ARTISTS PRESENTED

Sarah Abu Abdallah

Ahaad Al Amoudi

Sophia Al Maria

Monira Al Qadiri

Farah Al Qasimi

Sama Alshaibi

Larissa Sansour

Video program Gulf Futurism*, after Sophia Al Maria - Odile Burluraux, curator at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, will present a selection of videos by women artists from West Asia that explore the cultural, sociopolitical, and environmental questions that affect the Persian Gulf region. This selection features video works by: Sarah Abu Abdallah, Ahaad Al Amoudi, Sophia Al Maria, Monira Al Qadiri, Farah Al Qasimi, Sama Alshaibi, and Larissa Sansour. Research by Matilde Beverina.

Since the 1970s, the Arabo-Persian Gulf has experienced an exponential economic growth which has given rise to a particular form of projection into a limitless future partly built on the exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves and on the anticipation of the post-oil era.  

The artist Sophia al Maria coined the term « Gulf Futurism» almost ten years ago to describe this process of rapid development where the high incomes, derived mainly from oil deposits, are invested in huge urban projects, future-oriented technological innovations and consumer goods.

Since then, the term has almost become an artistic and literary movement in this region.  The influence of science fiction writings on the design and engineering of future realizations is also visible. Ambitious and visionary programmes are being deployed, such as the United Arab Emirates' Mars mission, the opening of pioneering museums, the cities of tomorrow described in the Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan and citizen robots. The intense modernisation and construction projects in the area, however, raise concerns about a compromised ecological future.

The artists invited for this selection live between several cities. In their artistic work, they take into consideration the particularities of the Gulf especially concerning the cultural, socio-political, economic, and environmental issues that affect this geographical area. They raise the questions that surge today when confronted with the profound transformations in their respective countries and, in the videos presented here, highlight the paradoxes and concerns that emerge in reaction to these changes. 

Some artists denounce the devastation of the environment caused by the extraction of fossil fuels but also by the consequences of frenetic urbanisation. They point out the contradictions between extreme wealth and the precariousness of migrants, with limited rights, who work in difficult conditions. While others express reserves about today's media-saturated world, criticising the isolation of individuals generated by technology. They note a constant digital connection that blurs the separation between public and private space and deplore lives made up of virtual illusion zones. They evoke the upheaval of certain traditions, the erasure of the history in collective memory memories and landscapes.

In the light of this programme, we have the feeling that we are losing our bearings in the face of the extreme rapidity of these developments. Numerous issues are at stake: climate change, post-humanist values, the redefinition of a societal model. How can we not draw the contours of a "new future" in an indecisive manner? 

*Concept developed by the artist Sophia Al Maria and Fatima Al Qadiri in 2013.