, says Farah Abushullaih, head of Ithra Museums.
“The Saudi Art Council is one of the most established entities in the kingdom,” she says. “They’re a part of the movers and shakers of the industry. We share a similar vision and mission when it comes to wanting to support and develop the local ecosystem here in the kingdom, but also to make sure that we show international voices as well.”
Future 21,39 exhibitions might again travel to Ithra, says Abushullaih. At Ithra, the museum is re-examining its programming after two years of extreme disruption, as with everywhere else in the world. A more local emphasis is likely to take hold, perhaps because the enforced locality of lockdown has made artists and curators realise, as Porter did for Amakin, how much research there is to be done about the communities we already live in.
Amakin is at King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture — Ithra in Dhahran until September 30; www.ithra.com
Scroll through the gallery below to see images from Desert X AlUla 2022
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
The%20specs
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
The%20specs
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Monday's results
- UAE beat Bahrain by 51 runs
- Qatar beat Maldives by 44 runs
- Saudi Arabia beat Kuwait by seven wickets
Company%20profile
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UAE rugby season
FIXTURES
West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers v Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Division 1
Dubai Sharks v Dubai Hurricanes II
Al Ain Amblers v Dubai Knights Eagles II
Dubai Tigers II v Abu Dhabi Saracens
Jebel Ali Dragons II v Abu Dhabi Harlequins II
Sharjah Wanderers v Dubai Exiles II
LAST SEASON
West Asia Premiership
Winners – Bahrain
Runners-up – Dubai Exiles
UAE Premiership
Winners – Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners-up – Jebel Ali Dragons
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners – Dubai Hurricanes
Runners-up – Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Conference
Winners – Dubai Tigers
Runners-up – Al Ain Amblers
Results
1. New Zealand Daniel Meech – Fine (name of horse), Richard Gardner – Calisto, Bruce Goodin - Backatorps Danny V, Samantha McIntosh – Check In. Team total First round: 200.22; Second round: 201.75 – Penalties 12 (jump-off 40.16 seconds) Prize €64,000
2. Ireland Cameron Hanley – Aiyetoro, David Simpson – Keoki, Paul Kennedy – Cartown Danger Mouse, Shane Breen – Laith. Team total 200.25/202.84 – P 12 (jump-off 51.79 – P17) Prize €40,000
3. Italy Luca Maria Moneta – Connery, Luca Coata – Crandessa, Simone Coata – Dardonge, Natale Chiaudani – Almero. Team total 130.82/198.-4 – P20. Prize €32,000
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20ILT20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMarquee%20players%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMoeen%20Ali%2C%20Andre%20Russell%2C%20Dawid%20Malan%2C%20Wanindu%20Hasiranga%2C%20Sunil%20Narine%2C%20Evin%20Lewis%2C%20Colin%20Munro%2C%20Fabien%20Allen%2C%20Sam%20Billings%2C%20Tom%20Curran%2C%20Alex%20Hales%2C%20Dushmantha%20Chameera%2C%20Shimron%20Hetmyer%2C%20Akeal%20Hosein%2C%20Chris%20Jordan%2C%20Tom%20Banton%2C%20Sandeep%20Lamichhane%2C%20Chris%20Lynn%2C%20Rovman%20Powell%2C%20Bhanuka%20Rajapaksa%2C%20Mujeeb%20Ul%20Rahman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInternational%20players%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELahiru%20Kumara%2C%20Seekugge%20Prassanna%2C%20Charith%20Asalanka%2C%20Colin%20Ingram%2C%20Paul%20Stirling%2C%20Kennar%20Lewis%2C%20Ali%20Khan%2C%20Brandon%20Glover%2C%20Ravi%20Rampaul%2C%20Raymon%20Reifer%2C%20Isuru%20Udana%2C%20Blessing%20Muzarabani%2C%20Niroshan%20Dickwella%2C%20Hazaratullah%20Zazai%2C%20Frederick%20Klassen%2C%20Sikandar%20Raja%2C%20George%20Munsey%2C%20Dan%20Lawrence%2C%20Dominic%20Drakes%2C%20Jamie%20Overton%2C%20Liam%20Dawson%2C%20David%20Wiese%2C%20Qais%20Ahmed%2C%20Richard%20Gleeson%2C%20James%20Vince%2C%20Noor%20Ahmed%2C%20Rahmanullah%20Gurbaz%2C%20Navin%20Ul%20Haq%2C%20Sherfane%20Rutherford%2C%20Saqib%20Mahmood%2C%20Ben%20Duckett%2C%20Benny%20Howell%2C%20Ruben%20Trumpelman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
What you as a drone operator need to know
A permit and licence is required to fly a drone legally in Dubai.
Sanad Academy is the United Arab Emirate’s first RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) training and certification specialists endorsed by the Dubai Civil Aviation authority.
It is responsible to train, test and certify drone operators and drones in UAE with DCAA Endorsement.
“We are teaching people how to fly in accordance with the laws of the UAE,” said Ahmad Al Hamadi, a trainer at Sanad.
“We can show how the aircraft work and how they are operated. They are relatively easy to use, but they need responsible pilots.
“Pilots have to be mature. They are given a map of where they can and can’t fly in the UAE and we make these points clear in the lectures we give.
“You cannot fly a drone without registration under any circumstances.”
Larger drones are harder to fly, and have a different response to location control. There are no brakes in the air, so the larger drones have more power.
The Sanad Academy has a designated area to fly off the Al Ain Road near Skydive Dubai to show pilots how to fly responsibly.
“As UAS technology becomes mainstream, it is important to build wider awareness on how to integrate it into commerce and our personal lives,” said Major General Abdulla Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief, Dubai Police.
“Operators must undergo proper training and certification to ensure safety and compliance.
“Dubai’s airspace will undoubtedly experience increased traffic as UAS innovations become commonplace, the Forum allows commercial users to learn of best practice applications to implement UAS safely and legally, while benefitting a whole range of industries.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Gulf rugby
Who’s won what so far in 2018/19
Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain
What’s left
UAE Conference
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers
March 29, final
UAE Premiership
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes
March 29, final
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 366Nm
Price: Dh200,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
More on Quran memorisation:
Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
IF YOU GO
The flights
FlyDubai flies direct from Dubai to Skopje in five hours from Dh1,314 return including taxes. Hourly buses from Skopje to Ohrid take three hours.
The tours
English-speaking guided tours of Ohrid town and the surrounding area are organised by Cultura 365; these cost €90 (Dh386) for a one-day trip including driver and guide and €100 a day (Dh429) for two people.
The hotels
Villa St Sofija in the old town of Ohrid, twin room from $54 (Dh198) a night.
St Naum Monastery, on the lake 30km south of Ohrid town, has updated its pilgrims' quarters into a modern 3-star hotel, with rooms overlooking the monastery courtyard and lake. Double room from $60 (Dh 220) a night.