Etiket saudi art

Reeta Metsänen “I am a country man and at the same time, the son of this strange, scary oil civilization. In ten years our lives changed completely. For me it is a drastic change that I experience everyday,” says the quote attached to the piece “Evolution of Man”; a black screen with an X-ray of a man pointing a gun at himself by contemporary Saudi artist Ahmed Mater. The controversy of modernization and tradition, rapid change and globalization, natural resources and urbanization in the Saudi society is depicted in the touring exhibition “the Edge of Arabia Istanbul: Transition” opened on 5th of November in Sanat Limanı, Istanbul. The exhibition was launched in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in January this year and has been shown so far in Dubai, London, Berlin and Venice. The tour will continue in several cities around the world until 2014. The “the Edge of Arabia Istanbul: Transition” is part of the European Capital of Culture 2010 project. “The Edge of Arabia” brings together works by 22 new generation Saudi artists presenting a great variety of Saudi contemporary art touching upon the intriguing Saudi culture. A variety of techniques ranging from installation, to photography, video and painting are used in the works. The exhibition is divided into sections: Century of the self, Solitary Prayer, the Rise of Video Art, Consumer Kingdom, and Message to the Messengers. Each of the section offers an explanation of the social trends and developments providing a deeper insight into the Saudi society. They raise questions on religion, individuality, ancestral roots, environment, consumerism, urbanization and rapid modernization, to mention a few. There is a great risk that exhibitions like Edge of Arabia become similar to the culture descriptions of the Lonely Planet: vague, nice to read and digestible, mainly supposed to provide an exotic […]