Fueling Petroculture: Contemporary Art from the Arabian Gulf

A dissertation presented to

the faculty of

the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Rawya M. Aljared

May 2018

© 2018 Rawya M. Aljared. All Rights Reserved. 2

This dissertation titled

Fueling Petroculture: Contemporary Art From the Arabian Gulf

by

RAWYA M. ALJARED

has been approved for

the School of Interdisciplinary Arts

and the College of Fine Arts by

Andrea Frohne

Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts

Matthew R. Shaftel

Dean, College of Fine Arts 3

Abstract

ALJARED, RAWYA M., Ph.D., May 2018, Interdisciplinary Arts

Fueling Petroculture: Contemporary Art From the Arabian Gulf

Director of Dissertation: Andrea Frohne

The unprecedented transformation of petromodernity in the Arabian Gulf’s landscape and culture during the twentieth century coincided with the formation of the

Arabian Gulf nation states. As such, the Arabian Gulf’s oil economy is considered as an important factor in the stability and prosperity of these countries. This oil transformation has generated a modern lifestyle, denoted by petromodernity, which hinges on petroleum as its mode of energy. Petromodernity and its subsequent petroleum culture, or petroculture, serve as the framework for this research analysis of the Arabian Gulf’s contemporary art. The project focuses on how the works of art reflect the manifestation of petroculture on: 1) urban landscape; 2) social behaviors; and 3) environmental issues of the region. Navigating contemporary art in the Arabian Gulf through manifestations of petroculture attest to a new regional field in . This dissertation aims to lay out art as a mode of civic engagement and critical space regarding the discourse around the inevitable ramifications of energy transition by opening the possibility for the advocacy and the discussion of this topic within and beyond the region.

4

Dedication

To my parents, husband and kids, and my siblings. I love you.

5

Acknowledgments

First, I thank Allah Almighty for giving me the strength and knowledge to complete this research and for blessing me with this opportunity. My sincerest gratitude goes to my primary advisor and chair Dr. Andrea Frohne to whom I am infinitely grateful. I could not have completed this dissertation without your support. Your dedication to this project by constantly meeting and challenging my thoughts had a profound impact on my ability to be a better researcher. I can’t thank you enough for connecting me with various individuals and advising me throughout the process of data collection and writing.

I also sincerely thank Dr. Marina Peterson for introducing me to the literature of energy in the humanities during an Interdisciplinary Arts seminar of Fall 2014. This has helped articulate and frame my analysis on issues of oil and energy in relation to the

Arabian Gulf culture. Thank you so much for your continuous support over the years. I am specifically grateful for your valuable advice and edits during the difficult time when

Dr. Frohne was on medical leave.

I am extremely grateful to my committee members: Dr. Steve Howard and Dr.

Jennie Klein for their incredible support and guidance throughout my years at Ohio

University. Your encouragement was a significant factor in my ability to continue furthering my research. Thank you so much.

I also extend my thanks and appreciations to the artists, curators, and scholars who have agreed to meet with me and to share their time and knowledge that have informed this research. Particularly, I thank Dr. Salah Hassan, Ahmad Mater, Stephen 6

Stapleton. I thank curators Dr. Leslie Luebbers and Edmund Warren Perry, Jr from the

Art Museum of the University of Memphis. I thank artists: Maha Malouh, Seddek Wasil,

Dr. Zahra Algamdi, and Saeed Salem. I also thank my talented friend the Saudi artist

Ashjan Al Sulimani for connecting me with many artists and for sharing her collection of

Jeddah exhibitions and art catalogues. I thank my friends in the school of

Interdisciplinary Arts and from the Saudi community in Athens for the intellectual discussions and support that made this journey possible.

In addition, I thank the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the US for their support and guidance. I am grateful for the generous scholarship that the College of Art and

Design in , has given me in order to complete my doctoral studies at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University. I thank the School of

Interdisciplinary Arts as well for their support over the years and specifically for granting me the Dissertation Research Award in 2017 that funded my trip to Memphis, TN for data collections.

This would not have been possible without the never-ending support of my husband Hussain who encouraged me along the way to pursue my dream, and reminded me never to give up even in the most difficult times. My kids, you are the light of my life.

Your precious smiles every day is what motivates me to work harder.

My dearest Mom and Dad, I am forever grateful for the unconditional love, encouragement, and prayers that you have given me throughout the years. My siblings, I thank each one of you for your support, help, and prayers. My words cannot describe my gratitude. I love you and I hope I made you proud. 7

Table of Contents

Page

Abstract ...... 3 Acknowledgments...... 5 List of Figures ...... 9 Introduction ...... 11 Petroculture, Societies, and Art ...... 14 The Development of Petroculture Studies ...... 17 Dimensions of Petroculture and Public Debates ...... 18 Artistic Intervention on Petroculture ...... 23 Cities of Salt: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Predicament ...... 25 Petrocultural Artistic Intervention in the Arabian Gulf ...... 30 Methodology ...... 32 Significance of Dissertation ...... 33 Chapter One: Mapping the Contemporary Art World in the Arabian Gulf ...... 34 Contemporary Art Discourse and the ...... 35 A Reflection on Contemporary Art from the Arabian Gulf ...... 41 Art Between the Past and the Present ...... 45 The contemporary Moment of and the Gulf ...... 51 Exhibiting and Curating ...... 52 The Trajectory of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Art ...... 68 Conclusion ...... 70 Chapter Two: Photographic Anxiety in the Urban Petroscape ...... 72 Ahmed Mater’s Quest for a Regional Urbanism ...... 75 Nostalgia and Migration in “Empty Land” ...... 78 Utopia and Dystopia in the Urban Landscape of Sami Al-Turki’s Photograph ...... 94 Constructakons and the Promise of Progress and Utopia: ...... 97 Futuristic Uncertainty in Barzakh ...... 99 Gender, Memory, and Storytelling in Manal Al-Dowayan’s Work ...... 101 The creation of a New Social Order in I Am and Landscape of the Mind ...... 102 Oil Towns and The Neocolonial Practice ...... 104 If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me: An Ethnographic Exploration ...... 110 8

Conclusion ...... 113 Chapter Three: Petrocultural Consumerism through Arts in the : Goods, Plastic, and Petroleum Waste ...... 115 Colliding Carts and Shopping Malls in Contemporary Art of the Arabian Gulf ...... 119 Petrocultural Waste in Contemporary Art ...... 136 Plastic, Rubber, and the Oil Drill ...... 142 Conclusion: ...... 148 Chapter Four: Environmental Issues and Sand Storms: An Intervention ...... 149 Interactive Artistic Projects...... 151 Current Environmental Concerns in the Arabian Gulf ...... 153 Futuristic Natural Landscape in Artwork by Marina Zurkow and Sami Al-Tuki .... 159 The Impending Desert Landscape in Washaeg ...... 164 Sand and Dust Storms in the Arabian Gulf:...... 169 Conclusion ...... 175 References ...... 181

9

List of Figures

FIGURE 0:1 THE ARABIAN GULF COUNTRIES ...... 11

FIGURE 0:2 THE ARABIAN GULF WITHIN THE MIDDLE EAST ...... 13

FIGURE 0:3 OIL PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE AND ROUTES IN THE ARABIAN GULF...... 15

FIGURE 1.1 EUROPEAN-CONTROLLED TERRITORIES ...... 37

FIGURE 1.2 THE ISLAMIC EXPANSION DURING THE ...... 47

FIGURE 1.3 THE ISLAMIC EXPANSION TO 1500 ...... 48

FIGURE 1.4 THE BOUNDERIES OF THE ...... 49

FIGURE 1.5 A MAP OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ...... 65

FIGURE 2.1AHMAD MATER, EVOLUTION OF MAN, 2010...... 78

FIGURE 2.2 AHMED MATER, EMPTY LAND, 2013...... 82

FIGURE 2.3 A VIEW OF MAKKAH'S TOPOGRAPHY (2015) ...... 85

FIGURE 2.4 MAKKAH IN 1887...... 86

FIGURE 2.5 AHMED MATER, GOLDEN HOUR, 2012 ...... 90

FIGURE 2.6 AHMED MATER, AFTER IFTAR IN THE FAIRMONT HOTEL, 2013 ...... 91

FIGURE 2.7 AHMED ANGAWI, WIJHA, 2013...... 92

FIGURE 2.8 SARA AL-ABDALLI, STREET SIGN, 2012...... 93

FIGURE 2.9 SAMI AL-TURKI, THE CONSTRUCTAKONS SERIES, 2010...... 95

FIGURE 2.10 SAMI AL-TURKI, THE CONSTRUCTAKONS SERIES, 2010...... 95

FIGURE 2.11 SAMI AL-TURKI, THE CONSTRUCTAKONS SERIES, 2010...... 96

FIGURE 2.12 SAMI AL-TURKI, FROM BARZAKH ...... 101

FIGURE 2.13 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, I AM A ...... 106

FIGURE 2.14 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND 2005...... 109

FIGURE 2.15 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND 2005...... 109

FIGURE 2.16 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND ...... 110

FIGURE 2.17 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, FROM IF I FORGET YOU, DON’T FORGET ME, 2015. ... 111

FIGURE 2.18 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, FROM IF I FORGET YOU, DON’T FORGET ME, 2015. ... 111 10

FIGURE 2.19 MANAL AL-DOWAYAN, FROM IF I FORGET YOU, DON’T FORGET ME, 2015. ... 112

FIGURE 3.1 SADDEK WASIL, SHOPPING CARTS, 2015...... 120

FIGURE 3.2 SOPHIA AL MARIA, THE LITANY, 2016 ...... 126

FIGURE 3.3 SOPHIA AL MARIA, THE LITANY, 2017 ...... 127

FIGURE 3.4 SOPHIA AL MARIA, STILL FROM BLACK FRIDAY, 2016...... 130

FIGURE 3.5 SOPHIA AL MARIA, STILL FROM BLACK FRIDAY, 2016...... 131

FIGURE 3.6 SAEED SALEM, FROM THE SERIES NEON LAND ...... 134

FIGURE 3.7 SAEED SALEM, FROM THE SERIES NEON LAND AND NEON GODS, 2012...... 134

FIGURE 3.8 MONIRA AL QADIRI, OR-BIT, 2017…………………………………….……………….140

FIGURE 3.9 MONIRA AL QADIRI, SPECTRUM1, 2 ...... 141

FIGURE 3.10 VW LOT #1. HOUSTON, TEXAS, USA, 2004 ...... 146

FIGURE 3.11 OXFORD TIRE PILE……………………………………………………………………...147

FIGURE 3.12 OIL FIELDS #19. BELRIDGE, CALIFORNIA, USA, 2003 ...... 147

FIGURE 4.1 ABDULNASSER GHAREM, FLORA AND FAUNA, 2006...... 156

FIGURE 4.2 ABDULNASSER GHAREM, STREET VIEW ...... 156

FIGURE 4.3 MAHA MALLUH, KEEP COOL, 2015...... 158

FIGURE 4.4 MARINA ZURKOW, MESOCOSM, 2011...... 160

FIGURE 4.5 MARINA ZURKOW, MESOCOSM, 2011...... 161

FIGURE 4.6 MARINA ZURKOW, MESOCOSM (NORTHUMBERLAND, UK), 2011...... 163

FIGURE 4.7 SAMI AL-TURKI, WASHAEG, 2010...... 168

FIGURE 4.8 SAMI AL-TURKI, WASHAEG, 2010...... 169

FIGURE 4.9 SAND STORMS IN SAUDI ARABIA, (UNKNOWN CITY)...... 172

FIGURE 4.10 SAND STORMS IN SAUDI ARABIAN, (UNKNOWN CITY) ……...………………….173

FIGURE 4.11 SAND STORMS IN KUWAIT CITY, MARCH 2017...... 173

FIGURE 4.12 SAND STROMS IN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA…………………………….….……….174

11

Introduction

The region of the Arabian Gulf that sits in the heart of the Middle East and encompasses Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, , and has gone through an unprecedented economic and cultural transformation to modernity due to the discovery of oil during the early decades of the twentieth century (Figure 0.1).

This oil transformation has generated a modern lifestyle, denoted by petromodernity, which hinges on petroleum as its mode of energy.1 The shift in the Arabian Gulf (also called the Khaliji region) to an oil economy coincided with the formation of its nation states. As such, the Arabian Gulf’s oil economy is considered to be an important factor in the stability and prosperity of these countries.

Figure 0:1 The Arabian Gulf Countries

1 Stephanie LeMenager, Living Oil: Petroleum Culture in the American Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 67. 12

Petromodernity and its subsequent petroleum culture, or petroculture, serve as the framework for this research analysis of the Arabian Gulf’s contemporary art. The project focuses on how the works of art reflect the manifestation of petroculture on: 1) urban landscape; 2) social behaviors, particularly consumerism; and 3) environmental issues of the region. This dissertation aims to lay out art as a mode of civic engagement and critical space regarding the impact of petroculture, and the discourse around the inevitable ramifications of energy transition by opening the possibility for engagement and discussion of this topic within and beyond the region. Tackling the sensorial and materialistic effects of petroculture in contemporary art provides a thorough account of the transformation of the Arabian Gulf culture as well as marks the specificity of the region’s art as one that expresses anxiety and aspiration regarding petroculture and the current global reliance on finite energy resource, such as oil, and its future.

The Arabian Gulf as a geographic region located at the intersection of Asia,

Africa, and Europe as illustrated in (Figure 0:2). The region has had a significant historic importance in trade as the trade routes through the area began in ancient times. It also shared a related culture and history that continues to influence its people linguistically, religiously, and artistically. With the creation of the modern nation states, this region is now divided into different states that forms the countries in Arabian Gulf.2

2 The total size of the Gulf region is 2.058 million square kilometers. This area has a population of around 43.2 million, 27.4 million of whom are Saudi Arabian. Saudi Arabia is, by far, the largest country among the Arabian Gulf countries, with about two-thirds of the total population of the region. The other five countries are considerably smaller. See: the official website of the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council: the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf; http://www.gcc-sg.org/en- us/CognitiveSources/GulfDatabases/Lists/InformationRulesDocumentLibrary/GCC%20A%20Statittical%2 .pdf.اإلحصاءات%20السكانية%20والحيوية/0Glance/1300865438 13

Figure 0:2 The Arabian Gulf within the Middle East and the geographic approximates between Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Arabian Gulf is bonded as a region by several factors, including customs, dialect, similar environments, economies (i.e., dependency on oil), political structures

(i.e., monarchies), and geographic proximity. Contemporary Khaliji artists are mostly millennials who are defined by their upbringing and the culture in which they were raised amidst the region’s oil transformation to petroculture. However, I argue that the interpretations of the Arabian Gulf’s art in art history scholarship and exhibition catalogues undermines the petrocultural aspect.3 This dissertation endeavors to study

3 Refer to chapter one for more discussion on the current discourse of Middle Eastern art, including the Arabian Gulf. 14

Saudi Arabian art in depth; it also studies the surrounding Arabian Gulf in order to illustrate the common petroculture development in this region as well as the latest interconnections within the Arabian Gulf art scene (Figure 0.1).

As will be explained in the dissertation, Saudi Arabian artists are given more consideration in this research because, within the burgeoning field of contemporary

Middle Eastern art history, Saudi Arabian artists have been made visible, surpassing their

Khaliji peers in global recognition and establishing themselves as pioneers of the contemporary art movement in the Arabian Gulf. Additionally, the art scene in Saudi

Arabia and, to a lesser degree, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is much more accessible than in the rest of the region. Navigating contemporary art in the Arabian Gulf through manifestations of a petroculture, such as the transformation of the landscape, consumerism, and the environment, attest to a new regional field in art history that examines art through shared interests and delves into collective issues and concerns.

Petroculture, Societies, and Art

The oil economy in the Gulf region facilitated the emergence of a new center of power in the Middle East and shifted the economic and cultural dynamics in the Middle

East toward the Arabian Gulf. The Gulf region continues to play a vital role in stabilizing the global economy, which increases its worldwide prominence. This prominence began with the construction of the famous Trans-Arabian Pipeline (i.e., Tapline) in 1948 (Figure

0:3), which was used to transfer Saudi Arabian oil to Europe after WW2.4 The Arabian

4 Mohammad Mashat, Be Midad Min Dhahab Aswad: The Story of Petroleum in Saudi Arabia, ( version) (Beirut, , Riyd El-Rayyes Books: 2011), 9. 15

Gulf’s major role in the global economy continues as it is the largest producer of oil and holds the largest oil reserves in the world—both of which are managed under the

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).5

Figure 0:3 Oil Pipeline infrastructure and routes in the Arabian Gulf.

5 “OPEC Share of World Crude Oil Reserves, 2016,” OPEC Oil Reserves, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Last modified March 2, 2017, http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/330.htm. 16

It was not until recently that the Arabian Gulf’s reliance on its oil economy caused frustration among the population of the Arabian Gulf. This frustration focuses on what the future may hold regarding the stability of these countries, given that oil is a depleting resource and cannot be created anew in the short term. Additional frustrations have occurred due to social changes and environmental challenges related to the oil economy, such as climate change, oil spills, depleting habitats, and sandstorms. These issues escalate the existing level of urgency to establish a discussion on transitioning from oil to alternative, safe energy resources. This research analysis is driven by the appropriation of this urgency for the purpose of interpreting the art practice in the

Arabian Gulf in relation to the region’s petroculture.

This discourse on transitioning to different energy sources is important, but just as important is considering how this shift will impact the living conditions of the people living in the Arabian Gulf. This calls to mind James Ferguson’s discussion in Global

Disconnect: Abjection and the Aftermath of Modernity (2008) in which he addresses the situation in Zambia after the discovery of oil. The world abandoned the Zambian copper industry after this discovery, which weakened the development of the country.6 The consequences of transitioning from oil, although necessary, can be devastating, as they were to the Zambian copper industry. Therefore, this research aims to shed light on the entanglements of oil, petroculture, and the arts in order to engage artists and humanists in

6 James Ferguson, “Global Disconnect: Abjection and the Aftermath of Modernity,” in Readings In Modernity: Reading in African Studies, eds. Peter Geschiere, Birgit Meyer, and Peter Pels (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008), 13. 17 discussions that will, potentially, aid our understanding of the challenges facing the future of the Arabian Gulf.

The Development of Petroculture Studies

Petroculture is a term used by scholars and artists to describe modern culture in accordance to using petroleum as an essential energy source as well as to describe the ways in which this dependency on oil shapes modern thoughts and cultural behaviors.7

The term ‘petroculture’ resulted from critical reactions to a piece by Amitav Ghosh in

1992 entitled “Petrofiction: The Oil Encounter and the Novel,”8 in which Ghosh “offered what has turned out to be the most influential first critique of ‘petrofiction,’ fiction about oil [for] a review of the book Trench by Saudi [Arabian] writer Abdelrahman Munif, who is known for the quintet of oil novels Cities of Salt.”9 Although petroculture is inherently a global concept, a lack of studies on petroculture in regions such as the Arabian Gulf exists. Recently, petroculture has been studied within North American sites. Examples include works by critics such as Timothy Mitchell, Stephanie LeMenager, Nancy Lee

Peluso, and Michael Watts in which they debated issues related to energy, culture, and the environment in relation to North American affairs and politics. In addition, the

Petrocultures Research Cluster at the University of Alberta, Canada, founded in 2011 by

Imre Szeman and Sheena Wilson, has examined the sociocultural impacts of fossil fuel energy, particularly in the context of Canadian sites. The Petrocultures Research Cluster

7 Imre Szeman et al., After Oil: Petrocultures Research Group (Edmonton: The Petrocultures Research Group at University of Alberta, 2015), 44. 8 Amitav Ghosh, “Petrofiction: The Oil Encounter and the Novel,” The New Republic 206 (1992): 29. 9 LeMenager, “Living Oil,” 11. 18 has since been joined by many critics, humanists, and artists who share mutual interests, and, as such, the cluster has expanded its research outside of Canada. However, addressing the petroculture of the Arabian Gulf, especially and in relation to contemporary art, remains limited in cultural studies, despite the major role this region plays in the capitalist world economy.

Critics such as Szeman and LeMenager indicate that writing about the effect of oil on culture in a time when the world is confronting issues of sustainability is urgent. Oil fundamentally supports all modern forms that constitute a culture, including books, medicine, photography, journals, and the Internet.10 Petroculture Studies tackles the effects of fossil fuel energy on cultural behaviors and considers the cultural challenges resulting from the transition from oil.11 Szeman states that “energy transition is social and historical” insofar as social behaviors and cultural lifestyles are always subjugated by energy politics.12 Yet, as the world moves to transition from oil to an alternative, sustainable energy resource, one must ask whether we can live without such an investment in fossil fuels.13 Are we going to maintain the same quality and lifestyle as currently provided by petroleum energy?

Dimensions of Petroculture and Public Debates

Cyber communications and environmental consciousness have facilitated an increase in the public awareness of the challenges resulting from petroculture. Although

10 Ibid., 11. 11 Szeman, “After Oil,” 9. 12 Ibid., 13. 13 LeMenager, Living Oil, 11. 19 the study of petroculture is crucial and needed, writing critically about petroculture is difficult.14 Szeman articulates three social narratives on the futures of oil and the approach to oil’s current state, which one can recount to define and discuss petroculture.15 The first narrative is defined as strategic realism, as in Canada where the tension in public debates is between the state’s need to revive the Canadian economy by expanding the construction of pipelines and the opposition, which focuses on the environmental consequences and violations of the sovereignty of indigenous territories due to this expansion. The second narrative is techno-utopianism,16 which “can be used as an element of strategic realism,” in which it thinks of technology and science as having the ability to develop alternatives energy resources or that, with technological advancement, extracting oil can be less challenging and more environmentally-friendly, solving the problem of global warming.17 The third narrative is the eco-apocalypse in which an environmental catastrophe occurs that is caused by constant oil extraction and fracking. The eco-apocalypse could be also contextualized within what Watts terms as petroviolence, (2001) a term used to describe the oil industry damage on the environment, such as oil spills.18 Watts (2001) uses the term ‘petro-violence’ in Nigeria to underline the violence that affected the environment, such as the ecological harm caused by extracting oil, as well as the social violence that was the result of the presence

14 Ibid., 11. 15 Imre Szeman, “Crude Aesthetics,” in Oil Culture, eds. Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014), 358. 16 Imre Szeman, “System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster,” in South Atlantic Quarterly 106, no. 4 (2007): 812. 17 Ibid., 812. 18 Michael Watts, Violent Environments (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), 189. 20 and actions/activities of the oil companies against the people. Watts describes the forms in which petro-violence took shape, such as environmental pollution and oil spills, as examples of the violence that occurred due to revolts staged by the Nigerian people against the oil companies. When Watts describes petro-violence in the case of Ogoniland in Nigeria, he defined it as “the intersection of [the] environment and violen[ce],” particularly “both ecological violence perpetrated upon the biophysical world and social violence⎯ criminality and degeneracy associated with the genesis of petro-wealth.”19

According to Watts: “It is both difficult and artificial to distill out the narrowly defined biological and geophysical properties of ‘crude’ or ‘raw’ petroleum from the social relations (institutional practices, ideological associations of meanings, forms of extraction, production, and use) of petroleum.”20

The social narrative of the eco-apocalypse defined by Szeman and, to some extent, the petroviolence by Watts and Peluso, is expressed in the current art practices of the Arabian Gulf. The visualization and depictions of the eco-apocalypse in contemporary Khaliji art is exemplified by depictions of a forthcoming environmental disaster that destroys modern life and causes a return to the nomadic way of living. The eco-apocalypse in Arabian Gulf art also implies the depletion and transition from oil as well. The notion of an apocalypse in the Gulf after the oil is gone embodies the anxiety surrounding the transition from oil in the artists’ imaginations and underlines the frustrations caused by the uncertainty of future economic plans. Thorough the

19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 contextualization of petroculture in the work of many critics, such as Allan Stoekl in

Living Oil (2014) and Szeman, petroculture can also be discussed within some of its dimensions. This section elaborates on two such dimensions: the oil’s neocolonial relations and oil’s invisibility.

An important dimension of petroculture is its basis in neocolonial relations. The role of Western capitalist hegemony in the oil industry is indisputable and the two, indeed, are inseparable.21 The economic and political aspects of oil modernization draw attention to the “unequal distribution of oil wealth” that the early accounts of oil extraction demonstrate.22 Foreign (Western) companies controlled oil revenues and distribution in the Middle East and used these oil revenues as a tool for statecraft.23

Therefore, understanding petroculture necessitates the need to recognize oil as energy, not simply as ‘oil money’ or in geographical terms, while also considering other aspects of such industry that challenge this mode of energy, such as where oil is found and how it is refined, produced, and distributed. In other words, one must consider how oil’s politics are intertwined with neocolonial agendas and privileges.24 Therefore, critics, such as

Mitchell argues that, in order to understand carbon energy (oil), we need to examine modern democratic politics. Modern democratic politics and carbon energy are tied

21 Allan Stoekl, “Foreword,” in Oil Culture, eds. Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014), xii. 22 Ibid., xii. 23 Ibid., 4. 24 Timothy Mitchell, Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil (New York: Verso, 2013), 1. Stoekl, “Foreword,” xii. 22 together, and the development of the two powers (democracy and oil) has been linked from the start.25

Another dimension to petroculture is the invisibility of the oil itself. Its invisibility is both literal—its extraction and transportation is unseen—and figurative as oil and oil policies are culturally obscured by its support to culture and the arts. The construction of pipelines guarantees the transfer of oil through territories and across borders without human intervention.26 Timothy Mitchell in Carbon Democracy eloquently describes how unlike previous forms of energy, such as coal, in which labor was a powerful force and a threat to the industry insofar as miners and those individuals who transported coal could disrupt the flow of energy, the oil industry isolates its workers from an extended network of distribution and affiliation.27 Oil’s fluidity makes it easily transferred through pipelines, sustaining its invisibility in the Gulf, while highlighting capital, power, control, and money—even as it prevents human intervention.28

This invisibility of oil also supports cultural forms, which allows oil companies to promote social and economic development in their attempts to quell criticism in the region.29 For example, the public relations department of Saudi Arabia’s oil company,

Aramco, has disseminated the concepts of the “firm-as-development-mission” and “an agent for modernization.”30 These initiatives provide community services and sponsor

25 Ibid., 5-8. 26 Mitchell, “Carbon Democracy,” 43. 27 Ibid., 44. 28 Ibid., 44. However, this invisibility issue is not so in Nigeria as pipelines are seen and tapped. 29 Reem Alisaa, “The Oil Town of Ahmadi Since 1946: From Colonial Town to Nostalgic City,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East 33, no. 1 (2013): 48. 30 Ibid., 51. 23 social and educational events. The company also contributes to the art scene by sponsoring galleries, workshops, and related events in the region, such as the King

Abdulaziz Center for World Culture and The Cultural Center both in Dhahran, Saudi

Arabia.31

Artistic Intervention on Petroculture

In Living Oil, LeMenager asserts that “academic humanists in the and elsewhere, particularly those interested in the production of narratives across a variety of media, have something to contribute to a future that challenges tough oil.”32

LeMenager suggests that the notion of “materializing oil as a coherent narrative”33 leads to questions about how artists can collect memories of “oil’s material effects”34 and

“materialize oil as a coherent narrative.”35 This can be answered by a couple of recent art forms that have been produced and discussed in relation to petroculture. For example,

American artist Marina Zurkow and Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky both use the landscape of petromodernity to express existing petrocultural anxieties, such as environmental concerns in Zurkow’s video installation series titled Mesocosm

(Northumberland, UK) (2011) and Mesocosm (Wink, Texas) (2012) or as in Burtynsky’s photographic series titled Oil (2003), in which he expresses concerns regarding social

31 “,” Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now, eds. Myrna Ayad and HRH Princess Jawaher Bint Majed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, (Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014), 265 32 LeMenager, Living Oil, 184. Following Klare’s statement on how the oil industry refers to conventional oil resources as easy oil (described in Living Oil), but should, instead, be called “Tough Oil World,” LeMenager built upon this term throughout her Living Oil: “Tough oil is tough not just because it’s hard to get, but because the devastating scale of its externalities.” LeMenager, Living Oil, 3. 33 Ibid., 184. 34 Ibid., 184. 35 Ibid., 184. 24 behaviors and consumerism.36 Other artistic interventions, including The Oil Show (2011) at the HMKV at Dortmunder University, Offshore (2013), Fort McMoney (2013), and

After Oil: Future Culture (2011), attempt to shed light on how oil economies function in societies and the effect of petroculture on people and nature.37

Although the oil industry has brought about great economic and cultural encounters between people from different places, ethnicities, languages, and cultures, the lack of literary production related to the oil encounter between cultures is significant compared to the rich literary contributions related to the spice trade of the 16th century.38

Ghosh regards the “oil literature barrenness,” particularly in the context of and

Americans, as a neocolonial practice.39 Arabs and Americans shared a long history of oil encounters in the region that were filled with rage, horror, huge transformations, and environmental challenges.40 Ghosh suggests that the lack of what he calls “petrofiction”

(i.e., literature addressing oil) is due to the fact that the history of oil was a negative one for Arabs and Americans.41 Yet, the humanistic experience of the oil economy was likely unknown to many Arabs and Americans outside of the industry.42 For instance, the living conditions in oil camps followed a racist and colonial practice, in which Western oilmen were living secluded from the indigenous people in constructed Western suburbia with amenities like swimming pools and air conditioning, which were far from that provided

36 Refer to Chapter 3 for discussions on Burtynsky’s Oil series, and to Chapter 4 for discussions on Zurkow’s Mesocosm. 37 Refer to Chapter 4 for more discussions on these artworks. 38 Ghosh, “Petrofiction,” 30 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid., 39. 41 Ibid., 75. 42 Ibid. 25 for the locals.43 Likewise, the muteness on the Arab side was due to the “physical and demographic separation of oil installations and their workers from the indigenous population.”44 Therefore, when Saudi Arabian fiction writer and oil economist

Abdelrahman Munif published his famous novel, Cities of Salt (1984), in which he provided an interpretation of the oil encounter between the United States and the Gulf region, it was considered ahead of its time and marked the beginning of what could become the literary trend of petrofiction.45 Thus, this novel is an important inspiration for this dissertation as it narrates a fictional, but historic, account of the formation of petroculture in the Gulf region, specifically in Saudi Arabia, and underlines the challenges at the root of petroculture today.

Cities of Salt: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Predicament

Munif recounts, in his novel Cities of Salt, the impact of the oil industry in Saudi

Arabia as the country began to depend heavily on petroleum to create and fuel what he describes as impermanent cities (i.e., cities of salt) due to the possibility of the depletion of oil. When Munif was asked why he used the title Cities of Salt, he stated:

Cities of Salt means cities that offer no sustainable existence. When the waters come in, the first waves will dissolve the salt and reduce these great glass cities to dust. In antiquity, as you know, many cities simply disappeared. It is possible to foresee the downfall of cities that are inhuman. With no means of livelihood, they won't survive.46

43 Ibid., 76. 44 Ibid., 75. 45 “Petrofiction and Petroculture,” Amitav Ghosh, August 27, 2014. accessed Feb 15, 2018, http://amitavghosh.com/blog/?p=6441. 46 Tariq Ali, “Farewell to Munif: A Patriarch of Arab Literature,” Middle East and Islamic Studies Collections, Cornell University Library, accessed Feb 15, 2018, https://middleeast.library.cornell.edu/content/farewell-munif-patriarch-arab-literature. 26

Munif views cities fueled by oil as fragile, impermanent, and easy to dissolve. Water, in this regard, is a metaphor for a delicate and humble, yet dangerous, destructive, and threatening element for salt. In the case of cities built with salt, a sprinkle of water surely will be able to dissolve and make them vanish. In the novel, he depicts how the oil industry took people from their cultures of origin to work in the oil industry, preventing them from living harmoniously with the environment.

Since the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf, the resulting condition of petromodernity not only transformed the nomadic lifestyle of many in the Arabian Gulf into an urbanized lifestyle,47 but also brought about challenges and conflicts related to local autonomy, the environment, and culture. The challenges of this period in Saudi

Arabian history provide a rare approach to thinking about Saudi Arabia’s transformation to modernity with a focus on this transformation’s consequences on social relationships and the environment.48 Several events of the novel highlight the development of petroculture in the Arabian Gulf in terms of cultural behaviors, autonomy, and future anxiety. Edward Said describes this novel as “the only serious work of fiction that tries to show the effect of oil, Americans, and the local oligarchy on a Gulf country.”49

The story in the novel centers on the displacement of a small desert community

47 Prior to the oil boom in the Arabian Gulf, the region had an important role as a trading center among “Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, and the Mediterranean Basin.” In fact, the nomadic lifestyle in the Arabian Gulf depended primarily on the good and bad days, in which the image helped to contrast it with their sedentary life after the oil boom. See the official website of the Saudi embassy; http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history.aspx). 48 The novel is broken into five books, three of which have been translated into English by Peter Theroux. I limit my discussion to the first book, Alteih, which means The Wilderness. 49 From the publisher of Cities of Salt. http://www.amazon.com/Cities-Salt-Abdelrahman- Munif/dp/product-description/039475526X 27 upon the discovery of oil in Wadi Al-Uyoun (i.e., the Valley of the Springs) to Harran, a neighboring town. The story goes on to depict the people’s resistance to what seems to be an inevitable destiny and describe the confrontations that occur between the Arabic and

American cultures. For example, the story describes the arrival of the first oil exploration experts to Wadi Al-Uyoun, guarded by the emir’s men, in order to show the transformation in cultural autonomy. After the arrival of the oil experts (i.e., the

Americans), the novel showed that the relationship between the community and emir began to shift.50 It was no longer the people’s decision to protect the land and preserve its resources. Munif creates an imagined community in a town he named Harran that consisted of those working-class Arabs who are forced by their circumstances to move to and work in Harran, which writer Xinos calls a “petro-capitalist society.”51 A romanticized overview of the land and nostalgic vision of this disappearing place that writer McLarney (2009) describes, “while [Cities of Salt] begin[s] with the heart, [it] climax[es] with the metamorphosis of human life into a machinelike entity.”52 She continues: “Sayyid Qutb [sees] this technological dominance not as the triumph of progress, but, rather, of materialism, brute force, and naked aggression that fuels a

‘hunger for war.’”53 Philosopher Walter Benjamin (2007) similarly describes this technological dominance fueled by oil as the “empire of the machine,” which replaced

50 The word ‘emir’ is Arabic for prince. 51 Dana Xinos, “Petro-capitalism, Petrofiction, and Islamic Discourse: The Formation of an Imagined Community in Cities of Salt,” Arabic Studies Quarterly 28 (2006): 4. Ibid., 6. 52 Ellen McLarney, "Empire of the Machine: Oil in the Arabic Novel,” Boundary2 36, no. 2 (2009): 179. 53 Sayyid Qutb, “The America I Have Seen,” in America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature: An Anthology, 1895-1995, ed. Kamal Abdel-Malek (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000). 15. 28 the spiritual order of things with material goods.54

In this regard, the “apocalyptic imagery of the title”55 refer to the oil boom’s transformation of the oasis into “the infernal quality of the desert,56” that is, heavily dependent upon air conditioning, creating the empire of the machine and transforming humans into machine entities. Munif uses descriptions, such as “huge iron creatures” to describe the machines which is a reminiscent of how Sami Al-Turki depicted urban landscape, or petroscape in Constructakon.57 McLarney argues that Munif

depict[ed] a two-fold process: the initial uprooting of the people from the land [and] the transformation of these people into fuel for the machines. They represent not only the transition to a society constituted by machines, but also the demand for labor to sustain their functioning.58

Cities of Salt reveals Munif’s nostalgia for what he recounts on the lost origins and lifestyle of the land in the Arabian Gulf. According to Munif, the people in Cites of Salt feel as if “the world has ended.”59 Cities of Salt was written to shed light on the oil encounter, the creation of petroculture, and history regarding challenging notions of power and local autonomy.60

Munif wrote Cities of Salt around the time when many Arab countries, such as

Iraq and , opted to nationalize their oil companies in order to strengthen Arab

54 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Mechanical Reproduction.” In Walter Benjamin: Illuminations, translated by Harry Zohn, ed. Hannah Arendt, 217-251, (New York: Schocken Books, 2007), 121-122, cited in McLarney, “Empire of the Machine,” 180-181. 55 McLarney, "Empire of the Machine," 193. 56 Ibid., 193. 57 Munif, Abdelrahman Muinf, Cities of Salt. Translated by Peter Theroux, (New York: Vintage International, 1987), 113. Refer to chapter two for the discussion on Sami Al-Turki. 58 McLarney, “Empire of the Machine,” 192. 59 Munif, Cities of Salt, 114. 60 Xinos. “Petro-capitalism,” 5. 29 independence. Arab nationalism sought to liberate the economy from the Western capitalist hegemonic investments in Arabic countries that supplied oil companies with cheap labor and natural resources, like gas and oil.61 One of the elements that heightened the demand for nationalizing oil companies in the Middle East and, even, the growth of

Arab nationalism, was the American presence and involvement in the oil industry in the

Middle East. A wave of leftist nationalism swept the Arabic region around that time and led to the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1958, of which Syria and were members. This league was one of the most prominent examples of Arab nationalism.62

One of the outcomes of leftist nationalism was the boycott of Arab oil exporters to the

United States and other countries in 1967, which affected the West-Middle East relations at the time.63

Critic Fernando Coronil (1997) states that it is important to examine societies central to “the formation of what has been called the modern world and yet are cast as marginal to it.”64 He argued that, we should reevaluate the history of capitalism, conceptualize capitalism as a global process, and view modernity

as an economic agent with its own base of economic power, and develop a dialectical approach that frees our understanding of history from teleological narratives locked in binary oppositions, opening a space for exploring the actions

61 Munif was the son of a Saudi Arabian father and Iraqi mother. He was born in in 1933 and studied in and Egypt. He earned a doctorate degree in oil economics from the University of Belgrade in Yugoslavia and worked for an oil company in Syria. He was later an editor for the Oil and Development journal in Iraq. He also lived in France for a couple of years and spent the last years of his life in exile in Damascus, Syria, until his death in 2004. Source: Tariq Ali, “Farewell to Munif: A Patriarch of Arab Literature,” Middle East and Islamic Studies Collections, Cornell University Library, accessed Feb 15, 2018, https://middleeast.library.cornell.edu/content/farewell-munif-patriarch-arab-literature. 62 McLarney, “Empire of the Machine,” 184. 63 Juan Cole, Engaging the Muslim World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 13 See also Cole, Engaging, 16. 64 Fernando Coronil, The Magical State (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997), xi. 30

and potential solidarities of heterogeneous actors formed within increasingly interrelated material and cultural conditions.65

Highlighting these aspects from Cities of Salt is important when attempting to understand this period in Saudi Arabia’s history, as it lays the groundwork for understanding the cultural behaviors in the country after the discovery of oil.

Petrocultural Artistic Intervention in the Arabian Gulf

The history of the Arabian Gulf’s transformation to petromodernity and the creation of petroculture is rarely considered in cultural and artistic affairs. The region is viewed as a wealthy and newly inhabited place and culture. The history of modernization in the region follows what historian Farah Al-Nakib argued regarding Kuwait’s urban modernist planning as

the modernist story has been told as a linear, successful rags-to-riches narrative in which ... a coterie of international architects and planners and the state’s planning machinery heroically transformed Kuwait from a simple, sleepy, medieval town into a complex, dazzling, hypermodern city.66

This story of the modern transformation in the Gulf is related to Venezuela’s oil narrative. In the context of Venezuela’s oil industry, the discussion revolves around

‘petro-magic’ and the mechanization of human life, in which oil becomes a trope for magic that can transform societies into wealthy nations without effort.67 These oil narratives are no longer valid.

65 Coronil, The Magical State, 388. 66 Farah Al-Nakib, Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016), 17. 67 This mechanization of human life and ‘petro-magic’ is discussed by Coronil in the context of the Venezuelan oil industry. See also Jennifer Wenzel, “Petro-magic-realism: Toward a Political Ecology of Nigerian Literature,” Postcolonial Studies 9 (2006): 449-64. See also Coronil, The Magical State, 451. 31

This dissertation re-narrates the history of petroculture in the Arabian Gulf through the growing field of contemporary art. It provides a local vernacular in regard to energy, and energy transition in the form of contemporary art, and aims to enhance petrocultural narratives worldwide. The dissertation identifies three aspects of petroculture in art practices of the Arabian Gulf: transforming its landscape, creating a consumerist culture, and deteriorating its environment.

Critical facts for the future stability of the Arabian Gulf and its economic dependency on oil have risen and include declining energy supplies, increasing energy consumption and demands domestically and globally, and the recent alarming development in the environment such as sand storms in the Arabian Gulf. The cultural transformation of the Arabian Gulf into a petrocultural milieu is at the core of this study on contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf. As such, in chapter one, I discuss the state of contemporary art practices within the Arabian Gulf within the contemporary global art discourse. In chapter two, I delve into artworks focused on petromodern landscapes, or petroscapes, and how the transformation of the landscape into a petroscape creates a sense of anxiety and longing for the past. As the Arabian Gulf landscape has been marked by the culture of petroleum, many contemporary Saudi Arabian artists, such as Ahmed

Mater, Sami Al-Turki, and Manal Al-Dowayan, have used this subject as a central concern in their art. In chapter three, I tackle the issue of consumerism in the Arabian

Gulf as an outcome of petroculture. Consumerism is a reoccurring theme for many artists, such as Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria, Saudi Arabian artist Saeed Salem, Saudi

Arabian artist Saddek Wasil, and Kuwaiti artist Monira Al-Qadiri. In chapter four, I 32 examine the issue of the environment in the Arabian Gulf through the art practice of several Saudi Arabian artists, including Zahra Al-Ghamdi, Abdulnasser Gharem, and

Maha Malluh. In addition, I present an environmental study on the sand storms of Saudi

Arabia in order to shed light on this alarming environmental phenomenon. I conclude the dissertation by studying the Arabian Gulf’s contemporary art in relation to petroculture and will suggest that a regional distinct art practice exists that suggests a conscious entanglement with the oil culture in the region. This practice shows that understanding how the oil economy impacts societies can aid us in regard to how we think about and face our inevitable transition from oil.

Methodology

This research relies on an interdisciplinary approach, and draws on archives in different fields such as art history, Middle Eastern studies, urban studies, petrocultural studies, environmental studies, and anthropology. In addition, over a period of four years,

I have collected data from field trips within the United States such as Denver, CO,

Memphis, TN, and Washington, DC. In these trips, I gather data by observations, attending artists talks, and conducting interviews with curators, gallery directors, and artists. In addition, in my many visits to my home town Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, I have also conducted interviews with artists and visited galleries as well. I have translated and transcribed from Arabic to English the data collected from these field trips as well as from newspapers and various resources included in this research. 33

Significance of Dissertation

An exploration of the region’s specific petromodernity and petroculture in this dissertation is constructed by uncovering dominant manifestations of petroculture in contemporary art. By doing so, this research presents a rare conceptual analysis of the

Arabian Gulf’s contemporary art production in the twenty-first century. Grounding this analysis of contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf in petrocultural studies attest to a new regional field in art history. The research helps to build a regional artistic archive, as well as diversify the approaches to the arts against current perpetual themes. Women are an important contributor fro my research project. Between artists, gallery owners, and historians, women appear throughout this research organically and their contributions are included in this analysis based on their exceeding talents and success.

The effects of petromodernity on this region are both ecological and ethical. Thus, configuring energy in contemporary art allows for a reading of a culture in a specific time and place. This crucial reading unfolds the rarely studied petromodernity in the Arabian

Gulf and provides an analysis of the region’s evolving cultural and environmental changes. The project continues to study the relations between the natural landscape of the desert to the urban landscape of the city through the sensorial ethnographic/artistic intervention of sand and dust storms in the Arabian Gulf. Thus, these visual and theoretical impulses generate a new stance on oil that is affecting modern life in the

Arabian Gulf, and paves the way for more engagement in the arts through issues of the region’s petroculture.

34

Chapter One: Mapping the Contemporary Art World in the Arabian Gulf

Until recently, the lack of venues for art criticism and the lack of art critics and art historians in the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East in general has hindered the growth and development of a competing Middle Eastern art. Consequently, common stereotypes and misconceptions about the region and its art persist.68 However, lately, a group of rising Middle Eastern critics have addressed the misconceptions in art history in great depth and have discussed various ways to diversify the approaches to Middle Eastern contemporary art. As traced in this chapter, a need exists to dispel the stereotypical and problematic themes of identity in the arts, notion of tradition vs. modernity, perception of local vs. global, and opposition to commodifying art by curators and gallery owners. This larger Middle Eastern contemporary art discussion can be applied to the Arabian Gulf art dialogue.

While the dissertation repositions art of the Arabian Gulf in the contemporary art world arena, this chapter, maps art in the petroculture region of the Arabian Gulf through two main parts: first, a discussion based on Middle Eastern critics’ appraisals of Western contemporary art criticism on art from the region. Their appraisals reveal negotiations and new approaches to understanding and engaging this recent branch of the contemporary art scene. Second, the chapter lists and analyzes key exhibition spaces in order to illustrate how the contemporary Arabian Gulf art scene has grown to international prominence in the 21st century. The chapter, then, becomes a map of the

68 Hamid Keshmirshekan, ed. “Introduction,” in Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses, (London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015), 2. 35 contemporary art movement among the Arabian Gulf countries in the 21st century. The proposed mapping of the contemporary art scene in the Arabian Gulf can be divided into an early phase and a later phase.

Contemporary Art Discourse and the Middle East

While it is important to not homogenize the region’s art production, art historian

Hamid Keshmirshekan argues that using art history and cultural studies’ methodological approaches when attempting to define the so-called ‘Middle East’ is critical as it pinpoints the challenges facing artists and critics as well as helps us to understand the intellectual and artistic developments of this region.69 As Keshmirshekan states, until recently, art from the Middle East was presented and discussed from a Western perspective.

Although there have been several gatherings and summits in Europe, North America-and even in the Middle East itself-on various aspects of art from the region, such as the status of the art market, of patronage, of museum strategies, and so on-there has been no comprehensive academic publication addressing the most recent cultural, intellectual, and sociopolitical developments in contemporary art from the Middle East. As universities and artistic institutions across Europe and North America are becoming increasingly interested and invested in the field, it seems timely to address these deficiencies.70

In addition, art historian Nada Shabout discusses the existing problem of finding trusted resources necessary for conducting research or teaching.71 She traces this lack of

69 Ibid. 70 Ibid. 71 Nada Shabout, “Framing the Discipline of Contemporary Art of the Arab World throughout the Press,” in Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourse, ed. Hamid Keshmirshekan (London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015), 51. 36 resources to colonization; that is, due to colonization, the history of the art production of the region has been unexamined and omitted by the colonizer.72

As colonized regions, they were essentially removed from history and excluded from modernity and contemporaneity. This disavowal has been perpetuated by the consequences of a lack of careful investigation of the effects of colonization and decolonization on (Western) modern art, which has led to the total marginalization of modern art production outside the West, including the modern art of the Middle East.73

Shabout’s account of this matter explains what professor James Allen, in his article

“Education and Teaching of Contemporary Art from the Middle East,” reflects on related to his experience teaching Middle Eastern art at Oxford University during the 1980s.

During this period, teaching Middle Eastern art was done within an course that covered a historical framework over three eras of Islamic history that extends from

650-950 AD, 950-1250 AD, and 1250-1700 AD.74 Allen adds that this historical framework had “left the art of the last three centuries untouched.”75 Allen teaching experience supports what Shabout argues about the erosion of Middle Eastern history during colonization, which started roughly during the eighteenth century and extended, in some places, to the middle of the twentieth century. In the Arabian Gulf, every country was under the British General Treaty of 1820 except for Saudi Arabia (see Figure 1.1), until their independence in 1971, with the exception of Kuwait, which gained its

72 Ibid. 73 Ibid., 52. 74 James Allen, “Education and Teaching of Contemporary Art from the Middle East,” in Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses, ed. Hamid Keshmirshekan (London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015), 101. 75 Ibid. 37 independence in 1961.76,77 The British Indian Empire sought to control the land of the

Arabian Gulf in order to protect its ships on Arabian water.78

Figure 1.0:1 European-controlled territories in the 20th century Middle East.79

In addition to the challenges of the undocumented history and missing resources of the Middle East, literary critic Hamid Dabashi argues that, while contemporary art had been practiced throughout the Middle East for many years, it was cast in the shadow of

76 James Onley, “Britain’s Informal Empire in the Gulf: 1820-1971,” 29-45, accessed Feb 11, 2018, https://www.academia.edu/367222/_Britain_s_Informal_Empire_in_the_Gulf_1820_1971_2005_, p.30-31. 77 Ibid., 32 78Ibid., 30-31. 79 Source: Dwight F. Reynolds, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 15. 38

Western Europe and North America due “to the curatorial policies of art museums and biennials.”80 He adds that the theorization of art from the Middle East, or as he puts it

“the Arab and Muslim world, in other words, from the West Asian and North African nations,” needs to be liberated from “a curatorial and art-historical frame of reference almost … predicated on North American and Western European epistemic prejudices.”81

In addition, to reexamining art from the Middle East, one needs to extract from it any curatorial trajectories and look beyond “commodification in the contemporary art industry.”82 Contemporary art from the Middle East has to be snatched from “actively commodified curatorial practices.”83 In order to combat that commodification of art and have an understanding from a point-of-view of that geographic region, the work of art must be examined outside of the Western narratives of the Middle Eastern art as constantly viewed within themes, such as identity, modernity vs. tradition, and global vs. local. The work of art, as Dabashi argues, must be seen “as fragments, as ruins and, thus, allegories, … which, perforce, implicate their traumatic memories.”84 He calls our current time a “collapse of absolute identities,” in that:

Terms such as “modern” and “modernity” are not sufficient either, not because “modernity” in its colonial gestation has had an impact on the art of the world at- large, but because the trauma of capitalist modernity, with all its calamities and efficacies, was far more global than merely European and, thus, Europeanisation of the project is precisely the axe we need to grind in the context of our contemporary history.85

80 Hamid Dabashi, “Trauma, Memory, and History,” Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses, ed. Hamid Keshmirshekan (London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015), 19. 81 Ibid., 20. 82 Ibid, 25. 83 Ibid., 33. 84 Ibid. 85 Ibid. 39

In addition, Dabashi argues that, in our understanding of contemporary art, the categories of the local and global are “now irrevocably dismantled”86 because they (i.e., the local and global) necessitate the larger question of what is global, which is usually associated with Western Europe and North America, and what is local, which is what has been referred to the rest of the world. Dabashi adds:

With all their regional and global repercussions, we have entered a world-historic moment at which the exhaustion of post-colonial knowledge-production and political praxis has already necessitated the articulation of a post-metaphysical thinking in which we can incorporate the overshadowed theorists of the ephemeral, the fragments, the ruins, and, thereby, the allegorical and the carnivalesque.87

According to Dabashi, the existing type of rhetoric of the region is no longer acceptable due, in part, to “the massive democratic uprising we have witnessed, from the Arab and

Muslim world into the heart of Europe,”88 especially in the form of the Arab Spring.

Likewise, critic Omnia El-Shakry criticizes the false contrast represented in the dichotomy between the local and global as well as the notion of hybridity.89 She explains that “Western art, accordingly, makes a universalist claim per se, whereas non-Western art is obliged to confront questions of identity.”90 This criticism is not to critique

European representation, but, rather, to achieve a critical grasp of “the manner of non-

Western subjection, [in a world that has been] glossed over by the singularity of the

86 Ibid., 19. 87 Ibid., 19 88 Ibid. 89 Cited in Stefan Winkler, “Cultural Heritage-Authenticity-Tradition: On the Origin of The Exhibition’s Title “Mustaqbal Al-Asala-Asalat Al-Mustaqbal” The Future Of Authenticity- The Authenticity Of The Future in Contemporary Arab Discourse,” in The Future of Tradition, the Tradition of Future: 100 Years After the Exhibition “Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art” in Munich, eds. Chris Dercon and León Krempel (München: Prestel, 2010), p. 53. 90 Ibid. 40

Western world, either through imperialism or its critique.”91 Dabashi, thus, suggests trauma, memory, and history as alternative ways through which we can theorize about art in its contemporaneity without confining it to its geographical and national borders.92 He praises Sharjah biennial in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), the largest art venue in the

Middle East, for its attempt to present other “conceptual and historical narratives” on art production from the Middle East.93

Another important misconception in art history scholarship is the way in which the dichotomy between modernity and tradition is understood when discussing non-

Western culture.94 According to Stefan Winkler, this simplistic method of explaining modernity is embedded in the dichotomy between Western and non-Western societies. In the context of Western society, the absence of tradition means modernity. This particular understanding of modernity fails to recognize that one cannot discuss tradition unless it is in the context of modernity.95 In Middle Eastern contemporary discourse, this distinction is not defined and is still debated between modernizers and traditionalists, as the traditionalists claim to preserve Arab culture from the intellectual Western invasion

(which is implemented in so-called ‘modernism’). Since the Middle East has witnessed intense debates concerning modernism, using this dichotomy in the context of the Middle

East is misleading.

91 Dabashi, “Trauma,” 21. 92 Ibid., 22. 93 Ibid., 23. 94 Winkler, “Cultural,” 53. 95 Ibid. 41

The problem of contemporary art, as James Allen alludes, is that it must be confronted “temporally and spatially between different cultures and formations.”96 In that, Chika Okeke-Agulu suggests the creation of a comparative art history field.97

However, and as Allen argues, the diverse art contribution in this region makes the field of contemporary art history impossible. Thus, one important approach to contemporary art from the Middle East is to be “selective, rather than inclusive” when analyzing the artworks.98

The previous literature reviews highlight important issues regarding Western approaches to Middle Eastern art. Art critics and scholars have emphasized that, in the contemporary art discourse, art from the Middle East is still presented from a Western perspective, which is a perspective that fails to comprehend the various approaches, themes, and interests these artists present. Therefore, the theorization of art must counter these issues. Art critics need to expand the approaches and narratives of the arts and look beyond the perpetual themes in order to not simply feed into existing stereotypes and perceptions.

A Reflection on Contemporary Art from the Arabian Gulf

Recently, great interest has occurred in contemporary Middle Eastern art, especially in art from the Arabian Gulf. The roles played by art institutions in the region, by offering various opportunities and programs, have a great impact in raising that interest to become an artistic and cultural destinations. Examples of these prominent art

96 Allen, “Education,” 101. 97 Ibid., 103. 98 Ibid., 105. 42 institutions includes: Almansouriah Foundation (1998), the art initiative Edge of Arabia

(2003), and the Abdul Latif Jameel Group (Art Jameel) (2003), Sharjah Art Foundation

(2009), and Athr Gallery (2009). These institutions continue to support artists on many levels by promoting artists through exhibitions and publications as well as providing financial management.

Even though these institutions have gone far in reaching out to the international art world, other sociopolitical aspects underline this sudden interest in the artistic production of this region, including the globalization of the art scene; the increased interest in topics related to art and politics, which has shifted the attention to conflict zones and trouble spots; and the events of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath.99

Shabout adds that “9/11 signified a turning point in the renewed interest in all things

‘Middle Eastern’.”100 In addition, Wilson-Goldie argues that the rise in this interest is due in part to the rise in prominence of the Gulf as the center of promising galleries and exhibitions.101 Wilson-Goldie questiones whether this interest in the art from the Middle

East is “the triumph of [the] neoliberal agenda over how cities are made and marketed” or whether it is “the start of a second Arab renaissance.”102

During the 20th century, the states in the Arabian Gulf sponsored students to study abroad as part of their project for modernization.103 For example, Saudi Arabian

99 Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, “Off the Map: Contemporary Art in the Middle East,” in The Future of Tradition, the Tradition of Future: 100 Years After the Exhibition “Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art” in Munich, eds. Chris Dercon and León Krempel (München: Prestel, 2010), 63. 100 Shabout, “Framing,” 54. 101 Ibid., 54. 102 Ibid., 65. 103 Ali, Modern Islamic Art, (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997), 185. 43 government scholarships to study art abroad started in 1960.104 When art schools opened in Saudi Arabia in 1963, the art teachers were mostly Arabs, such as Egyptians,

Sudanese, and Palestinians. Some of these teachers included Egyptian artist Mohammed

Shehata Hameed, Sudanese artist Ahmed Adam, and Iraqi artist Saad Al-Kaabi.105 Early

Arab teachers were trained under the tutelage of Western art teachers who were brought in to teach in art schools that embraced the Western modernist style. For example, the

School of Fine Art in opened in 1908 and was the first institution to teach Western art in the Middle East.106 Another example is the Gordon Memorial College in Sudan, which was established by the British in 1902.107 In 1930, a group of graduates from the

College of Fine Art in Cairo returned to Sudan and launched an art education program at the Gordon Memorial College.108 Although there are no sufficient resources on the history of what kind of art training those Arab teachers had, it is most likely that they were trained in one of those prevailing western style art schools in Egypt and Sudan, as that could be the rational transition of the establishment of art school in these countries.

In regard to Saudi Arabian artists, they struggled for decades to find support locally and internationally. The lack of support locally, I argue, is mainly because of the

104 Shawkat Alrubaie, Introduction to the Contemporary Art in Arab Land, Part 2 (Arabic version), (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2014), 14. 105 “Saudi Arabian Visual Arts,” (Arabic version) The Art Education, Google, accessed Feb 21, 2018, https://sites.google.com/site/faniahgsqade/5443. During college years in Saudi Arabia (2001-2005), I did not have any Saudi Arabian professors who had Ph.D.’s and taught in the School of Art and Design in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Almost all the professors were Egyptian or Sudanese. Today, the number of Saudi Arabian scholars in the same school has increased significantly in many fields, except for History and Theory, where the numbers remain low. 106 Ali, Modern Islamic Art, 23 107 Ibid., 115. 108 Ibid., 115. 44 dissatisfaction and lacuna between Western aesthetics and Saudi Arabian Islamic tastes.

One of the earliest examples of this struggle is exemplified in Saudi Arabian artist

Abdulaziz Al-Hammad’s earliest exhibiting experience. Al-Hammad, having trained in

Europe (Rome), was influenced by the surrealist movement, which could be so estranged in the region at that time. Upon his return to Saudi Arabia, he opened his first solo exhibition in 1965 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, due to a complete lack of attendance at his exhibition, Al-Hammad burnt and destroyed his 30 works of art and left devastated.109 Al-Hammad exhibited again in the early 1970s, along with a group of important artists in Saudi Arabia, including Safeya Binzagr (b. 1940), who until now directs her own gallery Darat Safia; Abdulhalim Radwi (1939-2006), Mounirah Mosly

(b. 1954), and Mohammed Al-Saleem (1939-1997).

However, early Saudi Arabian artists have faced a great challenge in promoting their artistic contributions in modern visual arts, an area considerably new to the society's

Islamic aesthetics.110 It was challenging, in part, due to the alienation between Saudi

Arabians and Western art and aesthetics. Between the early generations of Saudi Arabian artists who were trained either in Europe or Egypt and the public, a huge gap existed for many years. The public considered these in particular as purely Western. As

Shabout explained:

109 Alrubaie, Introduction To the Contemporary, 14. See also: the website of artist Safeya binzagr; http://daratsb.com. 110 Abdulrahman Al-Suleiman, “Saudi artist Mohammed Al-Salem,” (Arabic version) Al-Hayyah, January 30, 2004, accessed Feb 21, 2018, التشكيلي-السعودي-محمد-السليم-الذي-رحل-/http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Hayat%20INT/2004/1/30 .html.وحيداً -في-ايطاليا 45

Photography, video, installations, and new media art are not highlighted as ‘Western’ and, thus, the work of Middle Eastern artists using this media is not dismissed as imitation. Painting, however, is still evaluated as ‘Western’ and, thus, rejected as replication.111

To understand this gap, it is important to review the trajectory of art development in the region, which was once considered an Islamic empire/territory. Therefore, in the section below, I refer to this region as the Islamic empire, Islamic dynasties (borrowing from

Wijdan Ali), and Middle East (i.e., the region that includes the Gulf, Al-sham (Levant),

Turkey, and North Africa). The following section will briefly review the critic Wijdan Ali’s analysis of the influences and development of art in this region.

Art Between the Past and the Present

The Middle East shares a political history that extends back to the early major

Islamic dynasties of Umayyad (661-750 AD) (Figure 1.2), Abbasid (750-1258) (Figure

1.3), and Mamluk (1250-1517) (also marked in Figure 1.3). Within these Islamic dynasties, an Islamic artistic tradition was developed and practiced.112 In the 16th century, two major Islamic civilizations existed: The Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) (Figure 1.4), which ruled, at one time, the entirety of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North

Africa (except for Morocco), and the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1736 AD) in . Within these two major centers of power, the plurality and diversity of the art practices in the

Islamic world was significant. The Ottoman capital, Istanbul, had a great influence on the development of art in some parts of its empire, such as Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and

Tunisia, whereas other areas, such as the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Sudan, and Algeria,

111 Shabout, “Framing,” 56. 112 Ali, “Preface,” xi. 46 were far removed from that influence. The reason behind the lack of influence in these areas, Ali argued, was due to geography.113 Despite the importance of the Arabian Gulf as a religious destination where the Islamic pilgrimage takes place in the Hijaz region

(i.e., the western side of the Arabian Peninsula; the home of Makkah and Al-Madinah), these areas were neglected in terms of artistic influences and interactions, and were not influenced by the Ottoman empire, except for the restoration of the holy mosques in

Makkah and Madinah.114 In addition, political reasons could also be behind the Ottoman lack of cultural and economic impact in the Arabian Gulf, as to disempower Arabs and prevent them from taking over the Islamic world (the kalifate).

113 Ali, “Introduction,” 1. 114 Ibid., 2 and 119. 47

Figure 1.0:2 The Islamic Expansion During the Umayyad Caliphate

48

Figure 1.0:3 The Islamic Expansion to 1500 49

Figure 1.0:4 The Bounderies of the Ottoman Empire

In the eighteenth century, European art infiltrated the Middle East through trade relations and missionary schools.115 This infiltration culminated in Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798. Then, during the 1850s, many European artists, poets, and explorers were encouraged to visit the East and that when Orientalism reached its peak.116 At the same time, Ali adds:

Politically, this process expressed itself in the Western colonization of Islamic lands, mainly by the French and the British. Their culture superimposed itself on the much-weakened indigenous Islamic art and cultural traditions.117

115 Ibid. 116 Ibid. 117 Ibid. 50

The East, which according to Ali, was “at its lowest ebb,” and a weak recipient of what would be received from the powerful West.118

In the twentieth century, industrialization, in part, is believed to have hindered applied Islamic art such as textiles, ceramics, glass, and metal works. Patrons, along with the state and elites, ceased their support to the making and development of applied

Islamic art. Eventually, “Islamic art [was] divorced from utilitarian use,” which coincided with the omission of the region’s artistic history in art schools curriculum and the replacement of modern western art style.119

It is worth noting that Arabic is one visual art form to have shown continuity and development within the Islamic arts. It has maintained its importance because of its connection to the sacred text of the Quran, and unlike “the other arts of the book⎯ miniature painting, bookbinding, and illumination⎯ [that] have rapidly deteriorated, almost to their complete demise.120 The school of calligraphy plays an important role in the continuation of the artistic practice of the region as “the quintessentially Islamic art.”121

Toward the second half of the 20th century, the intellectual movements of Pan-

Arabism and Pan-Islamism emerged in Egypt and Iraq and spread elsewhere in the region. These movements called for reviving traditions and expressing Islamic identities

118 Ibid. 119 Ibid., 186. See also Keshmirshekan, “Introduction,” 10. 120 Ali, Modern Islamic Art, 186 121 Abid., x. and 185. 51 and Arabism.122 Artists were searching for a regional identity in the arts. Although this genre was embraced locally, it could not prosper or gain prominence until the advent of new media art, which liberated artists from using mediums such as painting that were associated in the artists’ minds with Western aesthetics. New media, such as photography, helped enhance the development of art, while globalization and the Internet facilitated a virtual learning environment in which various concepts and artistic expressions were fostered across a global scale.

The contemporary Moment of Saudi Arabian Art and the Gulf

The creation of Pan-Arab satellite TV in the 1990s opened up the country to the world, while the advent of new media and the Internet, as I argued previously, enabled artists to interact with each other, share concerns, meet, and learn from each other.123 One of the striking elements in the scene in Saudi Arabia is the fact that many of the successful internationally acclaimed Saudi Arabian artists have no academic art training. Stephen Stapleton, co-founder of the art initiative Edge of Arabian, recognized this “fragile, but brave community of artists,” who were eager to pioneer a contemporary movement.124 The fact that most of the acclaimed contemporary Saudi artists have no academic training (in its classical understanding) pinpoints an important issue: the Saudi

Arabian art academies’ lack of contribution to the contemporary Saudi Arabian art scene.

122 Dwight F. Reynolds, ed. “Introduction,” The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 13. 123 Marwan Kraidy, “Saudi-Islamist Rhetoric’s about Visual Culture,” in Visual Culture in the Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image, eds. Christiane Gruber and Sune Haugbolle (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 277. 124 Stephen Stapleton, “Stephen Stapleton on Artists,” in Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now, ed. Myrna Ayad (Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014), 23. 52

This lack is due in part to the fact that artistic training in art institutions is still locked within traditional art mediums such as painting. In addition, the emphases in Saudi

Arabian universities are on traditional textiles, printing, Islamic traditional designs, and jewelry making—areas that are becoming less engaged among contemporary artists.

Moreover, because of the Islamic prohibition of imitating God’s creations—and, thus, the dominant prohibition of figurative representation (although this is a controversial issue between scholars in terms of its implications), Saudi Arabian artists and the Gulf at large, may not easily connect with mediums, such as painting and sculpture due to their connections to figurative representations. However, what technology and new media have provided to Arabian Gulf artists is unlimited possibilities. Not only new media and photography are understood globally, but also can be free from religious restrictions.

Photography, from a religious perspective, does not imitates God’s creation as it is understood as a reflection of reality rather than a copy of that reality. With contemporary art, new media art and technology provide art vocabularies that can be used inside the region and still be understood in the rest of the world.

Exhibiting and Curating

As I mentioned earlier, art activities and institutions in the region have established decades ago. Notably, The Al-Mansouriah Foundation for Culture and Creativity in Saudi

Arabia (1998),125 which was founded by Princess Jawaher bin Soud Al-Saud and has had organized many artistic events in and outside the country, as well as the Saudi Arabian

125 The website for Al-Mansouriah Foundation for Culture and Creativity; http://almansouria.org. 53

Art Counselor (1973),126 and other activities in Sharjah, Kuwait, and Bahrain. The work of two art organizations in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have, in fact, transformed contemporary art from this region.

It was the creation of the successful art organization Edge of Arabia (EOA), as I stated earlier in 2003, and Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) in 2009 in the UAE, which were established by young, contemporary artists from the region. EOA was founded after a collaboration between two Saudi Arabian artists Ahmed Mater and Abdulnasser

Gharem with British artist Stefan Stapleton.127 While in the UAE, SAF was founded by artist and curator Sheikah Hoor Al-Qasimi, who is the daughter of the sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Al-Qasimi.128 This section looks at the Edge of Arabia (EOA), Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), and Culturerunners (an offshoot of EOA organized by the initiative: Ithra in the King Abdullah for World Center in Aramco), in order to explore and map the art scene in the Arabian Gulf so as to recognize these institutions’ significance in reshaping and establishing the field of contemporary art in the region. The EOA and SAF continue to be instrumental in the reshaping and globalizing contemporary art from this region and the Middle East at-large.

126 The website for the Saudi Arabian Art Counselor; http://sasca.org.sa/about/. 127 Ahmed Mater, Interview by author, March 2016, Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I will discuss Mater works in chapter two. 128 Sheikah, could be translated to chieftain and is equivalent to princess in the UAE. See also: “Mission and History,” Sharjah Art Foundation, accessed Feb 11, 2018, http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/about/mission-and-history. 54

Edge of Arabia

The creation of the London-based art organization Edge of Arabia (EOA) may mark the beginning of the history of contemporary art in Saudi Arabia as this organization features a group of passionate artists who shared a vision and an ambition to represent art from Saudi Arabia through a wide range of themes and media. Mater, the co-founder, considers EOA to be an artistic Saudi Arabian movement rather than simply an art organization.129 In my interview with Mater at his studio in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, he recounted the story of the establishment of EOA, explaining the early days when he and Stapleton met at the Al Meftaha Arts Village in (the southern province of Saudi

Arabia) and formed a friendship joined by their passion and an aspiration toward contemporary art.130

At that time, Mater, Gharem, and other Saudi Arabian artists formed an art group called Shatta Art Group(meaning ‘to be dismantled’) as they wanted to challenge existing aesthetics status quo in Saudi Arabia.131 The artists in this group were eager to embark on a new movement that sought to inspire young artists and promote a global understanding of contemporary art from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Stapleton, who came to Saudi

129 Ahmed Mater, Interview by author, March 2016, Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 130 Ibid. See also: Sultan Al-Ahmary, “Al-Meftaha Art Village,” Alriyadh. June 26, 2009, accessed on Feb 12, 2018, http://www.alriyadh.com/440337. In the mid 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government sought to create a national cultural center that focused on visual arts and the cultural heritage of the region. It was known as the Al-Meftaha Art Village and was located in southern Saudi Arabia. The village, which is known for its beautiful scenery and rich cultural influences, has year-round activities that offer workshops in painting, ceramics, music, and calligraphy. It also contains several galleries and sponsors an annual book exhibition and poetry nights. Many Saudi Arabian artists, such as Ahmad Mater, Abdulnasser Gharem, Abdulkareem Qasem, and Ola Al-Asmi, were trained at the village. 131 Ahmed Mater, Interview by author, March 2016, Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 55

Arabia for an artistic research in his practice, was keen to explore the culture and art of the country. This group lead to the creation of the Edge of Arabia.132

Mater recalled a time when he, Stapleton, and others had a conversation about a

2003 National Geographic issue that featured Saudi Arabia. This feature was called the

‘Kingdom on Edge.’ The artists were frustrated by the coverage and portrayal of the country in the magazine. They discussed the ways in which the title of the magazine,

‘Kingdom on Edge,’ indicated that Saudi Arabia as a country, its culture, and the people were portrayed in the periphery of the world. According to Mater:

On its cover was a sword-wielding Saudi [Arabian] prince, while inside were photos of veiled women in malls, camel markets, and the urban youth in fast cars. The article was called "Kingdom on Edge." I asked Stephen what the word "edge" meant in this context. We began to talk about ways of turning it around and using it in a positive rather than a pejorative sense. . . Being in Abha, we were on the edge of the country. Contemporary art was at the periphery, or edge, of what you would expect to read about from Saudi Arabia, and so ‘Edge of Arabia’ seemed to encapsulate what we wanted to do by raising the profile of Saudi [Arabian] contemporary art. Stephen and I committed there and then to build a project under that title.133

The notion of the periphery here, as Mater and his friends suggested, corresponded to the geographical reality of his hometown, Abha, which is located on the edge of the country.

However, it is also on the periphery of the country’s economic and development reforms.

The literal meaning of the word ‘edge,’ along with its undertone hints of the word

‘periphery,’ echoes Mater’s artistic vision, which was transformed into a determination to foster an understanding of Saudi Arabia’s art and culture through the Edge of Arabia and

132 Ibid. 133 James Scarborough, “A Conversation with Ahmed Mater, Co-Founder of Edge of Arabia,” The Huffington Post. Sep 20, 2014, accessed March 20, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james- scarborough/a-conversation-with-ahmed_b_5602286.html. 56 extend the understanding and dialogue of the diverse art practices and cultures found in the GACs within the Middle East and the world.

Mater considers the Internet to be instrumental in facilitating learning experiences and was a valuable resource in introducing contemporary art and connecting with global art world.134 In addition, Mater affirms that most of the EOA’s audience was not the exhibitions’ visitors, but the virtual audience.135 This fact highlights the importance of cyber communication in networking artists globally as it enables them to promote themselves, especially when their home country has a lack of art institutions.

In 2008, the Edge of Arabia launched its first international exhibition of contemporary art from Saudi Arabia. This exhibition was co-curated by the Jameel

Group, an organization owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Abdul Latif Jameel. The exhibition featured 17 artists from different parts of Saudi Arabia and was held at the

Brunei Gallery in London.136

The Edge of Arabia then exhibited three times (in 2009, 2011, and 2013) in the prestigious art organization Venice biennial.137 In addition, the Edge of Arabia exhibited at many international and regional exhibitions, such as Terminal sponsored by Art Dubai in 2011; “We Need to Talk,” a Jeddah Exhibition in Saudi Arabia in 2012; and The

Armory Show, Focus: MENAM in New York in 2015. Since launching, the Edge of

Arabia has featured more than 100 artists in 11 shows, including Saudi Arabian artists

134 Ahmad Mater, Interview by author, March, 2016, Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 135 Scarborough, “A Conversation.” 136 The website of Edge of Arabia; http://edgeofarabia.com/exhibitions/edge-of-arabia-london 137 The website of Edge of Arabia, “Featured Exhibition,” http://edgeofarabia.com/exhibitions. 57

Ahemd Mater, Abdulnasser Gharem, Manal Al-Dowayan, and Faisal Samra and Middle

Eastern artists Mona Hatoum, Mounir Fatmi, Wafaa Bilal, and Darvish Fakhr.138

Culturerunners and King Abdulaziz World Culture

In 2014, the Edge of Arabia began its first tour across the United States under the initiative ‘Culturerunners’ in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Group (Art

Jameel), Gharem Studio, and others, and sponsored by Ithra, which is a King Abdulaziz

World Culture art initiative. The project ran from 2014 to 2017, and includes activities such as visiting many states, universities, and artists studios to exchange ideas and established collaborative art projects between artists. The goal of this tour was to inspire artists and to extend conversations across many subjects artistically and intellectually.139

The sponsorship of Culturerunners by Ithara at King Abdulaziz World Culture

(through Saudi Aramco) is among the many activities that the Saudi oil company supports including sponsoring galleries, workshops, and related events in the region.

Aramco’s most recognizable enterprise is the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, launched in 2008 by HRH King Abdullah Al-Saud who laid the cornerstone of the center during Aramco’s 75th anniversary celebration in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.140 The center includes a children museum, a four-gallery museum, a library, a youth enrichment and innovation center, an archive, a learning center, and a wide variety of exhibitions and

138 Ibid. 139 The website of Edge of Arabia, “Edge of Arabia US Tour 2014-2017,” http://edgeofarabia.com/featured_exhibitions/edge-of-arabia-us-tour. 140 “Saudi Aramco,” in Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now, ed. Myrna Ayad (Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014), 265. 58 programs.141 The center sponsored the Saudi Arabian Pavilion at the in

2011.142 In addition, the center worked with Paris Centre Pompidou (the art and culture center) for interactive and engagement experience for the visitors in 2013.143

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, through its initiative Ithra, launched the Saudi Bridges program, which “aspires to promote national talent in cultural and social venues around the world.”144 The program’s objective is to showcase contemporary Saudi Arabian art at important American museums and universities.

Saudi Bridges has sponsored eight art exhibitions across the United States under

Culturerunners and were directed by Stephen Stapleton⎯ for the aim of bringing artists from different parts of Saudi Arabia with many artists and critics across the US in order to exchange ideas and extend conversations between contemporary art from Saudi Arabia and the United States.145 As the assistant direct of the Art Museum of the University of

Memphis (AMUM) Warren Perry states about this project that it is “a real celebration of the Islamic culture in our region; it should touch us all knowing that a project like this can brings us all together.”146 Culturerunners Traveled in a 34 foot 1999 Gulf Stream RV,

“over 22,000 miles, teaming up with over 57 artists in 29 states across America; along the way, hosting hundreds of community events and launching an artist-led broadcast

141 Ibid. 142 Ibid, 267 143 Ibid. 144 The website site of King Abdulaziz for World Culture; http://www.kingabdulazizcenter.com/dima- portfolio/saudi-bridges/. 145 Noor Al-Dahaam (Curatorial Management at Ithra) and Wadha Al-Nafjan (Human Resource assistant at Ithra), Interview by author, Brooks Museum, October 11, 2017. 146 “Artist talk,” a Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis, Tennessee by Berry Warren, Brooks Museum, October 12, 2017. 59 platform,” in search of artistic inspirations and common concerns “across one of the most contested ideological and political borders of our time - that of the Middle East and the

United States.”147 As Culturerunners is an important step in positioning art from the Gulf on the contemporary world map, an overview of the Culturerunners’ U.S. traveling exhibitions is listed in chronological order of the exhibitions openings below:

Parallel Kingdom: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia, Station Museum of

Contemporary Art, Houston, TX. This exhibit was held from June 18, 2016 to October 2,

2016 in partnership with Gharem Studio. The exhibition featured 12 artists, including

Ahmad Angawi, Abdulnasser Gharem, and Nugamshi.

Gonzo Arabia: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia in Aspen, Gonzo Gallery, Aspen,

CO. This exhibit was held between June 30, 2016 and September 1, 2016 in partnership with Gharem Studio and The Open Mind Project. This exhibition featured 11 artists, including Abdulnasser Gharem, Saeed Salem, and Faisal Samra.

Generation: Contemporary Art From Saudi Arabia in San Francisco, Minnesota Street

Project, San Francesco, CA. This exhibit ran from August 11, 2016 to September 6, 2016 and featured 15 artists, including Manal Al-Dowayan, Ahmad Angawi, and Abdulnasser

Gharem.

Phantom Punch: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia in Lewiston, Bates College

Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine. This exhibit ran from October 26, 2016 to March 18,

2017 and was curated by Loring M. Danforth and Dan Mills. The exhibition featured 18

147 The website of Culturerunners; http://culturunners.com. 60 artists, including Nasser Al-Salem, Ahmad Angawi, Abdulnasser Gharem, and Ahmed

Mater.

Abdulnasser Gharem: Pause, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles,

California. The exhibition ran from April 16, 2017 to July 2, 2017 and was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with King Abdulaziz for World

Culture. The exhibition featured 10 of Gharem’s most famous works of art.

Epicenter X: Saudi Contemporary Art in Dearborn, The Arab American National

Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. This exhibition ran from July 8, 2017 to October 1, 2017 and was curated by Devon Akmon. The exhibition featured 17 artists, including Ahmad

Angawi, Nasser Al-Salem, Abdulnasser Gharem, and Ahmad Mater.

Cities of Conviction, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah. The exhibit ran from August 25, 2017 to January 6, 2018 and was curated by Jared

Steffenson. The exhibition featured 19 Saudi Arabian artists, including Ahmed Mater,

Abdulnasser Gharem, and Nasser Al-Salem.

Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis, TN, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee. This exhibit ran from October 8, 2017 to January 6, 2018 and was curated by Dr. Leslie Luebbers and Edmund Warren Perry, Jr. The exhibition featured 22 artists, including Manal Al-Dowayan, Ahmad Angawi, Abdulnasser Gharem,

Maha Maluh, and Ahmed Mater.

While attending the Desert to Delta exhibition at Brooks Museum of Art in

Memphis, Tennessee, I had a conversation with Stapleton about Culturerunners, the King

Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, and Desert to Delta. During this conversation, I 61 asked about the goal of the tour and why the King Abdulaziz World Culture is sponsoring

Culturerunners. Below are Stapleton’s responses.

They [people at Ithra] were looking for things to do in America and we [Edge of Arabia through Culturerunners] were doing things in America, so I think what happened is that we [Edge of Arabia] were doing this U.S. tour with Culturerunners and then Aramco has the center, the King Abdulaziz Center, and they were looking to do an international program, so when they were looking around, they were like “Will these guys?” I think we were the only ones who could do it. So, they approached us and we wrote a proposal … It was a crazy proposal, like 10 cities and 50 artists going here and 50 Americans [curators and art critics] going here, and they said ok! In December [of 2017], we [will] finish the contract, so we’ve delivered it. So, it would be 10 cities and like 60 media hits; it’s like really big project.

How did you choose these cities?

So, I started to build a network in America. I meet people and I tell them about the project. I just started to fly around and through networking I was looking for places with people like Warren [the assistant director] and Leslie [the director of AMUM] who were enthusiastic and in an interesting city. So, why Memphis? Well, Memphis is an interesting Southern city geographically. It’s interesting for its history of the civil rights movement and the struggles, you know! This [city] was one of the center of the Civil Rights Movement and the efforts of the people to change things. And, there was just a very rich culture here with Elvis Presley and rock and roll and delta blues and number of great museums.

What about the artists?

So, you know the artists were there. Nobody were chosen. A combination between the curators, us [Edge of Arabia/Culturerunners] and the King Abdulaziz center.148

I was, then, introduced by Stapleton to Edmund Warren Perry (Warren), the assistance director of Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM). In my quest to analyze

148 Stephen Stapleton, Interview by author, October 11, 2017, Brooks Museum, Memphis, TN. 62 the curatorial approach/es that have been used in this exhibition, I asked Perry, too, about the process of choosing these artworks. He replied:

We visited Saudi Arabia for this exhibition. He asked me where I am from. I told him from Jeddah, he replied: Jeddah is a magical city! We had lunch with Sami Nasief. We stayed in Jeddah from May 10 to May 17. I came to Memphis from the department of energy where I was a contract curator. When I got here in February, the first assignment they said, my boss that going to be working that we are bringing a large exhibit of art from Saudi Arabia. My boss [Dr. Leslie Luebbers].

Why from Saudi Arabia?

He replied: will because Stephen had made contact through various people in Memphis Tennessee looking for venue for all the work of these contemporary artists in the university of Memphis. They [Memphis gallery] didn’t have anything going on this autumn. So, they made an agreement. They will bring in all these artists into the university of Memphis. At that point, Stephen wanted to organize a trip for all the people who were hosting exhibitions. So, I went! There were two representatives from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. There was a representative from the Los Angeles County Museum of art, Anthony Teeno, who recently partnered with Stephen in this entire enterprise to perpetuate contemporary Saudi’s art on tours, hitting venues throughout the United States and probably the world. So, we went to Saudi Arabia to interview artists, go to studios, take photos, and get an idea of the scope of the work. I went with Tsacoyianis from the university of Memphis, and Beverley and I traveled with this group, and what we did was went around to all these studios, to interview the artists and they had talks, and spent a lot of time sharing with these people to get an idea of the scope of the work and what we want to bring back to the united states to Memphis.

How did you choose the artworks?

There were many people involved in this.

What about yourself? How did you help in viewing and critiquing these artworks?

Many people- that man who walked away Stephen Stapleton, his team, the residents who worked with them in New York, my boss Dr. Leslie and I curated the show and reviewed these objects many times. And we also had number of students from the University of Memphis who commented on the works. Our project historian Beverly Tsacoyianis, she also had some input on these works. Many many people. 63

How would you describe contemporary art from Saudi Arabia?

I think that the contemporary art from Saudi Arabia is about art. It’s about art for art sake. Sometimes it has a political edge.149

Warren, then, introduced me to other people. And after that we all walked to attend the artists talk and the exhibition opening remarks by the director of the AMUM in Memphis,

Dr. Leslie Luebbers. In her opening remarks, the museum director Dr. Luebbers recalls the time when Stapleton came to her office to discuss his exhibition proposal for Desert to Delta. She asked him what does he expect AMUM in Memphis to provide. To her shock, Stephen told her: nothing! Its fully funded by King Abdulaziz Would Culture. She adds:

I’ve been in this business for 40 years, and that sort of offer has never happened, so, you know, it took me a little minute to process it. But, [I said] yes! Yes! We really would be interested. So, that’s how it happened. And here we are! Today! It’s an event! It’s happening! Its open! It’s beautiful!150

She also thanked King Abdulaziz Would Culture saying:

I would like to acknowledge the power behind this project, King Abdulaziz Center for World Art. Ithra had a vision to create a campaign that would, with a very short time, make Saudi Arabian art known across America. And it’s working. We, at AMUM are so pleased to be part of that.

Desert to Delta featured emerging artists as well as artists with international acclaim. It also presented a wide range of themes and subjects. On the catalogue cover, a monumental piece entitled Negative No More 2004, the oldest piece in the show, by

149 “Artist talk,” a Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis, Tennessee by Edmund Warren Perry, Brooks Museum, October 12, 2017. 150 “Artist talk,” a Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis, Tennessee by Leslie Luebbers, Brooks Museum, October 12, 2017.

64

Shadia Alem is featured. The cover shows the artist standing behind the artwork with a dark colored veil covering her body and half of her face, which alludes to the mysteries representation and an orientalist depiction of the female body. The choice for the cover is a perfect example of Daftari’s argument of whether exhibitions feed into existing stereotypes or builds bridges between the East and West.151

Desert to Delta was an important exhibition for contemporary art from Saudi

Arabia as it was considered to be the first contemporary Saudi Arabian art exhibition in

Memphis and was only one of eight Saudi Arabian exhibitions in the United States.

Prominent artworks, such as Evolution of Man 2010 and Leaves Fall in All Seasons 2013

(from the Desert of Pharan series) by Ahmed Mater, Wijha 2013 by Ahmed Angawi, and

Flora and Fauna 2007 by Abdulnasser Gharem, were featured in the exhibition.

Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) and Hoor Al-Qasmi

The Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) was the outcome of Sharjah biennial 6 in 2003 that was directed by Sheikhah Hoor Al-Qasmi, in which she displayed an extraordinary passion for and knowledge of promoting contemporary art from the region. Al-Qasmi obtained her B.F.A. from the Slade School of Fine Art (USL) in London, UK, and her

M.A. in curating contemporary art from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London,

UK.152 After the success of the biennial, Al-Qasmi realized the need to establish an art foundation in Sharjah, a city that is considered a hub for the art, in oder to offer an

151 Fereshteh Daftari, “Introducing Art From The Middle East and Its Diaspora Into Western Institutions: Benefits And Dilemmas,” in Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses, ed. Hamid Keshmirshekan (London: Tauris & Co Ltd, 2015), 187-188. 152 The website of Sharjah Art Foundation; http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/about/mission-and- history. 65 organized support to the arts and to expand its vision to not only focusing on the GACs, but also the surrounding regional area (Figure 1.5). The SAF now is an important art destination in the Middle East. Located in Sharjah’s historic art and heritage district in the UAE, SAF promotes art, film screenings, music, and performances as well as provides educational programs for individuals, children, and families.153 The SAF provides year-round activities and programs that connect regional and domestic artists, such as the “the Sharjah biennial [every two years], the annual March Meeting, residencies, production grants, commissions, exhibitions, research, publications, and a growing collection.”154 The SAF’s mission is to help spread the recognition of the crucial role that art plays in any given community.155

Figure 1.0:5 A Map of the United Arab Emirates Showing the Seven Emirates in the Country including Al-Sharjah

153 The official website of Sharjah Art Foundation; http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/about 154 Ibid. 155 Ibid. 66

A panel hosted by the Salon at SAF and was moderated by Stephanie Bailey, a writer and an editor who works out of both London and Hong Kong, featuring a discussion with Hoor Al-Qasimi, the president of the SAF and curator of the UAE

National Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale; Salah M. Hassan, Goldwin Smith

Professor; and Khalil Joreige, a filmmaker and artist. Al-Qasimi explained that the

Sharjah biennial, established in 1993, was initially run by the Sharjah Department of

Culture and Information and provided many art activities that focused on the historical heritage of Sharjah.156 Additionally, the Sharjah biennial was located at the expo center and associated with trade and fair festivities. Al-Qasimi described growing up in the area known as the art area in Sharjah where she witnessed art activities and events.

She mentions how visiting Documenta 11, a well-known art exhibition, in 2002 had an impact on her and was, as she describes, “an eye opener,” regarding thinking about biennials and their purpose.157 It is important to note that Documenta 11, 2002 was held in Germany and directed by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor, who was the first non-European art director of Documenta. It has been described as “the first truly global, postcolonial Documenta exhibition.”158 Al-Qasimi, then, wanted to develop the Sharjah biennial further and realized the need to establish an art foundation that truly represented the current art scene in the region as well as to establish a global art destination located in

156 The official website of Sharjah Art Foundation; http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art- foundation/about/initiatives-and-programmes. Salah M. Hassan is Goldwin Smith Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY as well as a professor of African and Afro-American Studies at Brandeis University. Khalil Joreige is a filmmaker and artist, who lives in Paris and Beirut. 157 Shikah Hoor Al-Qasimi, “An artistic Panel,” interview by Stephanie Bailey, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZY1KSwNtvA. 158 The official website of Documenta, https://www.documenta.de/en/retrospective/documenta11. 67 the UAE. As such, the SAF was established in 2009 as an organized institution aimed at enhancing and expanding previous art activities in the region and creating a new venue for global art.159

During the previous panel, Hassan, a U.S.-based professor from Sudan, called for the end of the hierarchy in Western exhibitions and for the expansion of the field of references in the region by building and developing an artistic archive. He added, during the Salon panel, that the SAF is a unique foundation in the sense “that its willing to expand the narrative of modernity and contemporary art in a way that not every single foundation is willing to [do].”160 He added that, as an art historian with an interest in the story of modernism from a comparative perspective, “which works against the exclusion narrative of the modernism with Western art history,” he has faced challenges and a lack of support from other art institutions. For example, he struggled to show the work of

Ibrahim El-Salahi.161 He added that “to be able to write and produce in this area of knowledge requires a lot of support.”162 Hassan added that the SAF, therefore, is important not necessarily for the sake of opening a new art center in the GACs, but to expand on existing narratives, such as modernism, and other untold histories by providing platforms that otherwise won’t be realized in other institutions.163

In addition to the above projects, the SAF provides support and guidance to local artists and regional art curators and members of the art world. One of the great projects

159 Bailey, interview. 160 Bailey, interview. 161 Ibid. 162 Ibid. 163 Ibid. 68 that SAF is producing is the publications of art books and gallery exhibitions in both

Arabic and English that is beneficial for not only the region but also to the rest of the world.

The latest Sharjah biennial was the 13th (SB13), titled ‘Tamawuj,’ a noun in

Arabic that describes the movement of the waves as rising and falling in harmony. This biennial ran from October 2016 to January 2018. SB13 was curated by Christine Tohme and featured over 50 international artists, including Tangier artist Yto Barrada, Chinese artist Zhou Tao, Emirati artist Hind Mezaina, and Iraqi-Kurdistan artist Walid Siti.

The aim of SB13 was to further the collaboration between Sharjah and other significant cities such as Beirut, Dakar, Ramallah, and Istanbul, on the basis of working toward thinking about “the possibility of an art world” by stretching the idea of a biennial to cross contexts and networks within different zones.164 The SAF, thus, is a global art institution that brings together and features artists from around the world, rather than confining their works of art within geographical borders. Through the Sharjah biennials, the SAF has provided platforms that connect artists from around the world with a curatorial model that advocates the relationship between artists and communities.

The Trajectory of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Art

The period in which art from the Arabian Gulf can be described as contemporary can be defined as an era that starts in 2004 and continues to the present. This era can be outlined by two significant phases. The first phrase began with the creation of the Shatta

Art Group by enthusiastic artists from the Al-Meftaha Village, including Mater,

164 The official website of Sharjah Art Foundation; http://sharjahart.org/biennial-13. 69

Abdulnasser Gharem, Abdulkarim Kasim, Ashraf Fayad, and Muhammed Khidir. This group then held its first exhibition in 2004 in Jeddah.165 On opening night, about 200 individuals from the community, including members of the royal family, writers, artists, and intellectuals, attended and expressed an interest to “know more” about conceptual and contemporary art, as Gharem puts it.166 Within this same period, media and video art installations were introduced as well as public park exhibitions.167 The success of this group culminated in the creation of EOA, which coincided with other intellectual and artistic movements throughout the Gulf region, notably the creation of the SAF.

The region is now entering the second phase of this era, which has manifested in the establishment of museums and national art foundations across the region that will ensure a greater level of interaction with artists and intellectuals from all around the world. For example, after a decade of planning and building, on November 11, 2017, the

Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum opened in the UAE.168 In addition, the Guggenheim Abu

Dhabi Museum in the UAE is expected to be the largest Guggenheim museum in the world.169 Recently, the Misk Foundation, an organization founded by Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman Al-Soud of Saudi Arabia, launched its Misk Art Institute to create a platform for the interaction of and knowledge exchange between artists in the region. It will also hold an international exhibition and other artistic programs.170 These

165 Ibid. 166 Abdulnasser Gharem, interview by Henry Hemming, accessed 2012, http://universes-in- universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/abdulnasser_gharem. 167 Mater, interview. 168 Alan Tylor, “The Opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi,” November 8, 2017, The Atlantic, accessed on Feb 13, 2018 at https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/11/the-opening-of-the-louvre-abu-dhabi/545333/. 169 The official website of Guggenheim Museum; https://www.guggenheim.org/about-us 170 The official website of Misk Art Institute; https://miskartinstitute.org. 70 artistic movements throughout the region will create an enriching environment in terms of its artistic diversity, orientation, and culture.

Conclusion

This chapter reflected on the status of contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf utilizing two main components. The first component was a discussion of the ways by which art from this region is represented. This discussion included a call to open up clichés to lived realities and included an explanation of the problem of commodifying art by curators and gallery owners, especially in this critical time of rising interest in patronage and by art collectors of the Arabian Gulf art. The critics mentioned in this chapter have argued that this commodification facilitates the persistence of perpetual themes and stereotypes. Thus, the vast themes and research interests in contemporary art necessitate the need to conduct selective readings of the arts rather than an inclusive reading. The aim of this chapter is to delve into this critical appraisal of Western art history scholarship, and to lead to the discussion on contemporary art from the Arabian

Gulf that will follow in the next chapters. Accordingly, my aim is to provide a critical perspective toward a collection of chosen contemporary artworks from this region that reflects on aspects of petromodernity and its subsequent petroculture that have come to define the region since the advent of its oil economy in the 20th century. By doing so, the dissertation provides a different approach to Arabian Gulf contemporary art with the aim of diversifying the approaches to this region’s current and evolving art and culture as suggested by the critics of this chapter. 71

Second, the chapter examines key rising art institutions and projects in the

Arabian Gulf, such as the EOA and SAF. These significant institutions have reshaped and redefined contemporary Arabian Gulf art. In addition, these institutions have nurtured global artistic platforms in order to extend conversations and to share experiences within and beyond the region as well as to introduce Arabian Gulf art to a larger global audience.

72

Chapter Two: Photographic Anxiety in the Urban Petroscape

“Oil is the magic that powers modernity. The power of oil is unconscious; we cannot grasp it and we don’t perceive it.”171

Introduction

The history of modernization and development in the Arabian Gulf is one that is inseparable from the history of oil exploitation in that, it has shaped the culture of the people and the development of the region. This chapter examines photographic urban landscapes by Ahmed Mater, Sami Al-Turki, and Manal Al-Dowayan that illustrate the drastic petroscape shift in the region. These artworks were chosen with several themes in mind. First, the artists highlight the conflict between the views of utopia and dystopia that have resulted from the transformation of petromodernity in the urban landscape of the

Arabian Gulf. Specifically, many believe that oil brings wealth and utopia to the region as evidenced by building the cities, including new neighborhoods, roads, and highways, but the artists introduced in this chapter reflect on petromodernity with a negative inclination that could be described as a dystopian depiction. Dystopia is understood through the artists’ concerns that the urban development in the country is replacing the natural scenery and landscape. Dystopia is understood as fear related to the uncertain future of the region after the inevitable depletion of its oil reserves.

171 Imre Szeman et al., After Oil, Petrocultures Research Group (Edmonton, AB, Canada: The Petrocultures Research Group at University of Alberta, 2015), 48, accessed April 2016, http://petrocultures.com/after-oil- from-wvu-press/.

73

The second theme examined in this chapter is the sense of anxiety as presented by these artists. Specifically, Ahmed Mater’s artistic depictions are examined to explain oil as both an agent for modernization and a source of anxiety. Sami Al-Turki struggles to find a home in Saudi Arabia and his fears regarding the future and stability of the region are also discussed. Manal Al-Dowayan’s investment in issues related to the changing perceptions and status of women are considered within her artwork. Further, Al-

Dowayan’s artwork, which incorporates physical samples of oil, interviews, and photography to recount the stories of individuals who worked in oil fields during the early history of oil extraction in Saudi Arabia is included in this section as well. Taken together, these discussions highlight the artists’ anxieties surrounding petroculture as demonstrated through their artwork. In doing so, my aim for this topic on petrourbanism is to draw out how each artist understands the intricacy of petroculture in their visual renditions as well as to visualize the historical narratives of the transformation to modernity in the Arabian Gulf.

Recent studies of urbanism and petroculture have explained how our modern lives are saturated with oil and how there is no apparent ‘outside’ to the oil culture.172 Almost every material aspect of our modern lifestyle is shaped and permeated by the fossil fuel industry. For example, air conditioning, cars, and medicine are all oil dependent. Even ideas regarding success, wealth, beauty, and countless social relations and environmental realities are also examples of how fossil fuels affect our modern infrastructure and

172 LeMenager, Living Oil, 63. 74 lifestyles.173 Therefore, in order to better understand the complexity of petroculture, and to examine “sensory and emotional values associated with the oil cultures of the 20th century,”174 addressing this tangible subject of petroculture within the fields of humanities is central.

Reexamining progress as a concept in relation to urbanism in the Arabian Gulf is what drives the discussion on this group of artworks. Critic Saara Liinamaa in

Contemporary Art’s Urban Question and Practices of Experimentation, describes

“urbanism [as] one of our most powerful “dominant metanarratives,” and states that contemporary urban art practice is part of the “urban problem-solvers.”175 According to

Liinamaa, the artists become urban researchers who “[take] seriously the role of culture and its contribution to urban issues, stressing a complexity of insight around ways of inhabiting and acting in the city.”176 Contemporary art’s urban practice can “undermine dominant interpretations of the world”177 and, more importantly, contribute to the visibility of the effects of oil and petrocultures.178 The Petrocultures Research Group in

After Oil articulately argues for the importance of the contributions of the arts and humanities in better understanding the critical role of oil in forming and shaping our ideas on progress and the mindset associated with petrocultures. They state

The humanities can re-narrate the histories of oil and energy to enable us to think more fully about our current circumstances and future possibilities. Such histories can reveal the hidden or obfuscated traumas of the past that continue to shape our

173 Szeman et al., After Oil, 41. 174 LeMenager, 68. 175 Saara Liinamaa, “Contemporary Art’s Urban Question and Practices of Experimentation,” Third Text 28, no. 6 (2014): 529-544, 12 Dec 2014, p. 529. 176 Ibid., 540. 177 Petrocultures Research Group, After Oil, 45. 178 Ibid., 48. 75

societies or that should guide how we proceed. For example, our sense of the our overall historical “progress” ⎯ the steps that we have taken in order to become modern⎯ looks different when we understand the crucial role played by greater and greater access to, and use of, energy.179

The chapter then uses the following line of questioning in order to guide the analysis of this group of artworks: How does the artist conceptualize the transformation in the

Arabian Gulf landscape in aesthetic terms? How can we understand the conflicting perspectives of utopian and dystopian imageries as a result of petromodernity on the landscape? How do artists envision the future in relation to energy, oil, and the city?

Ahmed Mater’s Quest for a Regional Urbanism

The artistic oeuvre of Saudi Arabian artist Ahmed Mater (b. 1979) can be considered an attempt to express anxiety about the rapid transformation that has occurred to the landscape of the Arabian Gulf. His increasing concerns about the region after the introduction of petromodernity can be traced throughout his career. His early practice depicts a simple contemplation on modernity, its relation to humanity, and the rigid dependency on oil. In his latest artworks, however, he imagines the life in Saudi Arabia much differently. Mater’s artistic practice is discussed here to reflect on the forces that have shaped the pace of urbanization in the region.

Before delving into his artworks, it is important to take a step back to describe how petromodernism took hold. The urban change that overtook the region began primarily in oil towns. The construction of these oil towns and their compounds eventually created states within states, such as in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, and

179 Ibid, 43. 76 brought about aspects of neocolonial urbanism into the context of petromodernity.180

Manifestations of economic and political aspects of petromodernity were evident in how

“oil revenues [were] used as a tool of statecraft.”181 This statecraft entailed “oil companies, local governments, and city planners” imposing visions for urbanism and development without regard to the welfare or opinions of the indigenous population.182

This vision favored oil urbanism and particularly “pitted the traditional town against the oil/modern city.”183 Mater’s work implies a sense of frustration with not being able to find a regional identity amidst the urbanization of the landscape.

In 2010, Mater exhibited his art installation entitled Evolution of Man (2010)

(figure 2.1) in London as part of an exhibition held by Edge of Arabia. This piece instantly attracted attention and catapulted him into fame within the global contemporary art scene. The reason for its critical acclaim lies in the striking visual elements that

Evolution of Man paints regarding the relationship between humanity and petromodernity. The video installation consists of 100 x-rays, featuring a striking x-ray image of a figure (Mater himself) holding a gun against his head (figure 2.1). Over the passage of two minutes, the image of the figure with the gun gradually morphs into an image of a gas pump, then slowly morphs back into the figure holding a gun to its head.

This remarkable juxtaposition of a suicidal scene with a gas pump illustrates some of the

180 Nelida Fuccaro, "Introduction: Histories of Oil and Urban Modernity in the Middle East," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33, no. 1 (2013): 1-6, https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed February 6, 2018). 181 Ibid., 2. 182 Ibid. 183 Abid., 3. 77 anxieties expressed in this region. The gas pump is a direct reference to the oil economy and its association to humanity in recent years. This suicidal scene symbolizes the fear and the uncertainty caused by the effects of the oil economy on the future of humanity.

By using x-rays as a metaphor, Mater conveys to the viewer that ‘reality’ is hidden. More specifically, ‘reality’ is conveyed as the merging and fusing relationship between oil and humanity, thus invoking the notion of petroculture becoming deeply engrained in the regional inhabitants. The depths of how oil has permeated individuals’ daily lives and how quickly petroculture has arisen is expressed in Mater’s statement:

I am a country man and, at the same time, the son of this strange, scary oil civilization. In 10 years, our lives changed completely. For me, it is a drastic change that I experience every day.184

The connotations of the gas pump in Evolution of Man are undeniably a key to understanding the cultural, economic, and social changes after the discovery of oil in the

Arabian Gulf.

In Evolution of Man, Mater used a friend’s gun to perform and obtain his x-ray images. He explained: “I used my friend’s gun and took this x-ray picture of myself. I don’t know why I thought about suicide.”185 Invoking the concept of committing suicide here is provocative given the fact that Mater knows his audience and how they believe that Islamic tradition prohibits suicidal messages. Mater’s use of the notion of suicide was not an endorsement of suicidal behavior. Rather, it (suicide) was used as an attempt

184 Booth-Clibborn, Julia, and Ananda Pellerin, eds. Ahmed Mater. (London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2010), 31. 185 Ibid. 78 to shock and engage the viewer and draw attention to the disturbing reality of humanity’s dependence on oil.

Figure 2.0:1Ahmad Mater, Evolution of Man, 2010.

Mater’s sentiment toward petromodernity and urbanism is manifested in his demand that Saudi institutions should be reinvented “based on local and cultural sensibilities.”186 It is out of this sentiment that Mater started to question this Arabian Gulf modernity in relation to oil and particularly in relation the transformations taking place in the landscapes of the Arabian Gulf.

Nostalgia and Migration in “Empty Land”

The artistic growth in Mater’s art is recognizable as he continues to use photography to question petromodernity in relation to the landscape of the Arabian Gulf.

In 2011, Mater went with his camera to photograph construction work on various desert-

186 Sackler Gallery of Art, Symbolic Cities: The Work of Ahmed Mater. Washington, D.C., 2016. Saeed Salem, Interview by author, February 4, 2018. 79 like areas of Saudi Arabia’s landscape. These places were discarded after the locals migrated to big cities in search of jobs and opportunities. Now, all that is left in these areas are abandoned construction machines and equipment.

Mater’s Empty Land (2011) (figure 2.2) is an artistic investigation of the petroscape in the Arabian Gulf. Art critic Robert Kluijver describes Empty Land as

“being an attempt to read the scars modernization had wrought on his homeland.”187 This series of 18 photographs was taken in seemingly untamed, solitary, and deserted lands.

The depth of such despondency can be seen in Mater’s own words in which he describes these photos as evidence of the indigenous “leaving behind a scarred and empty land where not just material things, like buildings and cars, are abandoned, but also traditional values and a connection to the land.”188 Although representations of modern life, such as cars, trucks, roads, and buildings, are present, the stillness of the scene⎯ a scene completely void of movement and the omission of human figures⎯ marks the space as uninhabited and alarming. The prevailing dusty atmospheric depiction makes the viewers feel as if something is about to occur or that a disaster has already happened while simultaneously evoking a sense of loneliness and despondency.

Artists and critics have acutely addressed changes in the landscape throughout history. The landscape, as a subject matter, is depicted in many forms and for different

187 Robert Kluijver, “Desert of Pharan,” Ahmed Mater website, accessed April 20, 2015, http://ahmedmater.com/artwork/desert-of-pharan-1/literature/written-by-robert-kluijver. 188 Sackler Gallery of Art, Symbolic Cities. 80 contexts extending from naturalistic, romantic, or sublime depictions.189 Art critic

Catherine Zuromskis states that these depictions and what we make out of them ideologically are not limited to the artist’s taste but also are “vital tools in the construction of social and national identities and, indeed, a culture’s perceptions of the world.”190 In Petroaesthetics and Landscape Photography, Zuromskis explains that the shift in art depictions from “the wilderness” to the landscape of petromodernity is politically and environmentally motivated.191 More significantly, Zuromskis argues that, while conceptions of the landscape prior to petromodernity were sublime, art concerned with the issue of petromodernity presented a more conflicted aestheticization. Thus, the landscape of petromodernity revealed “both the physical and psychological terrains of petromodernity in Western culture.”192 This conflicted aestheticization is represented through anxiety toward the petroscape of the Arabian Gulf.

In Empty Land, Mater takes a unique perspective in capturing the effects of petromodernity on the landscape of the Arabian Gulf. In my 2016 interview with him, he spoke about borrowing the phrase ‘empty land’ from references in maps and popular literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to describe the American West.193

Specifically, ‘empty land’ is described as a destination to which to migrate in search of natural resources, but this migration often leads to “the destruction of indigenous

189 Catherine Zuromskis, “Petroaesthetics and Landscape Photography: New Topographies, Edward Burtynsky,” in Oil Culture, eds. Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014), 290- 291. 190 Ibid., 290. 191 Ibid. 192 Ibid. 193 Ahmed Mater, Interview by author, at Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2016. 81 communities and native environments.”194 Thus, in addition to describing the barren areas, Empty Land speaks to Western experiences and, subsequently, allows the work to delve into deeper and more global discourse. In doing so, Mater uses Empty Land to contribute to the current dialogue on globalizing the issues of energy, oil, and culture.

Perhaps Mater teases the viewer because of the impression the name Empty Land generates; he by presents a land that is not empty but, instead, consists of many entities such as cars, roads, parking lots, construction sites, and buildings. Thus, by viewing

Empty Land as an allegory, one can see that it refers to the journey and migration the indigenous population undertook in their pursuit to survive. In modern Saudi Arabia, for instance, people migrated to either big cities or oil towns looking for better life. With that, they embraced new living styles and, consequently, new cultures and social relations had emerged.

194 Sackler Gallery of Art, Symbolic Cities. 82

Figure 2.0:2 Ahmed Mater, Empty Land, 2013

83

The allegory of Empty Land implies moving from one place to another looking for better opportunities. Mater’s depiction of the landscape in Empty Land is reminiscent of the motif of standing upon the ruined abode motif in classic Arabic poetry, in which an

Arabic poet opens her/his ode by awakening past experiences.195 The celebrated Arab poet Al-Sharif Al-Radi says:

َو َل َق ْد ًَم َر ْر ُت ًَعلى ًِديَ ِار ِه ُم ً ً ً ً ً ً ً ً ًوطلولهاًبيد ًالبلىًنهب ً فوقفتًحتىًض جًم نً لغبًًًًًًًنضو يًولجًبعذليًالركب ً َوتَ َل ّفتَ ْت ًَع َيني،ًف ُم ْذ ًخَفِيَ ْت ً ً ً ً ً ً ًعنها ًالطلولًتلفت ًالقلب ً I did once pass by their abodes, Their ruins a prey in decay’s grip.

And I halted till my jaded mount reared restively .Andً the company beset me with blame

My eyes then turned away. The ruins were no more⎯ and then My heart looked back. . . 196

This moving nature of the Arab nomads was due to the harsh circumstances of the life in the Arabian Gulf that required them to move from place to place looking for water and food supplies. Therefore, Mater’s nostalgic depiction of the landscape is parallel to the way classic Arabic poetry begins with a longing for desolate lands and the remnants of living. Through this motif, the new media art recollects tradition in the Arabian memory with modern petroscape remnants.

195 Huda J. Fakhreddine, Metapoesis in the Arabic Tradition: From Modernists to Muhdathun, (Boston, MA: Brill Academic, 2015), 11. 196 Jaroslav Stetkevych, The Zephyrs of : The Poetics of Nostalgia In the Classic Arabic Nasib, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1993). 84

Anxiety at the Holy City of Makkah’s Transformed Landscape

The city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia is home to ’s holiest site, the Grand

Holy Mosque, which includes the Ka’aba, and is one area that was recently and drastically affected by urbanization.197 Makkah (or Mecca) has had numerous renovation projects throughout history that have altered its landscape to accommodate its ever- growing visitors each year. Recently, Makkah has been home to the largest modernization project undertaken by Saudi Arabia.198 The renovation project includes expanding the grand mosque and the surrounding area and requires demolishing the historical districts in and around this specific site. Although expansion is much needed due to the increasing numbers of visitors annually and especially during the season of

(pilgrimage), the issue of Makkah’s transformation has become a subject for debate between intellectuals and regional artists who often express their anxiety toward this project. The following artworks all deal with the renovation with the Holy Mosque of

Makkah: Mater’s latest photographic series titled Desert of Pharan (2012-2017), Ahmed

Angawi’s in his photographic installation Wijha (2013), and Sara Al-Abdalli’s in her

Mecca Street Sign (2012) all tackle the debate surrounding Makkah and renovation.

197 “Makkah” is the official spelling in Saudi Arabia. Alternative spelling is Mecca. 198 Al Arabiya, “Tracing the History of the Grand Mosque’s Expansion” English.AL-Arabiya.net. October, 2013. Accessed Feb 6, 2018. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/special-reports/hajj-2013/2013/10/03/History- of-the-developments-of-the-grand-mosque-.html. Further resource at: https://www.thenational.ae/business/property/king-salman-launches-five-projects-at-grand-mosque-in- mecca-1.612283. 85

Figure 2.0:3 A view of Makkah's topography (2015) where the grand mosque (with the white colored ground) is seen in the middle of the photograph and surrounded by domineering hotels and skyscrapers, including the famous Clock hotel.

86

Figure 2.0:4 Makkah in 1887.199

Desert of Pharan is a photographic series that includes hundreds of photographs that is published in a book by Lars Müller Publishers (Figure 2.5 and 2.6 Are two examples).200 Mater has exhibited individual prints from the series in various exhibitions including his first solo exhibition in the U.S. at The Smithsonian Institution in

Washington D.C., the Arthur Sackler Gallery in 2016, and just recently in the Brooklyn

199 Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/09/mecca-then-and-now-128-years-of- growth/408013/. 200 Ahmed Mater, Desert of Pharan: Unofficial Histories Behind the Mass expansion of Mecca. Published by Lars Müller Publishers, 2016 87

Museum in New York in 2017.201 He worked almost five years to its completion in 2017.

The term ‘Desert of Faran’ or ‘Desert of Pharan’ is used to refer to the city of Makkah and the wilderness surrounding it.202 The name ‘Pharan’ is the ancient name used in the

Old Testament for the area of Makkah.203 The Desert of Pharan as an idea, then, refers to the significance of ancient Makkah and its historical connotations as a city attached to religion. For example, see this photograph from 1887 (figure 2.4).

According to Mater, when he visited Makkah in 2010, “something felt off” as

“dozens of cranes were eating away at the mosque to make way for a larger complex surrounding the ” (figure 2.5).204 While the significance of Makkah “can be traced back to the time of Abraham”205 it becomes a commentary on the creation of a multibillion dollar space that consists of the luxury hotels, restaurants, and malls needed to cater to the needs of the increasing number of visitors to Makkah every year, all at the expense of the erosion of its historical space.206As such, the transformation of Makkah’s landscape can be understood as symbolic of for the tensions surrounding privatizing public spaces in Saudi Arabia.207 For instance, compare the photographs in 1887 in figure

201 https://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Symbolic-Cities-The-Work-of-Ahmed-Mater-6047; see also: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ahmed_mater. 202 “Desert of Pharan,” Ahmed Mater website,” accessed Feb 6, 2018. https://www.ahmedmater.com/desert-of-pharan. 203 Ahmed Mater, “Desert of Pharan: Statement by the Artist about his Project,” Nafas Art Magazine, April 2013, https://universes.art/nafas/articles/2013/ahmed-mater/. 204 Aya Batrawy, “Saudi Arabia’s Artists Discuss Muddying the Red Lines,” Accessed September 10, 2015. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2014/Apr-07/252492-saudi-arabias-artists-discuss-muddying-the- red-lines.ashx. Al-Kaaba also referred to as Ka’aba is the cube black building inside the grand mosque of Makka. 205 Kluijver, Desert of Pharan. 206 “Desert of Pharan/Room with a View,” Sharjah Art Foundation, accessed April 25, 2015, http://www.sharjahart.org/projects/projects-by-date/2013/desert-of-pharanroom-with-a-view. 207 Ahmed Mater, “Desert of Pharan: Statement by the Artist about his Project,” Nafas Art Magazine. 88

2.4 to the spatially diminished space today, dominated by hotels (Figure 2.3). According to Mater:

Like few other 21st century cities, [Makkah] is rooted in a complex and highly emotive context in terms of its historical, geopolitical, and religious symbolism. It is both one of the most visited places on Earth and one of the most exclusive and, yet, it is in flux; it moves, grows, and invents itself again.208

Referring to the work by its ancient name, Mater draws on the significance of the place and its extended history as well as signifies its landscape transformation.

In the entire Desert of Pharan series, Mater documents three stages of the

Makkah project: the disappearance of the old city surrounding the holy mosque, the expansion process, and the completion of the new renovated holy mosque and its surrounding which occurred in the same years as Mater’s project from 2012-2017.

However, my discussion of the Desert of Pharan is limited to two photographs from the series. One is the expansion process in the construction site depicted in Golden Hour

(2012) (figure 2.5). The second photograph is the renovated mosque captured in After

Iftar in the Fairmont Hotel (2013) (figure 2.6). These two photographs from the Desert of

Pharan series are particularly important to highlight as they exemplify the sweep of urbanism that is overwriting historical districts in Makkah and capture the dueling tensions between the spiritual and material worlds of Makkah. They (Golden Hour and

After Iftar in the Fairmont Hotel) both represent bold statements and a rigid contemplation of petroculture though they focus on different arenas of petroculture’s influence: the landscape expansion in the Golden Hour (figure 2.5), and materialism with

208 Kluijver, Desert of Pharan. 89 the obscene seclusion of the spiritual site in After Iftar in the Fairmont Hotel (figure 2.6) despite the adjacent location between the mosque and the hotel room.

In Golden Hour (figure 2.5), Al-Kaaba is a bright focal point in the photograph.

Yet, surrounding the mosque is an army of mobilized cranes, which portray an act of besieging the holy site. In addition, Makkah’s famous rugged mountains are fading in the horizon behind the holy site where they meet the bright orange shade of the sun. The luxurious clock towers stand tall behind the mosque which represent the threat of greed and temptation looming over the holy mosque.

The clock, though, labeled “Golden” in the piece’s title, looks green, which makes ones wonder why Mater choses to name this work ‘golden’ instead of ‘green.’ It could be that gold is used here as a symbol of capitalism. Gold, as a commodity, lasts and underlines the status of the economy in the country. The representation of the Golden

Hour signals how the influences of materialism are drifting and stretching through space and landscape, even in one of the most sacred places on Earth. Thus, Golden Hour concerns the sweeping modern urbanism in the landscape of this holy site. 90

Figure 2.0:5 Ahmed Mater, Golden Hour, 2012

After Iftar in the Fairmont Hotel (figure 2.6) specifically brings the tension of spirituality and materiality created by petromodernity to the forefront because the piece shows the separation between the site of worship and the worshiper. Individuals can stay inside the hotel to pray rather than go outside. They can see the mosque without having to experience the high temperatures, noise, and humidity that exist in the open space of the mosque. The hotel rooms provide luxurious views of the mosque and sounds of the prayers (via microphones connected to the rooms upon request) so that one can follow the 91 prayers and pray within the convenience of the hotel. (Figure 2.6) features a typical five- star hotel room with the view of Al-Kaabah from the room window, a smart TV screen, beautiful interiors, an armchair with a side table, and a beautiful fruit basket. The fruit basket here conveys a level of luxury. Specifically, Mater uses it metaphorically as pandering to physical pleasures rather than spiritual ones⎯ an interpretation of fruit that was often found in Western during the Renaissance. In this way, Mater again highlights how Western culture, artifacts, and materialist values are infiltrating and conflicting with the spiritual site upon which the city was founded.

Figure 2.0:6 Ahmed Mater, After Iftar in the Fairmont Hotel, 2013

92

Images of the holy mosque had not previously been taken in such way that the attention was not on the mosque and, instead, on the construction work around it, as did

Mater. For example, artist Ahmed Angawi compared two photographic shots of the holy mosque⎯ one after the latest renovation and one prior to any renovations. The two-photo installation titled Wijha (2013) (figure 2:7) suggests the changes and transformations that this holy site has gone through. In contrast, Mater’s work does not only suggest changes occurring at the mosque. Instead, Mater places the focus on the process and the transformation of the landscape and its inhabitants and, thereby, depicts the changes to the mosque as a byproduct of petromodernity in the landscape.

Figure 2.0:7 Ahmed Angawi, Wijha, 2013. Two views from different angles of Wijha.

Mater’s work can be contrasted with other Saudi Arabian artists, including Sara

Al-Abdalli, who have documented the changes in Makkah due to its most recent renovation project. As a resident of Makkah herself and a descendent of Prophet 93

Mohamed, Al-Abdalli expresses her anxiety surrounding Makkah’s renovation but does so through within a different creative outlet: the street. Her Mecca Street Sign (2012), consists of one stencil repeatedly printed on black walls in urban spaces, primarily in the

Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah (figure 2.8).209 The project combines graffiti and stenciling.210 The artwork consists of a stenciled image of a street sign pointing to Mecca, with the silhouette of high rise buildings overshadowing the Ka’aba.211 Al-Abdalli is interested in the changes in Makkah and wants to bring the issue to the forefront of discussion. These signs were stenciled mostly in Jeddah, a neighboring city, and especially in the historical districts of Jeddah. By using street art, Al-Abdalli engages the public to address this event critically. Mecca Street Sign has sparked many reactions for its closeness to the public being visible in Jeddah’s old town and in many crowded streets. For that, Mecca Street Sign has served as a platform for discussing the cultural aspect of this expansion.

Figure 2.0:8 Sara Al-Abdalli, Mecca Street Sign, 2012.

209 The artist used an alternative spelling for Makkah. 210 Contemporary Kingdom, 31 211 Ibid, 33 94

Many artists’ works have expressed their anxieties over these renovations as grounded in the basis of religious and cultural considerations. Mater’s work, in contrast, is different, in that it steers the viewer’s focus away from the mosque and onto the landscape, Mater’s work suggests a broad dialogue on the impact of petroculture, urbanism, and materiality that affects this site and its inhabitants.

Utopia and Dystopia in the Urban Landscape of Sami Al-Turki’s Photograph

Saudi Arabian artist Sami Al-Turki (b. 1984) undertakes the subject of urban transformations of landscapes in the Arabian Gulf via apocalyptic depictions.

Construction and urban development are evident in Al-Turki’s art practice through imaginative and alienated pessimistic renditions in his artworks. Critic Christopher Lord describes him as being an artist who is “framed by the constant hammer-on-steel construction taking place across the Gulf States” where he was raised.212 Al-Turki was born and raised in Jeddah and obtained his BA in photography from The American

University in Dubai, UAE. He completed a residency program from the Art OMI

International Residency program in New York, USA in 2013.213 The notions of progress and urban development are evoked in his art, but, they quickly devolve into a critique of urbanism. Thus, the historical account of progress and urbanism in the Arabian Gulf, generated by petromodernity, is at the core of his practice.

212 Christopher Lord, “Sami Al- Turki,” in Edge of Arabia. (London: Booth-Clibborn Edition, 2012), p. 239. 213 “Biography,” Sami Al-Turki, Athr Gallery, accessed Feb 7, 2018, https://www.athrart.com/artist/Sami_Al%20Turki/biography/. 95

Figure 2.9 Sami Al-Turki, The Constructakons series, 2010.

Figure 2.10 Sami Al-Turki, The Constructakons series, 2010.

96

Figure 2.11 Sami Al-Turki, The Constructakons series, 2010.

In this section, I discuss several of Al-Turki’s artworks in relation to the ideas of progress and dystopia regarding the sweep of petroculture landscapes in the Arabian

Gulf. First, an examination of the Constructakons series (2010) (figures 2.9, 2.10, 2.11) underlines the promise of progress and utopia reflected in the artist’s sense of place.

Second, I study Washaeg (2010) (figure 2.12), which is a representation of dystopia that envisions life in the region after the depletion of oil as well as the devastating state that the region’s landscape will be in after this depletion. Finally, I examine Barzakh (2013)

(figure 2.13), which is a depiction of the future through the artist's own social struggles to secure a home despite the expansion of urbanism in the region. Criticism of petroscape and urbanism are the binding threads between these artworks and the focus of this 97 analysis.

Constructakons and the Promise of Progress and Utopia:

Modern landscapes in the Arabian Gulf and certainly in many places around the world have been “marked by the industry and culture of petroleum.”214 Historian Neilda

Fuccaro states that urbanism and oil exploitation constitute a setting in which oil modernity can be researched and explained.215 She argues that it is important to reveal the oil connection to the city “to understand how people, institutions, and states [have] learned to live with this substance and commodity that has so profoundly influenced their histories.”216 In this regard, Al-Turki’s photographic series titled Constructakons (figures

2.9, 2.10, 2.11) exemplifies the sweep of urbanism and petroscape and exposes the promise of petr-outopian landscape in the Arabian Gulf.

The Constructakons series consists of images of a construction site in Dubai, shot at night in what it seems to be a “nighttime safari.”217 Shooting at night was probably an attempt to solely focus on these machines and preclude any other details coming from around the site. The series includes photos of giant machines such as diggers, cranes, and hoists, dubbed by him as Constructakons. Although representations of construction work and equipment in landscapes may allude to ideas of development and progress, Al-

Turki’s way of photographing these giant machines evokes a sense of destruction and

214 Zuromskis, 290 215 Fuccaro, “Introduction,” 1. 216 Nelida Fuccaro, “Shaping the Urban Life of Oil in Bahrain: Consumerism, Leisure, and Public Communication in Manama and in the Oil Camps, 1932-1960s,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33(1)(2013): 59. 217 Ibid. 98 voracity, a representation that could otherwise be generally associated with notions of progress, evolution, and development. He describes these oil fueled machines as being our upcoming giant remnants, and questions, “What do we want to have already accomplished when these fossils [machines] are found in the future?”218

The photographs are taken at a 90-degree angle so that they define sharp angles in the heavy machinery.219 Although the images show an urban landscape which is comprised of streets, buildings, city lights, street signs, and concrete barriers, the focus of the series is on the machinery, with Al-Turki highlighting their bold, bright yellow shades and massive muscular representations. In addition, they provoke a sense of a confrontation between these giant entities and the landscape, especially in Figures 2.9 and

2.10, in which their massive sizes and bright colors dominate the landscape. In Figure

2.11, the construction machines are lined up, leaving behind the city lights and tall buildings as they travel into an anonymous site. These machines engage in a mission to transform the anonymous site (and presumably untamed land) into a landscape similar to the petroscape they have just left behind. On the left side of the photo in Figure 2.11, we see expatriates’ compounds similar to those found throughout the Arabian Gulf.

Constructakons demonstrates that the physical reality of the city has grown beyond the artist’s reach; this reality has developed in the artist a feeling of alienation toward urban landscapes.220 Moreover, they exemplify the artist’s agitation toward the creation of a petroscape and the uncertainty of what this petroscape entails. In

218 Ibid. 219 Ibid. 220 Ibid, 240 and 241. 99

Constructakons, a sense of fear and societal annihilation underpins the representation of the landscape in the Arabian Gulf. Al-Turki’s photographic use of the landscape challenges the promise of urbanism in regard to overcoming ecological challenges and the creation of the perfect living condition, a view often touted by oil executives of the region. In Constructakons, Al-Turki provides a counterargument to the region’s stance that oil only aids in the development and promise of petrocultures and petromodernity.

Futuristic Uncertainty in Barzakh

The uncertainty of the region’s future related to oil is a continuing concern for Al-

Turki. This state of uncertainty is reflected in Al-Turki’s Barzakh (figure 2.12), which in

Arabic means “a place in between.” In this work, the artist draws on his own urban experiences as he tries to find his home in his birthplace of Jeddah.221 The series represents his frustrations over the struggle to find land on which he can build his home.

He spoke openly in an interview with Mohammed Hafez, curator and Athr gallery owner in Jeddah, about the rising prices of housing and land in Saudi Arabia and his inability to secure land for himself. The greed that drives these rising prices is due to the fact that land is considered a commodity in Saudi Arabia. People buy land in order to sell it for a significant profit, a practice that has led to inflated land prices.

In Barzakh, Al-Turki depicts a series of buildings, some under construction, while others are completed. These constructions are floating in the open sky with clouds scattered here and there within the image. Symmetry is also present in the construction of

221 “Kingdom’s Athr Gallery Shines at Art Dubai,” Arab News Website, accessed April 20, 2015, http://www.arabnews.com/news/446056. 100 the images. When asked, Al-Turki stated that he was raised in a household where their aesthetic selections much valued symmetry,222 which could serves as a nostalgic gesture to his childhood home. The series appears to be divided into two groups: one with an imaginative, dreamy, fantastic sky in the background and another with a solid black or white background. Although the landscape is not part of the images, it is indicated by the floating construction buildings. The series generates a surreal atmosphere and not a promising one.

According to Al-Turki, he utilized the images of the sky without realizing why until, later, his fellow artists asked him about his choice of using the sky as the backdrop of his floating structures. At that time, he recalled a significant memory that involved his late grandmother. Her last words were, “The sky is upon us.” This memory stayed with him, unconsciously, long after her death. Al-Turki decided to complete the series without the backdrop sky, in order to leave it to the viewers to envision their own connection with the buildings. Al-Turki’s struggle to find a home has led him to question the landscape and environmental changes in the region, which eventually raise questions related to the role of oil in shaping a culture and an environment in which some feel alienated.

222 Mohammed Hafiz, “A conversation with Sami Al-Turki; From There To Here, and Inevitably into Eternity, Sami Al-Turki solo show,” (Jeddah, SA: Athr Gallery Press, 2013), 4. 101

Figure 2.12 Sami Al-Turki, from Barzakh

Gender, Memory, and Storytelling in Manal Al-Dowayan’s Work

I Am a Petroleum Engineer (2005) (figure 2.13), part of the I am series, and

Landscape of the Mind series (figure 2.14, 2.15, 2.16) by Saudi artist Manal Al-Dowayan

(b. 1973), are important artworks that emphasize the intersections among oil, identity, and memory in relation to the landscape. In addition, these works demonstrate the high cost of petroculture on women and their role in society. Although the I Am series and the

Landscape of the Mind series are Al-Dowayan’s early artworks, and perhaps her very first artistic creation, it is important to include them in this research as they mark the first account of petroculture in contemporary art from Saudi Arabia, and perhaps in the region. 102

Ten years after creating the I Am series and Landscape of the Mind, Al-Dowayan revisited the subject of oil in her piece If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me (2015) (figures

2.17, 2.18, 2.19), in which she narrates a history of working in an oil company through stories collected from her late father and his coworkers. Al-Dowayan was raised in the

Aramco compound in Dhahran, the oil company in eastern Saudi Arabia.223 She grew up in an area and time that was politically and socially charged with issues revolving around oil, notably the boycott of oil sales to the United States in 1973, the year she was born.

Being raised in Aramco has served as a foundation for her artistic practice, especially regarding how the creation of petroculture has impacted women’s representation and how women were alienated them from their native landscape. In addition, If I Forget You,

Don’t Forget Me, uses parts that constitute a landscape to describe the formation of a petroscape in the region. These three works provide a unique perspective of how petroculture has shaped and changed the landscape and changed the social lives of Saudi

Arabians men and women.

The creation of a New Social Order in I Am and Landscape of the Mind

Al-Dowayan recognizes how petromodernity had caused changes in social relations among the communities of the Arabian Gulf. She explains how the status of women in society deteriorated after the discovery of oil and the subsequent development of the country. In a statement published on her website, she explains how the social structure before oil allowed men and women to be financially independent and explains

223 “Biography,” Manal Al-Dowyan, accessed September 12, 2017. http://www.manaldowayan.com/manal- aldowayan.html. 103 that men and women were equal earners and contributors in their communities.224 She argues that, with the transition to modernity and with the urbanization of the communities starting with the advent of the oil economy in Saudi Arabia during the 1940s and 1950s, craft-making had vanished. In addition, women have not been trained alongside men to be part of the oil economy. As a result, women are no longer financially independent. Al-

Dowayan states:

I have questioned the state of disappearance and active erasing of communities in a historical and current context, which led me to its counterbalance - visibility, in all its variations. I Am explores a gendered history that does not (yet) physically exist because it was discontinued, fractured, or forgotten. . .The fast pace of change brought on by oil-fueled modernity has, in one generation, made these jobs [craft making and textiles] obsolete for women. have been urbanized and the Nagsh [a type of decorative drawing] has all, but stopped with the death of the last generation of great artisans who led large groups of women painters. Although their communities [Saudi culture] in the past allowed women and men to be equal earners and financial contributors, today it is the women who live in poverty or have become totally dependent on the earnings of the male members of their families.225

It is worth noting here that gender inequality in the oil industry workforce is not strange outside of the Arabian Gulf. For example, Sheena Wilson in "Gendering Oil: Tracing

Western Petrosexual Relations," explains how sexism and alleged misogyny existed during the first half of the twentieth century not only in the Canadian oil industry but also in the global West.226 As such, Wilson argues that it is important to evaluate current discourse and histories as we move to find another energy resource and that it is

224 “I Am,” Manal Al-Dowayan, accessed September 12, 2017, http://www.manaldowayan.com/i-am.html. 225 Ibid. 226 Sheena Wilson, "Gendering Oil: Tracing Western Petrosexual Relations." In Oil Culture, edited by Barrett Ross and Worden Daniel, by Stoekl Allan, 244-64. (University of Minnesota Press, 2014) p. 252- 254. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/stable/10.5749/j.ctt1287nvk.18. 104 important not to perpetuate “the capitalist status quo and . . . [its] power dynamics of gender, race, ethnicity, and class.”227

Oil Towns and The Neocolonial Practice

Al-Dowayan was not the only regional artist who had concerns about the consequences of petromodernity on segregation within society. While Al-Dowayan focused mainly on the way petromodernity widened the gender gap, historian Reem

Alissa focused on the social hierarchy of towns as a whole. Specifically, Alissa argued that oil towns were built in a neocolonial fashion in that the social hierarchy of oil towns generated a hierarchical structure. Further, she stated that this hierarchical structure is especially apparent in employment related to urban development,228 and is manifested by the “division in labor based on professional grade, ethnicity, and housing.”229

One prime example of this hierarchical structure and neocolonial practice is the

Ahmadi oil town in Kuwait. The “urban plan” that Alissa references was a plan designed by British architect James Mollison Wilson (1887-1965) and commissioned by KOC (the oil company in Kuwait). The colonial, urban development in this oil town is manifested in a socio-spatial segregation through the hierarchical share of houses and lot sizes.230

Ahmadi was divided into three sections: north, middle, and south. The north section of

Ahmadi was preserved for the American and British workers, whereas the middle was for the Indians and Pakistanis. The south section of the oil town was called the Arab village

227 Ibid., 258. 228 Reem Alisaa, “The Oil Town of Ahmadi Since 1946: From Colonial Town to Nostalgic City,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East 33(1)(2013): 54. 229 Ibid., 43. 230 Ibid., 46. 105 and was referred to as a “slum area” or “primitive area.”231 Alissa states that “this combination of socio-spatial segregation and capitalist motivations was a staple of urban development in other oil camps and towns, such as those in Venezuela, Iran, Bahrain, and

Saudi Arabia.”232 Housing also followed this hierarchical structure by providing privileges based on ethnicity such as air conditioning, swimming pools, and sport yards.

This social hierarchy was also seen within employment settings. Senior staffers were made up of Americans and British employees, junior staffers were Indians and Pakistanis, and at the bottom of the employment ladder were the Arabs. “This structural hierarchy would soon become the driving force behind Ahmadi’s architectural design and urban plan.”233 Alissa argued that Wilson based his design for the oil town on previous projects that followed a colonial practice.234

Al-Dowayan in her evaluation of the history of transitioning to an oil economy and in her attempt to situate women within the social narrative of this transition, has invited female workers from different fields, such as teachers, doctors, social workers, and petroleum engineers, to participate in a discussion on women’s issues as well as to discuss women’s representation in the public eye. She, then, asked those participants to join her in creating visual responses to this issue, which resulted in her series I Am. In each photograph, she inserted a traditional piece of jewelry that could be read as a social and cultural reference. One of the photographs in this series, entitled I Am a Petroleum

231 Ibid., 49. 232 Ibid., 48. 233 Ibid., 43. 234 Ibid., 43-45. 106

Engineer (figure 2.13), contrasts two eras in the region: the traditional pre-oil discovery with that of the petroculture after discovery of oil. The traditional pre-oil discovery era is indicated by the veil that the engineer is wearing. This veil is significant because it is in the style that women wore in the Hijaz province (the western side) of the Arabian Gulf in the past. Prior to the discovery of oil, the Hijaz province was a region in which intellectuals, businessmen, and religious figures congregated throughout the year, partly due to the yearly Islamic pilgrimage to the holy sites.

Figure 2.13 Manal Al-Dowayan, I Am A Petroleum Engineer, Part of I Am Series,

2005. 107

These interactions within the Hijaz province gave the region its intellectual and financial prominence. The Hijazi traditional veil, then, displays a high status and reflects a state of eminence linked to the Hijazi region. The Hijazi veil that Al-Dowayan uses in I

Am a Petroleum Engineer is made of silver coins, a currency known as Dirham, along with other valuable materials, such as silk, pearls, and beads. These materials were used to indicate the financial independence of women in that particular era. Alongside the notion of the financial independence, Al-Dowayan shows that the women in this era were empowered.

In this photograph, the engineer can also be seen wearing a construction hat. This hat represents the oil economy in the new hotspot on the eastern side of the Arabian Gulf after the discovery of oil. In addition to the construction hat, she can be seen wearing an uniform that has a label that reads in English ‘safety first.’ This juxtaposition of potentially clashing social identities collapses historical spaces and underlines the change in women’s financial independence between the two eras. The anxiety represented here is due to the unsettled, conflicted, and disputed appearance of the woman. By connecting these two eras, Al-Dowayan reclaims women’s autonomy in regard to equal opportunities in the workforce. Invoking this subject, she engages with a counternarrative of the history of the oil economy, development, and urbanization in the region.

Female autonomy and the representation of women in the workforce is a concern continued in Al-Dowayan’s next project, Landscape of the Mind (2009) (figure 2.14,

2.15, 2.16). The landscape in this series stigmatizes petromodernity by populating the land with heavy materialistic equipment. This harsh representation of the landscape of 108 petromodernity is joined by strange elements inserted into the photographs, such as abstract birds in Figures 2.14 and 2.15, disguised flat female figures in Figure 2.16, hoisted palm trees in Figure 2.14, and female hands decorated with Henna and emanating from within the oil barrel in Figure 2.15. The surrealist scene, which includes imagery of concrete, satellite dishes, oil fields, birds, the desert, and disguised female figures, is a representation of the tension between petromodernity in the region and the deteriorating status of women in society.235 Al-Dowayan, thus, depicted in I Am and Landscape of the

Mind a sense of loss alongside a reassurance that women also belong and must be equal contributors to the economy.

The elements presented in these photos were specifically chosen to convey certain changes that Al-Dowayan has experienced in Saudi Arabia. She depicted a landscape that consists of electric wires and security concrete, as well doves she has added to the security fences. The birds could be understood as a metaphor for the mediation between the materiality of the scene and the static depictions of the human figures.236 The doves’ roles as mediators are manifested in the suggestion of the movement and motion that they appear to imply. The wire fence is reminiscent of the type of fencing used to surround oil fields and protect American residency camps inside cities.

235 Rose Issa, “Manal Al-Dowayan,” in Edge Of Arabia (London: Booth-Clibborn Edition, 2012), p. 96. 236 Manal Al-Dowayan, “Nuqat 2013-Day 3-9/11/2013-Lecture 2 -Manal Al Dowayan,” YouTube video, accessed April 20, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkOruCL3dY. 109

Figure 0.15 Manal Al- Figure 2.14 Manal Al-Dowayan,

Dowayan, Landscape of the Landscape of the Mind 2005. Mind 2005.

In Landscape of the Mind, the female body is strongly present and awkwardly inserted in many ways varying from actual representations to suggestions by different elements and natural forms. In Figure 2.15, for example, the female body is represented by the oversized Henna hands coming out of the oil barrels. The hands are extending and pointing to the sky in an attempt to ascend above the oil barrel. In Figure 2.14, the female body is suggested by the palm trees as they imply fertility and maternity. These palm trees are incorporated behind the oil barrels and one is upside down. In Figure 2.16, the female body is veiled in a black Abaya, secluded and located outside the oil field. The references to the female body being either secluded or peculiarly inserted or hinted at were done in order to demonstrate the tension surrounding women’s rights in the 110 workplace, especially with the advent of petromodernity and the creation of petroculture in this region.

Figure 2.16 Manal Al-Dowayan, Landscape of the Mind 2005.

If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me: An Ethnographic Exploration

Al-Dowayan started her art practice by questioning how petromodernity shaped the landscape and affected social relations in the region. In both I Am and Landscape of the Mind, she challenged what she calls “the identity of the landscape” and what it means in terms of empowering women and engaging them in the process of this transformation to petroculture. However, after the death of her father, Al-Dowayan felt the urge to fully understand the early history of oil discovery from the people who lived that history. 111

Realizing how little she knew about the nature of her father’s work as well as his friends and life revolving around oil, Al-Dowayan recognized a need to carry out an ethnographic investigation of first-generation Saudi Arabian oilmen.

Figure 2.17 Manal Al-Dowayan, from If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me, 2015.

Figure 2.18 Manal Al-Dowayan, from If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me, 2015.

112

Figure 2.19 Manal Al-Dowayan, from If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me, 2015.

In order to carry out this ethnographic representation, Al-Dowayan took an intimate look at the petroscape through the lens of her deceased father. In doing so, Al-

Dowayan investigated a history rarely exposed or written about. Indeed, working at an oil company that shifted the region and the world into this modernized phase we live in is a unique experience of which many would not know otherwise. Further, by translating the history of these men and women into stories, Al-Dowayan provides a unique history that will help better understand the sociopolitical aspect of the cultural transformation into that of petroculture. Al- Dowayan states:

I belong to a community of oil families that were spontaneously put together, they all took a collective life journey, and came back to create a culture of their own. This generation can never be replicated again and, for me, it creates an impossible past to relate to … but I want to relate. By reconstructing the memory of my late father’s generation of men and women, I wanted to create my own stories and personal narratives from the collective memories of these men and women … I want to own my past. In times of uncertainty, it becomes hard to predict the future. By creating an emotional bond to the past, I can place myself in the present and gain an understanding of the historical story I belong to … I want to own my future. How do you photograph a memory that is forever changing? How do you capture a moment that existed 50 years ago in Saudi Arabia? I document the journey of 113

the oil men and women, one generation before me, who came from different facets of life and met each other at a single point where they took off to the future together.237

The If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me (2015) (figure 2.17, 2.18, 2.19) installation contains a five watt luminous bulb and a black wire in the shape of a sentence (figure

2.17), that reads in Arabic, ‘If I forget you, don’t forget me.’ In addition, the artwork contains actual samples of oil (figure 2.18 and 2.19), written diaries, photographs, and video interviews with her father’s co-workers at the Aramco oil company. If I Forget

You, Don’t Forget Me expresses grief and nostalgia and creates a sensory experience by looking at real objects collected from those workers, evoking emotions associated with each item. In addition, the works use actual oil samples that the artist collected from her father’s own belongings. These oil samples have embedded meanings as they are a reminder to consider aspects of oil and labor in order to create a collective memory. She dedicated the work to her father, whom she knew little of growing up and only briefly began to know after his death.

Conclusion

The urban landscape as a byproduct of petroculture appears strongly in the contemporary art of Ahmed Mater, Sami Al-Turki, and Manal Al-Dowayan. These artists articulate their own distinct, yet similar, narratives of the social and landscape brought about by petroculture. The social narratives derived from the aesthetic choices made by the artists considered in this chapter provide insights into the ways in which these social

237 Manal Al-Dowayan, “If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me,” Aramco World: Arab And Islamic Cultures And Connections, May/June 2015, accessed September 10, 2015, http://www.aramcoworld.com/issue/201503/if.i.forget.you.don.t.forget.me.htm. 114 and urban impacts of petromodernity are expressed in petroscapes. The artworks discussed here suggests an awareness on the part of these artists of importance of narrating the history of oil in the region. One can hope that these narratives will start a conversation and contribute to thinking about the future of energy.

Many of the artworks presented in this chapter portrayed conflicting utopian and dystopian ideas brought about by the oil industry and portrayed future concerns and anxiety about political power, social inequality, and the damaged environment. These artworks convey utopian ambitions and the dystopian anxieties and shed light on the history of oil in the Arabian Gulf. This perspective of history challenges previous historical narratives of this culture in that it focuses on the many negative impacts of the oil boom. Further, the sensorial affects in the works considered in this chapter are demonstrated through notions of ambition and anxiety, which are parallel to the metaphors of utopia and the apocalypse used in the current social discourses of oil and petroleum infrastructures.238

238 Stephanie LeMenager, “The Aesthetics of Petroleum, after Oil!” American Literary History 24(1)(2012): 59-86, p. 64. 115

Chapter Three: Petrocultural Consumerism through Arts in the Arabian Peninsula:

Goods, Plastic, and Petroleum Waste

Introduction

I have explained in the Introduction of this dissertation, borrowing from the work of Stephanie LeMenager, that petroculture is saturated in oil—that clothes, books, medicine, food packaging, beauty products, and modern transportation are all examples of how modern life has become inseparable from oil.239 The global economy depends on international trade, which relies completely on fossil fuels to transport materials and commodities as well as to operate machinery.240 However, this global trade system has created mass markets in which commodities are not only available but also affordable. As

John Urry states, “high carbon systems have come to ensure such plentiful and increasing choices.”241 This complex system with other interdependent components “remake[s] consumption.”242 Urry notes that “most industrial, agricultural, commercial, domestic, and consumer systems are built around the plentiful supply of ‘black gold’ (and gas).”243

Thomas Homer-Dixon also explains that “oil powers virtually all movement of people, materials, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods–inside our countries and around the world”244 simply because “almost all the goods we purchase are no longer locally made, this means that they are all dependent on oil due to the fact that they have to be driven,

239 LeMenager, Living Oil, 11. 240 Samuel Alexander, “Peak Oil, Energy Descent, and the Fate of Consumerism,” Simplicity Institute Report, January 15, 2012, accessed September 20, 2017, SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1985677 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1985677. 241 John Urry, “Consuming the Planet to Excess,” in Theory, Culture & Society 27(2-3), 204. 242 Ibid., 199. 243 Ibid., 195. 244 Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Upside of Down, (London: Souvenir Press, 2006), 81. 116 shipped, and/or flown to our localities.”245 This way of transporting goods applies to almost “all commodities in the globalized market.”246 As such, the works of Urry and

Homer-Dixon specifically explain consumerism as part of petroculture by showing how consumerism is dependent upon oil and the global trade system.

Urry specifically considers Dubai, UAE, as a prime example of this dynamic. He describes the city as an “iconic place of excessive addictive choice”247 and states that “it has moved from being a major producer of oil to a major site of excess consumption, especially of the oil to get people there and to fuel the sites of consumption excess.”248

Dubai, as an example of these places of excess, is one of the “hyper-high-carbo societies of the twentieth century,” which are characterized by their gigantic skyscrapers and the extreme use of energy for transportation within and outside these places.249 Dubai is a key example of this transformation to petroculture that has happened in the Arabian Gulf.

In “Shaping the Urban Life of Oil in Bahrain: Consumerism, Leisure, and Public

Communication in Manama and in the Oil Camps,” critic Nelida Foccaro studies

Bahrain, the first in the Arabian Gulf to experience modernization through oil, as a case of how the oil industry in the Arabian Gulf region has shaped the cultural development of

Bahrainis.250 She argues that “accounts of oil life in Awali [the Bahrain Oil Town] are very similar to those of residents of other company towns across the Gulf, particularly

245 Alexander, 14. 246 Ibid., 13. 247 Urry, 204. 248 Ibid. 249 Ibid., 206. 250 Nelida Foccaro, “Shaping the Urban Life of Oil in Bahrain: Consumerism, Leisure, and Public Communication in Manama and in the Oil Camps, 1932-1960s.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33(1)(2013): 59-74, p. 59. 117

Dhahran in Saudi Arabia and Ahmadi in Kuwait.”251 In particular, Foccaro explains how

Bahraini businessmen considered neighboring countries, such as Saudi Arabia, to be perfect places for investment:

Manama's entrepreneurs continued to supply neighboring regions as they had done before the collapse of the pearl economy in the late 1920s. Yet they refashioned themselves as modern businessmen by acting as the exclusive agents of foreign firms and corporations eager to market consumer goods and modern services in the developing oil economies of the region, particularly in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.252

By focusing on consumerism, Foccaro highlights the new urban culture that emerged in the 1950s. This new culture was the result of the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 1932 and the subsequent transformation of the urban and cultural geography of Bahrain.253 Through the circulation of new media images and messages that publicized commodities, advertisements, and public relations by the oil company and the government, urban spaces and consumer culture were shaped and represented.254 Foccaro adds:

New patterns of leisure and consumption, and the images and actors that nurtured them, are viewed as an integral part of an inclusive urban public culture that was the unique creation of oil and embraced both indigenous and foreign residents.255

It is important to note here that the new consumer culture in the Arabian Gulf emerged simultaneously with similar urban developments in Europe and the US after World War

II, where they were inspired by the “American Fordist revolution” that would not have

251 Ibid., 68. 252 Ibid, 64. 253 Ibid, 60. 254 Ibid. 255 Ibid. 118 been possible without the oil supply.256 This particular history of the influence of the

American Industrial Revolution is reflected in some artworks examined later in this chapter, notably those works of Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky, in order to bring together the global discourses on issues related to consumerism and consumer waste as well as their effects on social relations and cultural values. In the Arabian Gulf, this consumer culture was developed “under the shadow of oil,” beginning in Bahrain and then spreading to the rest of the region.257 Foccaro’s analysis of the development of the consumerist culture in Bahrain illustrates this new social behaviors in the Arabian Gulf generally, which is essential in understanding and interpreting the selected artworks in this chapter.

In a time when the world is challenged to face “peak oil” (when oil production reaches its peak and the declining supply of oil production begins) and to ultimately face the need to find alternative energy resources, understanding the multi-faceted manifestations of petroculture as a consumerist culture is crucial. The line of questioning in this chapter is fundamental because it raises concerns related to the future and to whether this lifestyle can (or should) be sustained without oil and, more importantly, at what cost. Also, calls into question the basic for the formation of the nation state as oil was crucial to the establishment of these nation states. As such, this chapter studies manifestations of consumerism in selected artworks from the Arabian Gulf. The chapter discusses The Shopping Carts (2015) by Saudi Arabian artist Saddek Wasil; Everything

256 Ibid. 257 Ibid., 74. 119

Must Go (2017) by Qatari-American artist Sophia Al Maria; Neon Lands and Neon God

(2012) by Saudi Arabian artist Saed Salem; and OR-BIT (2016) by Kuwaiti artist Monira

Al Qadiri. The paper looks at these artworks as expressions of consumerism in the

Arabian Gulf petroculture by answering the following questions: How do the artists depict consumerism in their artworks? How does this depiction change the way we understand petroculture in the Arabian Gulf?

Colliding Carts and Shopping Malls in Contemporary Art of the Arabian Gulf

The Shopping Carts (2015) (Figure 3.1) by Saudi artist Saddek Wasil (b. 1973) is an installation of piled up shopping carts/trolleys in the shape of a pyramid. It was showcased in the Saudi Art Counselor Third Annual 21, 39 Art Exhibition, titled “Earth and Ever After” (2016) and was part of Jeddah’s Art Week, which I had the opportunity to attend. Wasil, who is known for his skilled metallic sculptures, has been exhibiting in and outside of Saudi Arabia, including in the UAE, Oman, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Italy,

Spain, China, and London. He has won several awards from different art venues in Saudi

Arabia and continues to work from his studio in Makkah in the Western region of Saudi

Arabia.258

The Shopping Carts symbolizes modern consumerism.259 Although the significance of shopping carts is usually derived from the goods they hold, Wasil’s carts are empty. With this emptiness, Wasil points to the fluctuations in the modern economy.260 The grey carts in their assemblage appear abandoned and as if they have collided. They are all placed on

258 Saddek Wasil, Interview by author, January 26, 2018. 259 Saddek Wasil, artist statement, 21/39 Earth and Ever After. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. March 2016. 260 Ibid. 120 their sides, a clue that might suggest their uselessness. The cart on top, however, rest upward and resembles a victor. This visual rendition alludes to notions of greed and negligence as these carts are put a side after their alleged usage. Wasil explains that the assemblage of these carts resonates with human emotions and physical activities, which are indicated by the way in which these carts and their wheels are situated within the installation.261

Figure 3.1 Saddek Wasil, Shopping Carts, 2015.

261 Saddek Wasil, Interview by author, January 26, 2018. 121

This work is a massive installation with three meters height (nine feet and eight inches), and two meters wide (six feet and five inches).262 It contains 34 carts in total, which were collected from various locations, such as junkyards, hardware stores, and side streets, and alleys.263 Wasil assembled 15 carts in the first row, 10 carts in the second row, five carts in the third row, three carts in the fourth row, and finally one cart on top of the installation.264 The artist was drawn to the green color in some of the carts as he sees it as representing the notion of construction, whereas the red color in some of the carts represents the notion of destruction.265 This can be understood as representing the tension between constructive and destructive impulses in human desires to accumulate and reign.

The consumer lifestyle is indeed “energy intensive,” in that the plentiful supply and multiple choices modern stores provide are supported by the current food trade system that is fueled by oil.266 Samuel Alexander explains:

These two centuries of economic growth produced an exponential rise in material standards of living, primarily in Western societies, but increasingly elsewhere, and the emergence of these high material standards of living was dependent on the cheap and abundant supply of energy concentrated in fossil fuel.267

The fact is, “other people generally grow our food, or more of it, and make it available for purchase through lines of transportation that are often extremely long.”268

This brings us to the history of the advent of shopping carts, which goes back to when the American retail grocery businessman Sylvan Goldman realized that customers

262 Ibid. 263 Ibid. 264 Ibid. 265 Ibid. 266 Samuel Alexander, 1-3. 267 Ibid., 2. 268 Ibid., 12. 122 usually stoppoed shopping simply when their hand-carried baskets were full of groceries.

He, then, introduced his earliest versions of shopping carts or trolleys in 1937.269

Shopping carts were created in order to encourage excessive consumption, something

Wasil’s work highlights. Wasil chose shopping carts as his medium because of their clear connection with consumerism.

In Wasil’s The Shopping Carts installation, he invokes the shape of a pyramid.

Wasil states that the shape of a pyramid is inspired by a pyramid model in business known as the pyramid scheme.270 Though illegal in many countries, the pyramid model requires the investor to recruit people to become distributors of a service or a commodity.

Yet, due to the inability for this system to encompass more and more investors, the system will eventually fail, and the money will end up in the hands of the investor who sits at the top of the pyramid. As such, Wasil used this model as a metaphor to visualize the risk of consumerist attitudes in the Arabian Gulf, and hinted at the inevitable collapse of the system, which builds itself upon accumulation and greediness. Wasil also stated that the pyramid shape represented to him, the human desire for eternity and magnitude.271 He recalled the narrative of Egypt’s Pharaoh in the Quran (the Islamic holy book), which described the ambition of the Pharaoh to reach the sky by building an

in order to acknowledge Musa’s (Moses) God, as the (صرح )’enormous structure ‘sareh

269 Richard S. Tedlow, The Business History Review 54, no. 1 (1980): 135-36. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/stable/3114293. Pp. 135 270 Saddek Wasil, Interview by author, January 26, 2018. 271 Ibid. 123 story goes in the Quran.272 Thus, the pyramid shape here is also a historical reference to the human inclination for enormity and greatness.

The firm installation of The Shopping Carts is comparable to the anarchist installation of The Litany (2017), in the Everything Must Go exhibition by the Qatari-

American artist Sophia Al Maria (b. 1983) (Figure 3.2). In both Figure 3.1 and 3.2, consumerism is denoted by using shopping carts. Everything Must Go was Al Maria’s first solo exhibition in Dubai and took place at The Third Line (an art gallery based in

Dubai). It was an extension of Black Friday, Al Maria’s first solo exhibition at the

Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (2016).273

Unlike Wasil’s carts, Al Maria’s carts in The Litany are bursting with goods and with vibrant colors. The Litany is a room-sized installation consisting of supermarket trolleys that are surrounded by over a 100 still prints. The shopping carts are filled with

“brightly colored metallic potato chip packets, cheap mobile phones, and mini Jell-O snack pots.”274 These product brands are “iconic for those [individuals] who grew up in the Gulf. Labels such as Mr Krisp and Ali Baba evoke a kitsch nostalgic throwback to

1990s childhoods,” said Dr. Omar Kholeif, the Manilow senior curator and director of global initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.275 The installation contains over a 100 of old mobile devices, recycled and found, thrown amidst this cluster

272 Yusuf Ali, trans, The Holy Quran, (28) 38. 273 Christopher Y. Lew, “Back to the Futurist; Sophia Al Maria Black Friday,” Whitney museum of American Art, accessed on January 22, 2018, http://whitney.org/Essays/SophiaAlMaria. 274 Omar Kholeif, “Everything Must Go by Sophia Al Maria,” Catalogue, https://view.publitas.com/thethirdline/sophia-al-maria-everythingmustgo/page/2-3. 275 Ibid. 124 to play digital videos “shown in a loop of a minute on average.”276 The viewer is invited to be immersed in experiencing the “almost apocalyptic act of consuming.”277

Surrounding this installation is a set of digital collage stills in which the artist combined the visual with the textual. Over stills from the phone video, she superimposed words and phrases such as “panic,” “teargas toner,” “methane gel,” and “post-truth plumper” over bright background (Figure 3.2).278 She intermixes beauty product lingo with military jargon in order to show a future and thus “captures the crux of the end of days where chaos and destruction are met by a violent military attempt to reinstate order.”279 War and destruction are part of Al Maria’s futuristic vision of the Arabian

Gulf.

Curator Sybel Vasquez explains that the terms and words were chosen specifically to create “absurd phrases.”280 The purpose for this absurdity is to intimidate the spectator within the encounter of this messy and chaotic set; a feeling Al Maria hoped to generate in the viewer that resembles her own impression upon entering a shopping mall, including her tendency to get lost in the moment. This lost Curator Christopher Y.

Lew states:

Through her work she [Sophia Al Maria] addresses the dramatic transformations that have occurred in the Arabian Gulf region in the last two decades, examining the societal shifts in countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).281

276 Sybel Vasquez, “A conversation with Sophia Al Maria,” published on September 25, 2017, video, 3:1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psu0rXVvKwQ&t=20s 277 “Sophia Al Maria ‘Everything Must Go’ at the Third Line, Dubai,” Mousse Magazine, accessed January 22, 2017, http://moussemagazine.it/sophia-al-maria-everything-must-go-third-line-dubai-2017/ 278 Anna Wallace-Thompson, “Sophia Al Maria’s EVERYTHING MUST GO,” Art Agenda, March 28, 2017. http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/sophia-al-maria’s-“everything-must-go”/. 279 “Sophia Al Maria,” Mousse Magazine. 280 Sybel Vasquez, 4:36. 281 Lew, “Back to the Futurist.” 125

This rapid transformation in the Arabian Gulf region has increased the fear Al Maria has for the future of this region. She uses the term “Gulf Futurism” (might be coined by

William Gibson)282 in order to emphasize this urban and economic development over historical amnesia regarding cultural and environmental damage.283 Al Maria describes it as not simply a “description of aesthetics of what is happening in the Gulf, but, quite the opposite⎯ I thought that the Gulf is a projection of our collective future, and desertification is a really big part of that.”284 Gulf Futurism is different from the conceptualization of the term Afro-Futurism, where the emphasis is on technological development within the context of Africa.285 In her interview at the Global Art Forum 10,

Al Maria expressed her fear in response to the speculations that the region might be inhabitable by 2050, mainly due to the rising temperatures.286 The fear of the future of the

Gulf, in Al Maria’s views, is a result of decadence and impairment.

Part of the Everything Must Go exhibition is Al Maria’s video titled Black Friday

(2016) (Figure 3.4). Black Friday is clearly inspired by the shopping culture of Black

Friday in the US, the day after Thanksgiving Day, in which people tend to shop in masse.

Shopping malls and retail stores open early and provide huge discounts and promotional

282 South African Novelist Lauren Beukes states that she might heard the term Gulf Futurism from writer William Gibson. Lauren Beukes, “Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert,” Art Dubai, YouTube video, accessed on January 22, 2018, 38:38, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8awNnvuYQ. 283 Lew, “Back to the Futurist.” Also; Sophia Al Maria, “Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert,” Art Dubai, YouTube video, accessed on January 22, 2018, 35:44, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8awNnvuYQ. 284 Sophia Al Maria, ““Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert,” ICA, YouTube video, accessed on January 22, 2018, 17:52, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDF1kYII97s. 285 Lauren Beukes, “Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert,” Art Dubai, YouTube video, accessed on January 22, 2018, 38:45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8awNnvuYQ. 286 Sophia Al Maria, “Global Art Forum,” ICA, 18:15. 126 offers. It is widely believed that this day marks the beginning of shopping for the

Christmas season. However, the highlight of this event (Black Friday) in my discussion here is the people’s attitudes toward acquiring unnecessary commodities and material goods. In some instances, shoppers will line up in the middle of the night in low temperatures in order to obtain their favorite store deals. Al Maria, who is half American and spent her childhood in the US, is no stranger to such experiences.

Figure 3. 0:2 Sophia Al Maria, The Litany, 2016 127

Figure 3.3 Sophia Al Maria, The Litany, 2017

128

Figure 3.3 Sophia Al Maria, The Litany, 2016.

Al Maria’s Black Friday is a video installation that shows two almost empty malls in Qatar (Figures 3.4 and 3.5). These malls were designed and inspired by an Italian architect, and the malls appear disconnected from the Gulf region culture.287 In the video installation (Figure 3.4 and 3.5), Al Maria is seen walking in these structure in order to express feelings of loss and distance in these malls. She also compares them to religious temples and temples of capitalism, which is reflected in the decorative, high ceiling, opulent structures that leave one in awe and admiration.

Black Friday could also be a play on the religious significance of Friday prayers in the Islamic faith (the day of Friday is called ‘Jumah’ in Arabic, which translates to

287 Sybel Vasquez, 2:05. 129 gathering or assembly). Though these malls in Al Maria’s video are far from being places of gathering or assembly. Black Friday is a film that is “almost apocalyptic to have the viewer to come face to face to.”288 She explains that the culture of shopping malls has created a culture of its own that can be found almost anywhere in the world; present are the shops, cafes, huge department stores, and food courts.

Al Maria is inspired by the ‘Gruen Transfer,’ a theory named after the architect

Victor Gruen, who is believed to have changed the concept of shopping after designing the first indoor shopping mall located in the U.S.289 M. Jeffrey Hardwick explains:

“shoppers will be so dazzled by a store’s surroundings that they will be drawn unconsciously, continually—to shop.”290 Gruen intentionally designed shopping malls to generate a sense of disorientation, both spatially and temporally.291 This construction allows people to consume unaware of how much they have spent or how long they have been in the mall.292 In the case of the Arabian Gulf, Focarro explains, “a fascination with technology and science was the trend of the age. Rooted in positive images of progress and efficiency, it was often identified with consumer goods and modern services.”293 She adds that “with no indigenous industrial development, modern goods were imported rather than produced locally, as had been the case elsewhere in the colonial and developing world since the late nineteenth century.”294 As a result, “traditional

288 Ibid., 2:37. 289 Ibid., 1:22. 290 Jeffrey M. Hardwick, Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 2, cited in http://whitney.org/Essays/SophiaAlMaria. 291 Vasquez, 1:25. 292 Ibid. 293 Foccaro, “Shaping the Urban,” 61. 294 Ibid, 64. 130 commodities such as pearls, jewels, and carpets, have also started to be sold in specialized shops and marketed as luxury goods.”295 Within this burgeoning desire for consumption in the Arabian Gulf, represented by the increased numbers of shopping malls and shopping stores over the last decade that are filled with Western goods, Al

Maria reflects this notion of consumerism and lifestyle in her artwork and presents the

GACs’ consumer lifestyle and culture.

Figure 3. 4 Sophia Al Maria, still from Black Friday, 2016. Digital video projected vertically.296

295 Ibid, 65. 296 Source: https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/SophiaAlMaria. 131

Figure 3. 5 Sophia Al Maria, still from Black Friday, 2016. Digital video projected vertically.297

297 Source: https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/SophiaAlMaria. 132

Spirituality and Lights in Consumer Goods

Al Maria’s comparison of shopping malls to religious temples resonates with what photographer Saeed Salem (b. 1984) depicts in his series Neon Land and Neon

Gods (2012) (Figure 3.6). both series treat the space of collected consumerist goods as spaces of holiness. Between artists Al Maria and Salem, the issue of consumerism is either directly addressed, as in Al Maria’s work, or hinted at, as in Salem’s series.

Nonetheless, in both artworks, the vibrant variety of goods dominate the scene in a way that one can imagine being subjected to its inevitable delusion.

In Neon Land and Neon Gods (2012), Salem photographs Jeddah’s well known kiosks. These kiosks are found everywhere alongside the Red Sea corniche view in

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.298 He states:

These neon kiosks are a symbol of Jeddah ... they are iconic and you only find them in this city. They are the only places open really late...2am...4am... selling Madinah mint tea and everything else: cigarettes, noodles, swimming goggles, popcorn, prayer mats ... Everything you want. It’s like a mini hypermarket.299

Salem, who was born in Jeddah and is of Yemeni descent, studied in Malaysia and

Australia. He claims to express the essence of the cosmopolitanism in the city of Jeddah in Neon Land and Neon Gods.300 He does so by bringing the issue of consumerism to the forefront. It could be that this merchandise is imported and that these spaces of kiosks

298 The corniche is “a road cut into the edge of a cliff, especially one running along a coast.” Source by the Oxford Dictionary website; https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cornice. 299 Saeed Salem, “Saeed Salem,” Edge of Arabia, accessed January 22, 2018, http://edgeofarabia.com/artists/saeed-salem. 300 Venice Biennale, Rhizoma (Generation in Waiting): Saudi Arabia at the 55th, edited by Miriam Lloyd- Evans, ‘Exhibition catalogue,’ accessed January 25, 2018, https://artintheheartofsummer.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/rhizoma-generation-in-waiting-saudi-arabia-at- the-55th-venice-biennale/ 133 alongside the corniche are places of assembly. Jeddah’s corniche is defined by these kiosks and not by the actual view of the Red Sea. To see the lights on at these kiosks is to feel the livelihood of the city. It is such a contemplative notion, given the fact that what comes to define this place is not only the goods they hold but also the lights they display.

I personally witnessed a lot of objections regarding these kiosks and how they do not seem to harmoniously fit with their surroundings. Many people, including myself, have mixed and confused feelings toward them; the possessions they display attract passersby with their colors and luminosity and sometimes their urgent needs. At the same time, these commodities are superficial, cheap, and low in quality. It has become an iconic component of Jeddah’s corniche and necessarily is embraced.

Neon lights entered the sphere of the visual arts after being used only in street signs when artist Gyula Kosice appropriated neon light in his artwork titled Luminous

Structures in 1946.301 Artists, then, have adopted this particular technology as a new art medium to serve different themes and subjects worldwide. Saudi artists, too, use neon lights in their artistic works, as did Ahmed Mater and Manal Al-Dowayan. It is believed that by implanting neon lights in the artwork, artists combine aesthetics with that of “up- to-date technology,” or what we can call “high technology art.”302 Considering neon light as an up-to-date technology, I assume, applies only to the twentieth century, certainly, not a nowadays ‘up-to-date technology.’

301 Frank Popper, "The Place of High-Technology Art in the Contemporary Art Scene." Leonardo 26, no. 1 (1993): 65-69. doi:10.2307/1575783. Pp. 65. 302 Ibid. 134

Figure 3. 6 Saeed Salem, from the series Neon Land and Neon Gods, 2012.

Figure 3.7 Saeed Salem, from the series Neon Land and Neon Gods, 2012.

135

What Salem is showing here is different from artists’ typical implementations of neon light as a medium. Rather, he is referring to these spaces as neon land and Gods. To him, “they symbolize . . . something very futuristic. An intense ball of consumer energy.”303 Salem, who I interviewed, states that neon light for him represents the future,

“even in movies! We see neon light to represent the future,” he adds.304 This can be interpreted by means of commenting on the city of Jeddah’s night life and the excessive usage of electricity in the city. When curator Warren from the University of Memphis visited Jeddah in May 2017, he was amazed at the lights of the city. He describes Jeddah to me as “the magical city.”305 Jeddah is the second city in Saudi Arabia (after Makkah) to be called the city that doesn’t sleep. Jeddah, is known to be glowing at night. But

Jeddah in Salem’s photography is delineated by its light. The light dominates the space, claims the authority of the city, and more importantly, subjugates the city to its superiority. As such, Salem’s Neon Land and Neon Gods (2012) can be interpreted as commenting on the increasing domestic demands for electricity in Saudi Arabia, and ultimately in the Gulf region, and the danger this increasing demand entails, especially in a time of existing discourse on energy and sustainability. Salem, by highlighting those spaces that are defined by excessive possessions and material goods, is warning the

303 Saeed Salem, “Saeed Salem,” Edge of Arabia, accessed January 22, 2018, http://edgeofarabia.com/artists/saeed-salem. 304 Saeed Salem, Interview by author, February 4, 2018. 305 Edmund Warren Perry (Warren) is the assistance director of Art Museum of the University of Memphis. I interviewed him in October 2017 as part of my research data collection for this dissertation. More from this interview is found in Chapter one. 136 viewer of this consumerist lifestyle that dominates Saudi’s lives and of the increasing demands turning nights into permanently glowing days.

Petrocultural Waste in Contemporary Art

The Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1984) was born in Senegal and completed her Ph.D. studies in inter-media art from Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan, in 2010.

She engages the subject of oil and culture from within the Arabian Gulf as a constant theme in her artistic oeuvre.306 Within her imaginative renditions, she incorporates symbolic references to history in order to reflect on the current social development in this region.

Al Qadiri’s sentiment toward the Arabian Gulf’s petroculture as being a consumerist culture is materialized in her sculpture entitled OR-BIT (2016) (Figure 3.8).

OR-BIT is a floating, 3D printed sculpture printed in the shape of an oil drill. The floating

3D sculpture rotates gradually in the direction of the sky, “as if [it is] drill[ing] the sky above it.”307 Al Qadiri adds:

the work embodies the infinite human desire to strive upward while accumulating more wealth and power. The riches generated by oil exploration fueled these toxic aspirations of man to hover above others, in a seemingly unending spiraling motion.308

The sculpture is rendered in a deep, bright green color casted over a dark violet background, which the purple shade reflects on the sculpture’s surface. The first response

306 Al Qadiri was born and spent her early life in Senegal since her father was a Kuwaiti diplomate in Senegal. See: “Monira Al Qadiri,” Moinra Al Qadiri, accessed January 18, 2018; http://www.moniraalqadiri.com/about 307 Ibid. 308 Ibid. 137 the color generates is that of a sense of femininity. Initially, I considered the artist’s choice of this particular shade to be for its attractiveness and its ability to embellishes pieces. The use of these colors in OR-BIT references an oil drill, of being tempting and alluring. But Al Qadiri explains that purple “is the color of bad luck in the oil industry.”309 The color signals a dysfunction in the oil rig, which could lead to a total blow out.310 She affirms that she will continue to use purple in her work to warn people of the uncertainty of the future ahead of them.311

OR-BIT is made to remind one of “the tower of babel,” explains Al Qadiri.312 The use of the tower of Babel as a metaphor comes as a reference to its ancient historical significance in the region that accompanies the escalation of greediness. The artist writes:

We grow and expand and get bigger and fatter and greedier and our ambitions reach new tiring heights. But somewhere along the way, our legs might get cut off. And we will remain idols in our static positions, choked and collapsing internally, with no one to turn to.

This symbolic reference to the Tower of Babel is a reminder of a greed that once reached its peak before its downfall. The Tower of Babel resemblance illustrates Al

Qadiri’s perception of the oil industry in the Arabian Gulf as one that holds global prominence, as well as one that nourishes a sentiment of materialism and decadence. Al

Qadiri implies that the oil industry is on the brink of a similar downfall.

309 Monira Al Qadiri, “Livestream the Human Capital Forum,” Nuqat: An Organization for Cultural Development, accessed on January 18, 2018. http://www.nuqat.me/en/nuqat-foundation. 310 Ibid. 311 Ibid. 312 Monira Al Qadiri, “Monia Al Qadiri,” Accessed Jan 18, 2018. http://www.moniraalqadiri.com/about 138

In her recent artist talk at Nuqat’s annual meeting in January 2018, Al Qadiri describes her artistic engagement with oil in a performance-like artistic piece. She takes the viewer on a chronological journey to highlight the relationship between humans and oil, represented in a composition she calls “The Petro-Historical Complex.”313 In that work, she states:

We as Kuwaitis and indeed as Khalijis [from The Arabian Gulf] in general, are characterized and caricatured by our relationship to this viscous dark substance. This is an external gaze, but, nevertheless it contains a substantial truth. One we might not want to admit to or examine closely at all. But the time has come to shift this gaze internally as what has happened to us was both a miracle and a curse. It is a dual reality that personifies this freak petroleum interval history when a bond was created between our bodies and this substance. . . Without it, our life today wouldn’t be the same. . . Not the same speed, precision, or utility. . . We pumped this modern way of life all around the globe through this mysterious [substance] we .. inherited from deep beneath the Earth. From geologists to paleontologists, from the desert and the seas, and the sense of raw curiosity and sheer greed.314

Al Qadiri spoke about the global perception of the Arabian Gulf as being only a place of hidden treasure. She demands that “the time has come” for people of this region to “shift this gaze internally” and to think of ways of making sense of a twentieth century culture that has emerged out of its relations to oil; to think about the future and the future of a region that relies on an infinite resource; to understand petroculture and all of its related entanglements that have altered social values, materialism, and the greed derived from its consumerist behaviors; to criticize the generation that has emerged out of the prosperity of petromodernity that and strives to follow the latest trends in fashion, clothes, jewelry, and the like, dismissing all social and environmental consequences; and to examine a

313 Monira Al Qadiri, “livestream.” 314 Ibid. 139 history that once had valued hard work, determination, and ownership of the land, the sea, and everything in between.

In historian Farah Al-Nakib’s latest book titled Kuwait Transformed: A History of

Oil and Urban Life (2016), she explains how petromodernity in Kuwait has lessened creativity and has reduced the aspirations of its citizens for communal bonds and engagement in public life due to state welfare.315 Fakhri Shehab adds, “the drive, diligence, and risk-taking that characterized the old Kuwaiti are no more. . . the new citizen is content to enjoy a life of leisure and inertia.”316 Nevertheless, what has happened in the last decade in relation to oil and in terms of the future stability of the region in general is a growing interest. Petroculture and its relationship to consumerism have become sources for critical discussion in the Arabian Gulf.

315 Al-Nakib, 183 and 184. 316 Fakhri Shehab, “Kuwait: A Super-Affluent Society.” Foreign Affairs, April 1964. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/kuwait/1964-04-01/kuwait-super-affluent-society. Cited in Al- Nakib, p. 183. 140

Figure 0.8 Monira Al Qadiri, OR-BIT, 2017. 141

Figure 3. 9 Monira Al Qadiri, Spectrum1, 2 2016.

The history of the pearl industry in the Arabian Gulf before oil is strongly present in Al Qadiri’s art. She even calls for a merging of two powerful industries in their perspective times in history: oil and pearl. She reflects on the legacy of her hardworking grandfather and his generation, recalling a story when once, during the 1930s, he sailed a boat near the Gulf of Adan (south of the Arabian Peninsula). He often, Al Qadiri states, was “diving into the ocean looking for that enigmatic object that is constantly evading them.” They value pearls so much “that they name many of their daughters after it,” she explains.

Correspondingly, Al Qadiri envisions a future, in a year of XCIO7, when the two instrumental economic industries that had flourished in the Arabian Gulf have fully merged in her work titled Spectrum 1 & 2 (2016) (Figure 3.8 and 3.9). She describes “the 142 form reflects both the color of the pearls, and the colors of the oil in a strange chameleon like monument. The colors are constantly changing, constantly escaping them.”317 Both

Spectrum 1 & 2 (2016) and OR-BIT (2016) are objects the artist envisions as if they were found some time in the future as remnants of the oil industry—a petrocultural waste that cannot be dissolved, but that becomes an artifact, a monument, for future generations to study and admire. But until then, Al Qadiri cautions:

We have reached the end; the apocalypse. The peculiarity of our existence is painfully clearer now. If they touch us we will fall over and never get back up again. Now it’s the time to think again what it means to rely on one prehistoric bounty. . . We are waking up from this dream of excess and wealth, and decadence to a new world of anxiety and harsh realities.318

The discussion of Al Qadiri’s artistic endeavor ends with the artist’s own reflection of our current time of uncertainty, greed, and anxiety—an apocalyptic rendition of a future that no one can predict in the Arabian Gulf. The artist warns us of this reliance on oil and its convenient lifestyle that will have its costs. With no one to turn to, Al Qadiri states, a very catastrophic event is forthcoming.

Plastic, Rubber, and the Oil Drill

Petrocultural waste in the visual arts challenges the ways by which we can perceive these artworks. For example, petrocultural waste appears in Canadian artist

Edward Burynsky’s Oil series (which will be discussed later), Al-Qadiri’s future oil refinery remnants in Spectrum 1 & 2 (2016) and OR-BIT (2016), the plastic found in the photography of Saeed Salem in Neon Lands, and as an art medium in The Litany by

317 Al Qadiri, “Livestream.” 318 Ibid. 143

Sophia Al Maria. The presence of oil and oil-generated products in the contemporary visual arts can be seen as representing confusion.

In “Visions of Eternity: Plastic and the Ontology of Oil,” Amanda Boetzkes and

Andrew Pendakis argue that the use of plastic in the visual arts demonstrates a great level of excitement as well as frustration toward global oil.319 Plastic’s resistance to decomposition is put on display. It confirms the irreducibility of waste plastic, a manifestation of environmental limitations despite the obvious efforts to increase awareness of such ecological devastations. In addition, it underscores the worthless value of plastic as a commodity after its intended manufactured use.

The challenge, according to Boetzkes and Pendakis, is to uncover what plastic is concealing: that it is a petroleum product that uses a quarter of the extracted oil. Boetzkes and Pendakis ask “What is the link, then, between the economy of oil and a way of being that these artworks divulge? Between plastics and plasticity? Between objects and objectivity?” 320 “Dirty oil,” as they call it, “has found its way into the world of art and film too,”321 as we see in Edward Burtynsky’s Oil series that traces the oil industry from extraction to the automobile industry.322 However, what is left is the very question of how this engagement with plastic, or any other oil products into the visual arts, affects the world in which we live in. How do we perceive such an engagement?

319 Amanda Boetzkes and Andrew Pendakis, “Visions of Eternity: Plastic and the Ontology of Oil,” E-Flux Journal #47, 2013, 2. http://www.e-flux.com/journal/47/60052/visions-of-eternity-plastic-and-the- ontology-of-oil/. 320 Ibid., 2. 321 Ibid., 5. 322 Ibid. 144

In his urban industrial investigation, Burtynsky has turned away from the wilderness to human-made land in his famous photo essay titled Oil (Figures 3.10, 3.11, and 3.12).323 He traveled the globe for 10 years researching oil fields, refineries, and complexes. The resulting photographic series depicts manufacturing scenery with a sense of attraction and curiosity throughout the production process of the oil industry. The series is divided into three sections. In each section, the photos highlight a specific moment in the oil industry’s landscapes. The first is “Extraction and Refinement.” The second is “Transportation and Motor Culture.” The last one is “The End of Oil.”324 By using large format cameras, Burtynsky details aspects of post-industrial petromodernity ranging from the declining state of water in Azerbaijan to the dehumanizing treatment of factory workers in China to the increasing industrial waste in many places like the United

States and Canada.325 Oil features depictions of the Alberta Oil Sands, where oil covers the landscape and mirrors the sky above; footage of pipes and valves from inside oil refineries; and a Volkswagen car lot in Houston, Texas, featuring a vast formation of white cars (Figure 3.10).326 One of the fascinating works from Oil is Oil Field #19 (2003) from Belridge, California (Figure 3.12). By using a large format camera, Burtynsky captures a more detailed image, as well as a greater depth of the field. The focus of the shot is the oil field, which features pump jacks dispersed throughout the field. As

Zuromiskis describes, the shot becomes an almost abstract rendering. There is a thin line

323 Ibid., 291. 324 Edward Burtynsky, “Petroleum Planet,” Earth Island Journal, 2010, accessed January 2017, http:// http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/petroleum_planet/ 325 Zuromskis, 300. 326 Ibid. 145 of horizon above the shot that brings back a sense of landscape after it has been lost in the transformation of petromodernity.

Urry explains that modern infrastructure “was a 20th-century phenomenon, with the US as the disproportionately high-energy producing and consuming society. Its economy and society were based upon the combination of automobility and electricity.”327 Burtynsky’s images are quite surprising since we rarely see such representations of the oil industry. What Burtynsky does in Oil is to expose “the conditions of late capitalism.”328 Zuromiskis adds that Burtynsky contemplates the world made by oil; he opens it “to another kind of interpretation, one based again in the sensory terrain of the petro-postmodern world.”329

The problem with plastic is, with its eternality, it harms the environment.330 Yet, what plastic is doing in the visual arts is embodiment. Boetzkes and Pendakis argue that what these artworks are conveying is not the objectivity one can hope for, such as revealing the ugliness of the oil industry, but rather the notion that this kind of art provides “sensorial fullness, robustness, and flexibility.”331 They assert, “if oil has a hold in objectivity, it is through the saturation of the visual field.” Consequently, the visual field shifts from objectivity and “industrial exhaustion to plastic exuberance.” Hence, these artists portray a more complex relationship with plastic; a relation that is celebratory (by ways of presenting the artworks as appealing aesthetically), but, also

327 John Urry, “Consuming the Planes to excess,” in Theory, Culture & Society 27(2-3), 196 328 Zuromskis, 301. 329 Ibid. 330 Amanda Boetzkes and Andrew Pendakis, “Visions of Eternity, 2. 331 Ibid., 5. 146 bears a great deal of criticism. This ambivalent relationship is what define those art works highlighted in this chapter.

Figure 3. 10 VW Lot #1. Houston, Texas, USA, 2004

147

Figure 0.11 Oxford Tire Pile #5. Westley, California, USA, 1999

Figure 3. 12 Oil Fields #19. Belridge, California, USA, 2003

148

Conclusion:

Examining the impact of petrocultural consumerism allows us to understand the emerging cultural behaviors in the Arabian Gulf region and find ways to counter existing social narratives. In their distinctive artistic renditions, the artists highlighted in this chapter reflect on consumerism in one of two ways: either by representing the act of consuming, as did Wasil simply by using empty shopping carts in The Shopping Carts, or in a more chaotic experience, as in Al Maria’s Everything Must Go, in which she intended to create an absurd and apocalyptic sensation that echoed the artist’s sentiment toward building massive shopping malls and the motivation behind accumulation and greed. In this chapter, artists reflected upon and envisioned the future in relation to consumerism. This futuristic manifestation is found in both Saeed’s kiosks in Neon Land and Neon Gods (2012), and Al Qadiri’s future oil drill in Spectrum 1 & 2 (2016) and OR-

BIT (2016). Rubber, tires, and plastic are also found in Burtynsky’s Oil series, in which he highlights the oil industry from extraction to manufacturing by presenting a

“conflicted aestheticization” of a substance that society is increasingly learning to reject.332 Contemporary art from this region is joining other contemporary art from outside the region in shedding light on the effects of consumerism on social relations, and contributing to a global discussion on petrocultural consumerism.

332 Zuromskis, 290-291. 149

Chapter Four: Environmental Issues and Sand Storms: An Intervention

“In art, the fantasies we have about nature take shape and dissolve.”333

“Modernity has given us a strange noir awareness of our deep implication in geophysical reality.”334

Introduction

Intense political debates related to the planet’s rising temperatures and the policies that speak to this calamity have escalated over the last two centuries among politicians, economists, scientists, and environmental humanists (including visual artists).

The most alarming dispute over the subject of the environment pivots upon the relationship between the environment and our late modernity (petromodernity). This dispute exists simply because the energy we generate by burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases that travel to the atmosphere and cause the planet to warm. The warming of the planet raises “the sea level, which has some devastating consequences on crops, animals, and human beings.”335 This chapter looks at how the Arabian Gulf society considers the issue of the environment in contemporary art. In particular, I examine the ways that this discourse as it is related to the environment is manifested in artworks. My goal is to open the dialogue within the Arabian Gulf contemporary art community on this important issue in order to determine the ways by which art engages the community of this region in the issues of the environment and petroculture. The discourse on the

333 Timothy Morton, Ecology Without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009). 334 Timothy Morton, “Ecology,” in Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment, eds. Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017), 119. 335 James Gervey, The Ethics of Climate Change (London: Continuum, 2008), 58. 150 various environmental consequences of petromodernity in the Gulf contributes to the historical narrative of petromodernity and petroculture in this region in which this dissertation aims to attain.

The chapter covers the following subjects. First, it presents a collection of regional artworks along with other significant art projects from around the world in order to highlight the common concerns of and enrich the overall discussion on these environmental matters. This discussion on the environment and its relationship to petromodernity is concluded by evoking the rising problem of sand storms in the Arabian

Gulf. I do so by presenting a collection of photographs taken by relatives and friends as well as images gathered from the Internet. The direct cause of the Arabian Gulf’s sand storms has not yet been identified, but speculation suggests that they are related to oil extraction in the region. My goal for this chapter is to shed light on the environmental deterioration/destruction in this region in a time when even the governments in the Gulf, such as the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are embracing the subject of a transition from oil to a safe, affordable energy source. This is represented in the establishment of King Abdullah for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) in

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2010, in which, increasing domestic demands for electricity and desalinated water necessitated the need to find renewable energy resources in the country.336

336 “About KACARE,” The official website for KACARE: https://www.kacare.gov.sa/en/about/Pages/royalorder.aspx. 151

Interactive Artistic Projects

Environmental artists continue to spread awareness and engage with others regarding topics relevant to oil and climate change. Global, interactive, artistic interventions are described below because they provide environmental artistic dialogue in issues related to petroculture. The interactive feature of such interventions allows individuals to propose solutions and be part of the discussion and discussion-making process. LeMenager and Stephanie Foots (2012) have coined the term ‘sustainable humanities’ to suggest that “sustainability and the humanities have always been compatible projects. While the sustainable humanities include the work of ecocritics and environmental critics, it refers more broadly to the ecological value of humanities education.337

Through the notion of sustainable humanities, artistic projects on various environmental issues are important as they create different types of dialogues across academic fields and between different communities. It is important to acknowledge such projects that shed light on these urgent environmental issues around the world. For example, The Oil Show (2011) at The Hartware Medien Kunst Verein (HMKV) at

Dortmund University in Germany was created as a tribute to Nigeria after the artists visited the Niger Delta and felt the urge to speak about the disaster that the oil industry in

Nigeria has created. The show consisted of computer games that deal with the topic of oil

337 Stephanie LeMenager and Stephanie Foots, “The Sustainable Humanities,” Modern Language Association of America, (p. 572-578), 2012, 572, accessed on February 18, 2018, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5437099be4b02e62e3f58d50/t/5648ec85e4b05f53bf3ca118/1447619 717502/The_Sustainable_Humanities.pdf. 152 as well as installations and a movie. The exhibition was called The Oil Show as a reference to our current lifestyle where everything is saturated with oil.

In addition, Offshore (2014), an interactive documentary, provides a different type of engagement with petroculture. Offshore explores the impact and consequences of our dependency on oil. The project begins with stories from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and other stories about similar blowout incidents in different parts of the world, such as in Ghana, Brazil, Russia, and Alaska. The project is used to often sheds light on the difficulties of oil drilling in the ocean at a depth of 5.5 km, along with the risks and technological advancements it involves.338

Another creative engagement with the oil economy and petroculture is Fort

McMoney, 2013, which is an interactive documentary game that examines one of the largest oil reserves in the world, located in McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The game enables users to determine the future of the city and decide how to develop this oil reserve. The users are able to explore the social, political, cultural, and economic conditions that will eventually shape their decisions during the game.

After Oil: Explorations and Experiments in the Future of Energy, Culture, and

Society is also a collaborative and interdisciplinary project associated with the petroculture research group at the University of Alberta. This ongoing project was founded by Imre Szeman and Sheena Wilson and aims to examine the social, intellectual, philosophical, and artistic understanding of the transition to a new era after oil. The

338 “28 Nov. Offshore Interactive Documentary,” Petrocultures, accessed January 20, 2017. http://petrocultures.com/offshore-interactive-documentary. 153 project is a collaborative effort between thinkers, artists, environmentalists, and others who experience the urgency to investigate aspects of petroculture in order to highlight the effects of the oil industry on the environment.

Current Environmental Concerns in the Arabian Gulf

A number of art works exist in the Arabian Gulf region that speak to the environmental concerns of the region. Below are two of what I consider to be important works for this research for their particular subjects. The first one is Flora and Funa

(2007) by Saudi Arabian artist Abdulnasser Gharem, while the second is Keep Cool

(2015) by Maha Maluh.

Flora and Fauna

Gharem (b. 1973), a Saudi Arabian contemporary artist and the co-founder of the

Edge of Arabia, is a lieutenant colonel in the Saudi Arabian army.339 He spent most of the

1990s training and working at the Al-Meftaha Arts Village in Abha, Saudi Arabia.340

Today, his works can be found in many important galleries and museums around the world, including the and Los Angeles County Museum of Art

(LACMA).341 Gharem recently made history when his installation entitled

Message/Messenger (2011) was sold for a record $842,500 USD at a Christie’s auction in

Dubai, UAE, which made him the highest selling living artist in the Gulf region.342 He

339 Refer to Chapter One for more on Gharem and the Edge of Arabia. 340 Henry Hemming, “Abdulnasser Gharem,” in Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia, eds. Stephen Stapleton and Edward Booth-Clibborn (London: Booth-Clibborn Editions; Bilingual edition, 2012), 115. 341 “Abdulnasser Gharem: Pause,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accessed on February 18, 2018, http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/abdulnasser-gharem-pause. 342 “Abdulnasser Gharem Biography,” Ayyam Gallery, accessed on February 18, 2018, http://www.ayyamgallery.com/artists/abdulnasser-gharem/bio. 154 donated the proceeds of the sales to Edge of Arabia in order to advocate art education in

Saudi Arabia. Gharem has stated that talking to random people on the streets has been his biggest inspiration for his work. He is best known for his courageous vision and innovative use of materials.

Flora and Fauna (2006) (Figure 4.1) is a performance he undertook in Abha,

Saudi Arabia, in which he stood with a Cornocarpus Erestuc tree inside a big piece of plastic wrap in the middle of a street. This artistic performance was an act against the city planners in Abha and their discussion to import this particular type of tree from Australia to Abha due to their ability to stay green all year around and because they have a strong ability to make oxygen.343 Gharem spent the day wrapped inside the plastic wrap, surviving only by the oxygen produced by the tree. He wanted to draw attention to the plight of the tree, which, although it can survive in hot weather, has roots that grow horizontally and can stretch up to 100 meters long (247 acres). As such, it would starve out local indigenous trees, such as cottonwoods and willows.344 As opposed to the imported trees, these indigenous trees grow their roots vertically. Gharem endeavored to draw urban planners’ attention to the importance of considering environmentally- sensitive urban designs suitable for Saudi Arabia’s environment.345

It is important to note that contemporary art from this region has succeeded in taking works of art to the streets in such an interactive and playful way. When writer

Henry Hemming asked Gharem about the reaction of the passersby, Gharem replied that

343 Hemming, “Abdulnasser Gharem,” 115. 344 Ibid. 345 Ibid. 155 the “people thought I was crazy, . . . but they wanted to know more. Their minds are not closed so they came over to ask about it. When they understood it, they liked it.”346 Flora and Fauna is an important work because it is considered one of the earliest pieces of contemporary art in the Arabian Gulf to deal with an important issue related to the preservation of local environment. Gharem understood the inevitable expansion of urban design in the region, but, at the same time, urged the locals and the authority to consider how this expansion will impact the natural atmosphere in general and the local environment of the city of Abha. This provocative performance was meant to engage not only official city urban planners, but also the people who live there that Gharem considers, are just as important as the planners themselves.

346 Ibid. 156

Figure 4. 1 Abdulnasser Gharem, Flora and Fauna, 2006.

Figure 4. 2 Abdulnasser Gharem, Street View Featuring Flora and Fauna, 2006.

157

Keep Cool

In my visit to the 21, 39 Art Exhibition in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, entitled “Earth and Ever After” in 2016, which was the third annual exhibition organized by the Saudi

Arabian Art Counselor, I encountered Saudi Arabian artist Maha Malluh’s massive installation entitled Keep Cool (2015) (Figure 4.2). Malluh (1959), who could be considered a member of the second generation of artists in modern Saudi Arabia, has been working and exhibiting since 1976. Lately, she exhibited at the Desert to Delta:

Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia exhibition in Memphis, TN, 2017, which was part of the Culturerunners project, as well as at The Louvre Abu Dabi, UAE.347

The installation consists of 27 air conditioning units, known in Saudi Arabia as the desert coolers. The introduction of these desert air conditioning units in Saudi Arabia coincided with the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s cities from rural to urbanized ones.348 These air conditioning units are known for their low energy usage, but they also demand an excessive amount of water in order to produce humidity and cooler air.

347 Maha Malluh, Interview by Author, February 5, 2018. Refer to Chapter One for more information on Desert to Delta and Culturerunners. 348 Malluh, Interview. 158

Figure 4. 3 Maha Malluh, Keep Cool, 2015.

Malluh arranged these air conditioning units to look like a Rubik’s cube to indicate that using these cooler units in Saudi Arabia is problematic. It is problematic because of the massive amounts of water that these cooler units demand.349 In Keep Cool, the cooler units are painted with neutral colors, such as light blue, beige, brown, and light green, that are representative of the natural scenery in Saudi Arabia, explains Malluh.350

Behind the clean, simple surface of these units is complex machinery that the artist displayed in order to highlight the complexity of the situation between the preservation of

349 Ibid. 350 Ibid. 159 water and the people’s demands for cooler air. The substantial size of the installation also alludes to the size of the problem at stake. The issue of the cooler units reminded the artist of the Rubik’s cube, another complex problem that demands intensive thinking to solve. Yet, just like the Rubki’s cube, people enjoy having these units. Her use of the

Rubik’s cube indicates that we may have to rethink and reorganize the nature on our environment in order to solve the problem of heating and cooling in Saudi Arabia’s cities.

Futuristic Natural Landscape in Artwork by Marina Zurkow and Sami Al-Tuki

The first time I was introduced to the American media artist Marina Zurkow’s (b.

1962) works was during a lecture by Dr. Una Chaudhuri entitled Anthropo-Scences:

Staging (and Feeling) Climate Chaos in 2015 as part of Ohio University’s College of

Fine Arts’ Consortium of Historical and Critical Studies in the Arts. In that lecture,

Chaudhuri, who is a professor of English, Drama, and Environmental Studies at New

York University, explored how Zurkow’s art engages the issue of climate change personally; meaning that, a work of art, such as Zurkow’s, uses the subject of climate change and its effects in the future, but “beyond guilt, shame, fear, and anger⎯ to realign our values, thoughts, and feelings with more realistic and resilient attitudes to the strange new world ahead.”351 Chaudhuri’s remarks were profound in terms of developing an analytical understanding of this issue from an angle that we rarely see when talking about climate change.

351 “New Event Series to Focus on Arts in the Anthropocene,” Ohio University, accessed January 5, 2016, https://www.ohio.edu/finearts/whats-happening/news-story.cfm?newsItem=45B03CF5-5056-A81E- 8DFED09979CACD82. 160

Figure 4. 4 Marina Zurkow, Mesocosm, 2011. (a photo still from the video installation)

161

Figure 4. 5 Marina Zurkow, Mesocosm, 2011. (a photo still from the video installation).

Zurkow’s use of the term ‘Mesocosm’ is derived from the field of environmental

[science and indicates “experimental,ً simulated ecosystems” and “allow[s] for [the manipulation of the physical environment… [for] organismal, community, and ecological research.”352 Zurkow, whose interests are in the ecology of global climate change and our

petroleum dependency, displays a rendition of this connection in two video installation

series entitled Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK) 2011 and Mesocosm (Wink, Texas)

2012.353 Mesocosm (Wink, Texas) 2012 is based on a sinkhole on private property owned

352 Ibid. 353 “Mesocosm (Wink, Texas),” O-Matic, accessed January 12, 2016, http://www.o- matic.com/play/friend/mesocosmWINK/. 162

by an oil company in Wink, Texas, that Zurkow discovered while looking at Google

Earth’s satellite view. Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK) 2011, on the other hand, is a

modified view of the Northern England natural landscape.

In this series (i.e. Mesocosm), Zurkow uses two-dimensional hand drawings that are processed and manipulated via software technology to envision the life cycle and changes of natural landscape on a future Earth caused by the effects of global warming.

These videos consist of drawings of natural forms and objects, such as natural landscapes, birds, trees, and humans. The video is 146 hours long, representing a year of natural movement. Each 24 minutes represents one day. Within the 146 hour video, no identical moments exist.

The sinkhole in the Wink, Texas, piece resulted from an excessive flushing of water out of drilling pipes.354 For this piece, she began with a photograph of the sinkhole and added other objects, such as a billboard and picnic table, to force the scene to look more like “a geological event, like the way you find it in a tourist site [such as parks and recreation facilities].”355 In an interview with writer Rachel Cooper, Zurkow describes the series as “a dynamic choreography,” where the animated landscape filled with natural elements, such as rocks, water, animals, and plants, is performing (algorithmically) using

354 Ibid. See also “Sundance Filmmaker Marina Zurkow and MESOCOSM: WINK, TEXAS,” YouTube, accessed Feb 24, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql7GV_TyYk8&t=14s. 355 “Sundance Filmmaker.” 163 a probability theory. The code used in the work determines the types of actors, movements, and time changes that occur in the piece.356,357

Figure 4. 6 Marina Zurkow, Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK), 2011.

In Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK) 2011, the figure of a man with his back to the audience is at the center of the landscape. The man faces the natural landscape as if he is looking after nature. The man is inspired by Leigh Bowery (1991), a painting by British artist Lucian Freud.358 Zurkow states that the figure in Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK)

“acts as a Green Man, a corpulent bridge to the world beside the human.”359 Creatures,

356 Marina Zurkow, “The Return of the Really Realest Real,” interview by Rachel Cooper, Fluent Collab.org, April 20, 2012, print, http://www.fluentcollab.org/mbg/index.php/interview/index/188/124. 357 “Black Gold: Petroleum by-products Fuel Marina Zurkow's Provocative Necrocracy FotoFest Show, ” CultureMap, accessed January 12, 2017, http://houston.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/03-25-12- marina-zurkow-necrocracy-diverseworks-fotofest/#slide=0. 358 “Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK),” O-Matic.com, accessed January 12, 2017, http://www.o- matic.com/play/friend/mesocosmUK. 359 Ibid. 164 such as birds, feed on his body. Then, as time moves on, his body gradually begins to heal. The natural forms that she inserted in the installation can be seen interacting even outside the frame of the video. By allowing some of the forms to move outside the video frame, she reminds the viewer that a complex world exists beyond what we see. In other words, by allowing the forms to move outside the boundaries of the landscape in the video, the artist suggests a collapse of the perception of natural landscape. She enables the viewer to challenge what he or she sees and hears in order to draw on his or her own perceptions of the landscape.

Each of Mesocosm’s series are long and have changes that have occurred slowly, but, at the end, the changes and alterations of the landscape are radical. These changes allow the viewer to contemplate and become immersed in a world of constant and surprising changes.360

The Impending Desert Landscape in Washaeg

Saudi Arabian artist Sami Al-Turki also imagines life in the future, particularly after the depletion of oil in the Arabian Gulf. His series entitled Washaeg (2010), which can be translated to ‘nexus,’ shows an apocalyptic scene of anxious features.361 The nexus between these anxious features here, are entangled and entwined, as the word in

Arabic alludes. Which references the complexity of the issue of oil, economy, and the environment especially in a land of water scarcity such as The Arabian Gulf.

360 Ibid. 361 Christopher Lord, Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2012), 239. 165

The two photo prints presented here as part of the Washaeg series (Figures 4.6 and 4.7) display a deserted wide landscape, reminiscent of the desert on the Arabian

Peninsula. In Figure 4.6, the scene includes clouds, the sunset, and the remnants of human living. The light from the sunset is bursting out of the clustered clouds. The landscape appears as if there were once fresh tire tracks in the ground, but they have become faded over time. The scene also includes, what seems to be, two women in their traditional Arabic Gulf ‘abaya’ (i.e., the black body cloth) coming out of the desert and heading to an unknown destination. These two human figures are part of a digitally added layer to the actual photograph. They were added before the artist adjusted the tonal coloration.362 The focal point of the photo is the horizon, where there seems to be a round structure standing between the landscape and sky, possibly an oil field with its well- known round structures.

In Figure 4.6, we again see the same, wide, deserted landscape, but the image is divided in half horizontally. The top half is reserved for the sky, which appears to be packed with heavy, dark clouds. Unlike in Figure 4.5, this image does not include any human figures or signs of life. Instead, a rubber tire is seen thrown amidst the landscape along with tire tracks (i.e., traces of vehicles). In the distance, we see a structure, although it is unclear what it might be or what its function is. In both images, while clearer in the first, a spiral design is printed in the sand, possibly due to a passing storm or winds. This design could be an indication of a disaster that has come to the landscape and wiped out human life.

362 Ibid., 241. 166

These two photo prints share similar visual characteristics that are represented in the two important components that divide the work horizontally: the sky and landscape.

In addition, both photos show traces of human living, an indication of an apocalyptic event that occurred before the moments of the photographs. This rendering of the landscape reflects the artist’s sentiment regarding the uncertain future of the Arabian Gulf after the depletion of oil. Al-Turki once stated that the possible “scramble for the remainder” will happened after the depletion of oil in this region and is “a natural consequence of the unbridled greed that has come to drive the society.”363 The apocalypse is seen through the artist’s devastation and concerns that the Arabian Gulf states depend on a finite source. The future seems uncertain, gloomy, and pessimistic.

When the time comes for a transition from oil, the effect on the landscape and life in this region could be devastating. As the Petrocultures Research Group indicated in After Oil,

part of the work of [the] transition is to make visible our social, material, and affective attachments to oil: to its role in the social and cultural formation of our everyday lives, the infrastructures and institutions of our social interconnectedness, and global networks of relations.364

Therefore, this work attempts to highlight the consequences of relying on finite energy resources and creates a vision of the future after oil. Al-Turki often sums up this apocalyptic view by quoting a line by musician Adrian Belew: “What a shame to be burned by the fire we make.”365 This reference could be alluding to the way of life created by petromodernity that has come to define not only the Arabian Gulf, but the rest

363 Ibid., 241. 364 After Oil, Petrocultures Research Group, 15. 365 Ibid. 167 of the world. These sentiments echo what critic Imre Szeman states in System Failure:

Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster: “the end of oil might well be a case of capitalism digging its own grave, since, without oil, current configurations of capital are impossible.”366 Szeman argues that apocalyptic environmentalism is one of the three current discourses on the future of oil. It sees the future more grimly as it understands that social and political

changes are fundamental to genuinely addressing the disaster of the end of oil⎯ a disaster that it relates to the environment before economics. However, since such a change is not on the horizon or is difficult to imagine, it [the discourse on apocalyptic environmentalism] sees the future as Bosch-like⎯ a hell on Earth, obscured by a choking carbon dioxide smog.367

The eco-apocalypse narrative draws on the importance of the social response related to the transition from oil “around which we structure social reality⎯ and social hope, and social fantasy.”368 This narrative understands itself as a “pedagogic one, a genre of disaster designed to modify behavior and transform social responsibilities.”369 The eco- apocalypse discourse also recognizes that an environmental disaster cannot be avoided without serious sacrifices in lifestyle, or, at least, fundamental social changes.370 In addition, LeMenager argues the importance of imagination as being “a cornerstone of peak oil media, which emphasizes the importance of narrative and art in moving beyond the Age of Oil.”371

366 Imre Szeman, “System Failure,” p. 817 367 Ibid., 815. 368 Ibid., 816 369 Ibid. 370 Ibid. 371 LeMenager, Living Oil, 67. 168

As the future natural landscape is the main subject in Washaeg and Mescosom, these artworks also envision the relationship between humans and nature, which could be similar to what critic Louise Green describes in Fueling Culture:

Nature [is] no longer figured as independent, powerful. [. . .] In these new conversations, nature is spoken about in terms of vulnerability, loss, and, perhaps most important, instability.”372

These natural landscapes are either abandoned, as in Al-Turki’s Washaeg, or left to sink in its own sinkhole as in Zurkow’s Mesocosm.

Figure 4.7 Sami Al-Turki, Washaeg, 2010.

372 Louise Green, “Nature,” in Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment, eds. Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017), 227. 169

Figure 4. 8 Sami Al-Turki, Washaeg, 2010.

Sand and Dust Storms in the Arabian Gulf:

The air pollution crisis in California in the 1960s was mainly caused by

“industrial stacks and vehicle traffic.,” in which it resulted in the rise of antismog activism and The Air Quality Act of 1967.373 The ‘smog era,’ as LeMenager puts it, has created a ‘smog lifestyle’ where people have smog masks, suits, and even makeup.374

Thanks to technology and enforced regulations, smog in California has been controlled.

As such, smog has been transferred “from the status of an attack ... to a regular [smog]

373 LeMenager, Living Oil, 76. Ibid., 78. 374 Ibid., 77. 170 season” that occurs every September.375 The history of the smog crisis after the car revolution in California resonates with the rising problem of dust storms or sand storms in the Arabian Gulf, as both are air pollution phenomena caused by petromodernity.

In recent years, the rise in respiratory and asthma problems376 as well as several economic and safety problems have been linked directly to the increased frequency of sand and dust storms in the region.377 The direct cause of the Arabian Gulf’s sand storms has not yet been confirmed. However, speculations and suggestions related to oil drilling and extracting have started to surface and calls to investigate the real cause of these sandstorms and its association to oil extracting have begun.

For many years, the media in the Middle East has claimed that the rise in sand storms is due to the war in Syria (other media resources suggest the war in Iraq as well), and the desertification that resulted from the war’s destructive activities.378 In addition,

“land degradation and extended drought periods act as a major activator of SDS [sand and dust storms] in deserts.”379 However, a new research study by Princeton University concluded that the real cause for these sand storms is not human conflicts (i.e., wars in

Iraq and Syria), but the climate.380 The team states that “if the Middle East becomes more arid in the long-term due to climate change, extreme dust storms may become more

375 Ibid., 78. 376 Lukman Thalib and Abdullah Al-Taiar, “Dust Storms and the Risk of Asthma Admissions to Hospitals in Kuwait,” Sci. Total Enviroment. 433 (2012), 347–351. 377 Ali Al-Dousari, Modi Ahmed, and Domenico Doronzo, “Types, Indications and Impacts Evaluation of Sand and Dust Storms Trajectories in the Arabian Gulf,” Sustainability 9, no. 9 (2017), 1. 378 Marr Soniak, “Giant Middle East Dust Storm Caused by a Changing Climate, Not Human Conflict,” published in January 13, 2017, Princeton University, https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/01/13/giant- middle-east-dust-storm-caused-changing-climate-not-human-conflict. 379 Ibid. 380 Ibid. 171 common, and their impact unavoidable.” This study is alarming because if the global warming continues in the future due to the oil industry’s activities, then the health and other problems will persist in the region. Critics Jennifer Wenzel states that “given the environmental consequences of extraction and combustion for the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, it is impossible to think that the most pressing problem with oil is that there is not too little, but rather too much left to burn,”381 which [will] result in generating

“further ... [increases] in carbon emissions.”382

The subject of the environment and its relationship to petroculture is important and complex. Yet, in my aspiration to tackle this issue within the awareness of Arabian

Gulf artists, I discuss a selected group of significant artworks that deal with the issue of the environment from different angles. These works were selected according to the appropriateness of these issues to the theme of this dissertation as a whole.

In addition, by discussing sand and dust storms in the Arabian Gulf, I aspire to continue working on this matter artistically and theoretically in order to raise awareness and better understanding of the effect of petromodernity and petroculture on the environment and air pollution in this region. Accordingly, I undertake this project by continuing to collect photographs of sand storms from the region, as well as going myself to affected areas to document and record this devastating phenomenon in order to present a visual intervention of the subject at stake (Figure 4.6-4.9). Considered together, these

381 Jennifer Wenzel, “Introduction,” in Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment, eds, Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017), 5. 382 John Urry, “Consuming the Planet.” 172 visual and theoretical impulses generate a new stance on oil that is affecting modern life in the Arabian Gulf.

Figure 4. 9 Sand Storms in Saudi Arabia, (unknown city). 173

Figure 0. 10 Sand Storms in Saudi Arabia, (unknown city).

Figure 4. 11 Sand Storms in Kuwait City, March 2017. 174

Figure 4.72 Sand Storms in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, known time.

175

Conclusion

The unprecedented transformation of petromodernity in the Arabian Gulf’s landscape and culture during the twentieth century coincided with the formation of the

Arabian Gulf nation states. As such, the Arabian Gulf’s oil economy is considered to be an important factor in the stability and prosperity of these countries. With the creation of the modern nation states, this region is now divided into different states that forms the countries in Arabian Gulf. These nation states are: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab

Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. The region is also known as the Kahlij.

Petromodernity and its subsequent petroleum culture, or petroculture, served as the framework for this research analysis of the Arabian Gulf’s contemporary art. The project focused on how the works of art reflect manifestations of petroculture, and it aimed to lay out art as a mode of civic engagement and critical space in a discourse around the foreseeable complications of energy transition. This discussion aspires to open the possibility for continuous engagement of this topic within and beyond the region.

The interpretations of the Arabian Gulf’s art in art history scholarship and exhibition catalogues accentuated a continuous misconception and stereotypes, and has neglected the region’s petrocultural aspect.383 Tackling the sensorial and materialistic effects of petroculture in contemporary art provided a thorough account of the transformation of Arabian Gulf culture as well as marked the specificity of the region’s

383 Refer to chapter one for more discussion on the current discourse of Middle Eastern art, including the Arabian Gulf. 176 art as one that expresses anxiety and aspiration regarding petroculture, its future, and the current global discourse on energy.

Outside of this dissertation, the history of the Arabian Gulf’s transformation to petromodernity and the creation of petroculture is rarely considered in cultural and artistic affairs. The region is viewed as a wealthy and newly inhabited place despite the fact that this region shares a related culture and history that continues to influence its people linguistically, religiously, and artistically. The cultural bond between the countries of the Arabian Gulf includes dialect, similar environments, economies (i.e., dependency on oil), political structures (i.e., monarchies), and geographic proximity. The history of modernization in the region follows what historian Farah Al-Nakib argues regarding

Kuwait’s urban modernist planning:

the modernist story has been told as a linear, successful rags-to-riches narrative in which ... a coterie of international architects and planners and the state’s planning machinery heroically transformed Kuwait from a simple, sleepy, medieval town into a complex, dazzling, hypermodern city.384

As such, this project re-narrated the history of petroculture in the Arabian Gulf through the growing field of contemporary art. It provided a local vernacular in regard to energy, and energy transition in the form of contemporary art, and aimed to enhance petrocultural narratives worldwide. Thus, the dissertation highlighted the importance of grounding the analysis of contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf into issues of petroculture and petromodernity.

The dissertation identified three aspects of petroculture in art practices of the

384 Farah Al-Nakib, Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016), 17. 177

Arabian Gulf: transforming the religion landscape, creating a consumerist culture, and deteriorating the region environment.

Critical facts for the future stability of the Arabian Gulf and its economic dependency on oil have risen and include declining energy supplies, increasing energy consumption and demands domestically and globally, and the recent alarming development in the environment such as sand storms in the Arabian Gulf. The cultural transformation of the Arabian Gulf into a petrocultural milieu is at the core of this study on contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf. In Living Oil, LeMenager asserts that

“academic humanists in the United States and elsewhere, particularly those interested in the production of narratives across a variety of media, have something to contribute to a future that challenges tough oil.”385 LeMenager suggests that the notion of “materializing oil as a coherent narrative”386 leads to questions about how artists can collect memories of “oil’s material effects”387 and “materialize oil as a coherent narrative.”388

As such, chapter one, reflected on the status of contemporary art from the Arabian

Gulf and suggest ways to understand its evolving art scene. The chapter presented a critical dialogue of the ways by which art from this region is represented. Art critics and scholars have emphasized that, in the contemporary art discourse, art from the Middle

East is still presented from a Western perspective, which is a perspective that fails to

385 LeMenager, Living Oil, 184. Following Klare’s statement on how the oil industry refers to conventional oil resources as easy oil (described in Living Oil), but should, instead, be called “Tough Oil World,” LeMenager built upon this term throughout her Living Oil: “Tough oil is tough not just because it’s hard to get, but because the devastating scale of its externalities.” LeMenager, Living Oil, 3. 386 Ibid., 184. 387 Ibid., 184. 388 Ibid., 184. 178 comprehend the various approaches, themes, and interests these artists present. This discussion included an explanation of the problem of commodifying art by curators and gallery owners, especially in this critical time of rising interest in patronage and by art collectors of the Arabian Gulf art. The critics mentioned in this chapter have argued that this commodification facilitates the persistence of perpetual themes and stereotypes.

Thus, the vast themes and research interests in contemporary art necessitate the need to conduct selective readings of the arts rather than an inclusive reading. This selective reading requires a diverse approach to this region’s art. The chapter also examined the role played by leading art institutions and projects in the Arabian Gulf such as Edge of

Arabia and Sharjah Art Foundation in redefining contemporary Arabian Gulf art, and discussed the ways in which these institutions have established global artistic platforms and introduced contemporary art from the Arabian Gulf to a larger global audience.

Chapter two examined photographic urban landscapes by Ahmed Mater, Sami Al-

Turki, and Manal Al-Dowayan that illustrate the drastic petroscape shift in the region.

The chapter argued that this group of artworks highlight the conflict between the views of utopia and dystopia that have resulted from the transformation of petromodernity in the urban landscape of the Arabian Gulf. The artists introduced in this chapter reflected on petromodernity with a negative inclination that could be described as a dystopian depiction. Dystopia is understood through the artists’ concerns that the urban development in the country is replacing the natural landscape. Dystopia is also understood as fear related to the uncertain future of the region after the inevitable depletion of its oil reserves. 179

The chapter also examined the sense of anxiety found in these artworks.

Specifically, Mater’s depictions are considered as both an agent for modernization and a source of anxiety. Al-Turki’s ongoing fears regarding the future and stability of the region through depictions of petroscape are also discussed. Manal Al-Dowayan’s investment in issues related to the changing perceptions and status of women are considered within her artwork by modifying urban landscapes’ photography to reflect on the relations between women and urban landscape. Further, Al-Dowayan’s artworks incorporated physical samples of oil, interviews, and photography to recount the stories of individuals who worked in oil fields during the early history of oil extraction in Saudi

Arabia is included in this section as well.

In chapter three, I tackled the issue of consumerism in the Arabian Gulf as an outcome of petroculture. Consumerism is a reoccurring theme for many artists in this region, such as Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria, Saudi Arabian artist Saeed

Salem, Saudi Arabian artist Saddek Wasil, and Kuwaiti artist Monira Al-Qadiri.

Examining the petrocultural impacts of consumerism allows us to understand this emerging cultural behavior in the Arabian Gulf region and to find ways to counter existing social narratives. In their distinctive artistic renditions, the artists highlighted in this chapter reflect on consumerism in one of two ways: either by representing the act of consuming, as did Wasil simply by using empty shopping carts in The Shopping Carts, or in a more chaotic experience, as in Al Maria’s Everything Must Go, in which she intended to create an absurd and apocalyptic sensation that echoes the artist’s sentiment toward building massive shopping malls and the motivation behind accumulation and 180 greed. Contemporary art from this region is joining other contemporary art from outside the region in shedding light on the effects of consumerism on social relations, and contributing to a global discussion on petrocultural consumerism.

In chapter four, I examined the issue of the environment in the Arabian Gulf through the art practice of several Saudi Arabian artists, including Abdulnasser Gharem and Maha Malluh. Yet, in my aspiration to tackle this issue within the awareness of

Arabian Gulf artists, I discussed a selected group of significant artworks that deal with the issue of the environment from different angles. These works were selected according to the appropriateness of these issues to the theme of this dissertation as a whole. In addition, by discussing sand and dust storms in the Arabian Gulf, I aspire to continue working on this matter artistically and theoretically in order to raise awareness and better understanding of the effect of petromodernity and petroculture on the environment and air pollution in this region.

181

References

ʻAbd al-Ghanī, Muṣṭafá. ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Munīf wa-Mudun al-milḥ. Cairo: GEBO, 1993.

---. “Abdulnasser Gharem: Pause.” Accessed February 18, 2018.

http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/abdulnasser-gharem-pause

---. “About KACARE,” Accessed February 18, 2018.

https://www.kacare.gov.sa/en/about/Pages/royalorder.aspx

---. “Abdulnasser Gharem Biography.” Accessed February 18, 2018.

http://www.ayyamgallery.com/artists/abdulnasser-gharem/bio

Al-Ahmary, Sultan. “Al-Meftaha Art Village.” Accessed February 12, 2018.

http://www.alriyadh.com/440337

Al Arabiya. “Tracing the History of the Grand Mosque’s Expansion.” Accessed February

6, 2018. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/special-reports/hajj-

2013/2013/10/03/History-of-the-developments-of-the-grand-mosque-.html

Al-Dahaam, Noor, and Wadha Al-Nafjan. Interview by Rawya Aljared. October 11,

2017.

Al-Dowayan, Manal. “If I Forget You, Don’t Forget Me.” Aramco World: Arab And

Islamic Cultures And Connections, May/June 2015. Accessed September 10,

2015.

http://www.aramcoworld.com/issue/201503/if.i.forget.you.don.t.forget.me.htm

Al-Dowayan, Manal. “Nuqat 2013-Day 3-9/11/2013-Lecture 2 -Manal Al Dowayan.”

Accessed April 20, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkOruCL3dY 182

Al-Dowayan, Manal. “I Am.” Accessed September 12, 2017.

http://www.manaldowayan.com/i-am.html

Alexander, Samuel. “Peak Oil, Energy Descent, and the Fate of Consumerism,”

Simplicity Institute Report, January 15, 2012. Accessed September 20, 2017.

SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1985677 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.19856

77

Ali Al-Dousari, Modi Ahmed, and Domenico Doronzo, “Types, Indications and Impacts

Evaluation of Sand and Dust Storms Trajectories in the Arabian Gulf,”

Sustainability 9, no. 9 (2017).

Al-Qasimi, Hoor. “Salon | Case Study: Sharjah Art Foundation” Interview by Stephanie

Bailey. Art Basel, YouTube, March 24, 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZY1KSwNtvA

Ali, Yusuf. trans, The Holy Quran, (28) 38.

Ali, Tariq. “Farewell to Munif: A Patriarch of Arab Literature.” Accessed October 8,

2014. https://middleeast.library.cornell.edu/content/farewell-munif-patriarch-

arab-literature.

Ali, Wijdan. Modern Islamic Art. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.

Alissa, Reem. “The Oil Town of Ahmadi since 1946: From Colonial Town to Nostalgic

City.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33, no. 1

(2013): 41-58. 183

Allen, James. “Education and Teaching of Contemporary Art from the Middle East.”

Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art

Discourses. London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015.

Al Maria, Sophia. “Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert.” Accessed January 22,

2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDF1kYII97s

Al-Nakib, Farah. Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life. Stanford:

Stanford University Press, 2016.

Al Qadiri, Monira. “Livestream the Human Capital Forum.” Accessed January 18, 2018.

http://www.nuqat.me/en/nuqat-foundation

Alrubaie, Shawkat. Introduction to the Contemporary Art in Arab Land, Part Two.

Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2014.

Alsuliman, Abdulrahman. “The Saudi Artist who Died in Italy Alone.” Al-Hayat

Newspaper, Accessed January 18, 2018. Published January 30, 2004.

التشكيلي-/http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Hayat%20INT/2004/1/30

html.السعودي-محمد-السليم-الذي-رحل-وحيداً -في-ايطاليا

---. Al-Tarbiyah Al-Fania. “Saudi Visual Arts.” Accessed January 20, 2018.

https://sites.google.com/site/faniahgsqade/5443

Ayad, Myrna, and HRH Princess Jawaher Bint Majed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, eds.

Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now. Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014.

Al-Turki, Sami. “Biography.” Accessed February 7, 2018.

https://www.athrart.com/artist/Sami_Al%20Turki/biography/ 184

Al-Dowyan, Manal. “Biography.” Accessed September 12, 2017.

http://www.manaldowayan.com/manal-aldowayan.html

Barrett, Ross, and Daniel Worden, eds. Oil Culture. Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press, 2014.

Barrett, Ross. “Picturing a Crude Past: Primitivism, Public Art, and Corporate Oil

Promotion in the United States.” Journal of American Studies 46 (2012): 395-422.

Barrett, Ross, and Daniel Worden. “Oil Culture: Guest Edited by’ Introduction.” Journal

of American Studies 46 (2012): 269-272.

Batrawy, Aya. “Saudi Arabia’s Artists Discuss Muddying the Red Lines.” Accessed

September 10, 2015. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2014/Apr-

07/252492-saudi-arabias-artists-discuss-muddying-the-red-lines.ashx

Baudrillard, Jean. Symbolic Exchange and Death. Translated by Iian Hamilton Grant.

London: SAGE Publications, 1976.

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Mechanical Reproduction.” In Walter

Benjamin: Illuminations, translated by Harry Zohn, edited by Hannah Arendt,

217-251. New York: Schocken Books, 2007.

Beukes, Lauren. “Global Art Forum 10; The Future was Desert.” Accessed on January

22, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8awNnvuYQ

Bijsterveld, Karin. “Listening to Machines: Industrial Noise, Hearing Loss and the

Cultural Meaning of Sound.” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 31, no. 4: 2013,

323-337. 185

Boetzkes, Amanda, and Andrew Pendakis. “Visions of Eternity: Plastic and the Ontology

of Oil.” E-Flux Journal #47, 2013, 2. http://www.e-

flux.com/journal/47/60052/visions-of-eternity-plastic-and-the-ontology-of-oil/

Booth-Clibborn, Julia, and Ananda Pellerin, eds. Ahmed Mater. London: Booth-Clibborn

Editions, 2010.

Buell, Frederick. “A Short History of Oil Cultures: Or, the Marriage of Catastrophe and

Exuberance.” Journal of American Studies 46 (2012): 273-293.

Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and

the Beautiful. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Burtynsky, Edward. “Petroleum Planet.” Earth Island Journal, 2010. Accessed January

12, 2017. http://

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/petroleum_planet/

Cambana, Joseph. “Black Gold: Petroleum by-products Fuel Marina Zurkow's

Provocative Necrocracy FotoFest Show,” CultureMap. Accessed January 12,

2017. http://houston.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/03-25-12-marina-

zurkow-necrocracy-diverseworks-fotofest/#slide=0

Cole, Juan. Engaging the Muslim World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Coronil, Fernando. The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

---. “Dispatches.” Accessed January 7, 2018. http://culturunners.com/ 186

Dabashi, Hamid. “Trauma, Memory, and History.” Contemporary Art from the Middle

East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses. London: Tauris & Co

Ltd., 2015.

Daftari, Fereshteh. “Introducing Art From The Middle East And Its Diaspora Into

Western Institutions: Benefits And Dilemmas.” In Contemporary Art from the

Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses, edited by Hamid

Keshmirshekan. London: Tauris & Co Ltd, 2015.

Damluji, Mona. "Petrofilms and the Image World of Middle Eastern Oil." In

Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas, edited by Michael Watts,

Arthur Mason, and Hannah Appel. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2015.

---. Darat Safeya Binzagr. “The Beginnings.” Accessed January 22, 2018.

http://daratsb.com

---. “Desert of Pharan,” Ahmed Mater website.” Accessed February 6, 2018.

https://www.ahmedmater.com/desert-of-pharan

---. “Desert of Pharan/Room with a View.” Sharjah Art Foundation. Accessed April 25,

2015. http://www.sharjahart.org/projects/projects-by-date/2013/desert-of-

pharanroom-with-a-view

---. Edge of Arabia, “Featured Exhibition: The Armor Show, Focus: MENA,” official

website. Accessed March 20, 2017. http://edgeofarabia.com/exhibitions

---. Edge of Arabia, “Edge of Arabia US Tour 2014-2017,” official website. Accessed

March 20, 2017. http://edgeofarabia.com/featured_exhibitions/edge-of-arabia-us-

tour 187

El Hebeishy, Mohamed. “Kingdom’s Athr Gallery Shines at Art Dubai,” March 26, 2013.

Accessed April 20, 2015, http://www.arabnews.com/news/446056

Fakhreddine, Huda J. Metapoesis in the Arabic Tradition: From Modernists to

Muhdathun, Boston: Brill Academic, 2015.

Fuccaro, Nelida. "Introduction: Histories of Oil and Urban Modernity in the Middle

East." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33, no. 1

(2013): 1-6.

Foccaro, Nelida. “Shaping the Urban Life of Oil in Bahrain: Consumerism, Leisure, and

Public Communication in Manama and in the Oil Camps, 1932-1960s.”

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 33, no. 1 (2013):

59-74.

Gervey, James. The Ethics of Climate Change. London: Continuum, 2008.

Gharem, Abdulnasser. Interview by Henry Hemming. Accessed 2012, http://universes-in-

universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/abdulnasser_gharem.

Ghosh, Amitav. The Imam and the Indian. Ravi Dayal: Delhi, 2002.

---. Google. “Saudi Arabian Visual Arts.” Accessed February 21, 2018.

https://sites.google.com/site/faniahgsqade/5443

Green, Louise. “Nature.” In Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment,

edited by Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger. New York:

Fordham University Press, 2017.

Glotfelty, Cheryll. “Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis.” In

The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, edited by Cheryll 188

Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, xv-xxxvii. Athens: University of Georgia Press,

1996.

Hafiz, Mohammed. A Conversation with Sami Al-Turki; From There To Here, and

Inevitably into Eternity, Sami Al-Turki Solo Show. Jeddah: Athr Gallery Press,

2013.

Hardwick, Jeffrey. Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American

Dream. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Hassan, Saleh. Interviewed by Rawya Aljared. Ohio University. September 2015.

Heise, Ursula. Sense of Place and Sense of Planet. New York: Oxford University Press,

2008.

Hemming, Henry. “Abdulnasser Gharem.” In Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from

Saudi Arabia, edited by Stephen Stapleton and Edward Booth-Clibborn. London:

Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2012.

H. H. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi. “Biography.” Accessed February 11,

2018. http://sheikhdrsultan.ae/Portal/en/biography.aspx

Homer-Dixon, Thomas. The Upside of Down. London: Souvenir Press, 2006.

Issa, Rose. “Manal Al-Dowayan.” In Edge Of Arabia, edited by Stephen Stapleton and

Edward Booth-Clibborn, 88-111. London: Booth-Clibborn Edition, 2012.

Jameson, Frederic. "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism." In Postmodernism, or the

Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, 1-54. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991.

Kahn, Douglas. “The Aelectrosonic and Energetic Environments.” In Earth Sound Earth

Signal, 53–68. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. 189

Keshmirshekan, Hamid. “Introduction.” Contemporary Art from the Middle East:

Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses. London: Tauris & Co Ltd.,

2015.

Kholeif, Omar. “Everything Must Go by Sophia Al Maria.” January 12, 2018.

https://view.publitas.com/thethirdline/sophia-al-maria-everythingmustgo/page/2-3

---. “Kingdom’s Athr Gallery Shines at Art Dubai,” Arab News Website. Accessed April

20, 2015, http://www.arabnews.com/news/446056

---. King Abdulaziz Center. “Saudi Bridges.” Accessed on January 7, 2018.

http://www.kingabdulazizcenter.com/dima-portfolio/saudi-bridges/

Kluijver, Robert. “Desert of Pharan.” Accessed April 20, 2015.

http://ahmedmater.com/artwork/desert-of-pharan-1/literature/written-by-robert-

kluijver

Kraidy, Marwan. “Saudi-Islamist Rhetoric’s about Visual Culture.” Visual Culture in the

Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press: 2013, 277.

Lee, Martyn. Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption. New

York: Routledge, 1993.

LeMenager, Stephanie. Living Oil: Petroleum Culture in the American Century. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2014.

LeMenager, Stephanie. “The Aesthetics of Petroleum, after Oil!” American Literary

History 24 no. 1 (2012): 59-86. 190

LeMenager, Stephanie, and Stephanie Foots. “The Sustainable Humanities,” Modern

Language Association of America, (p. 572-578), 2012, 572, accessed on February

18, 2018,

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5437099be4b02e62e3f58d50/t/5648ec85e4b

05f53bf3ca118/1447619717502/The_Sustainable_Humanities.pdf

Lew, Christopher. “Back to the Futurist; Sophia Al Maria Black Friday.” Accessed on

January 22, 2018. http://whitney.org/Essays/SophiaAlMaria

Liinamaa, Saara. “Contemporary Art’s Urban Question and Practices of

Experimentation.” Third Text 28, no. 6 (2014): 529-544.

Lord, Christopher. “Sami Al- Turki.” In Edge of Arabia, edited by Stephen Stapleton and

Edward Booth-Clibborn, 236-251. London: Booth-Clibborn Edition, 2012.

Lord, Christopher. Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2012.

Luebbers, Leslie. Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis, TN. Memphis

Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee. October 12, 2017.

Mater, Ahmed. Interview by Rawya Aljared, March 2016. Pharan Studio, Jeddah, Saudi

Arabia.

Mater, Ahmed. “Desert of Pharan: Statement by the Artist about his Project.” Nafas Art

Magazine. April 2013. https://universes.art/nafas/articles/2013/ahmed-mater/

Mater, Ahmed. Desert of Pharan: Unofficial Histories Behind the Mass Expansion of

Mecca. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2016.

Maha Malluh, Interview by Author, February 5, 2018. 191

McLarney, Ellen. "Empire of the Machine: Oil in the Arabic Novel,” Boundary 2 no. 2

(Summer, 2009): 177-198.

Metz, Helen Chapin, trans. Saudi Arabia: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: GPO for

the Library of Congress, 1992.

---. “Mesocosm (Wink, Texas).” Accessed January 12, 2016. http://www.o-

matic.com/play/friend/mesocosmWINK/

---. “Mesocosm (Northumberland, UK).” Accessed January 12, 2017. http://www.o-

matic.com/play/friend/mesocosmUK

Mitchell, Timothy. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. New York:

Verso, 2013.

---. “Monira Al Qadiri.” Accessed January 18, 2018.

http://www.moniraalqadiri.com/about

Morton, Timothy. Ecology Without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Morton, Timothy. “Ecology.” In Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and

Environment, edited by Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger. New

York: Fordham University Press, 2017.

Munif, Abdelrahman. Cities of Salt. Translated by Peter Theroux. New York: Vintage

International, 1987.

Nancy, Jean Luc. “Art Today.” Accessed May 6, 2015.

http://vcu.sagepub.com/content/9/1/91.full.pdf+html 192

---. “New Event Series to Focus on Arts in the Anthropocene.” Accessed January 5, 2016.

https://www.ohio.edu/finearts/whats-happening/news-

story.cfm?newsItem=45B03CF5-5056-A81E-8DFED09979CACD82

Olien, Roger M., and Diana Davids Olien. Oil and Ideology: The Cultural Creation of the

American Petroleum Industry. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,

2000.

Onley, James. “Britain’s Informal Empire in the Gulf: 1820-1971.” Accessed February

11, 2018.

https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/downloads/Britain_s_Informal_Empire_in_

the_Gulf_1820-1971_2005.pdf

Perry, Edmund Warren. “Artist Talk.” Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in

Memphis, Tennessee by Brooks Museum, October 12, 2017.

Popper, Frank. "The Place of High-Technology Art in the Contemporary Art

Scene." Leonardo 26, no. 1 (1993): 65-69.

Qutb, Sayyid. The America I Have Seen, America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America

in Arabic Travel Literature: An Anthology, 1895-1995. Translated and edited by

Kamal Abdel-Malek. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Reynolds, Dwight F., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. “Saudi-US Relationships.” Accessed on October 8,

2014. https://www.saudiembassy.net/saudi-us-relations 193

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. “Economy and Global Trade.” Accessed on October 8,

2014. https://www.saudiembassy.net/economy-global-trade

Sackler Gallery of Art. Symbolic Cities: The Work of Ahmed Mater. Washington, D.C.,

2016.

Salem, Saeed. Interview by Rawya Aljared. February 4, 2018.

Salem, Saeed. “Saeed Salem.” Accessed January 22, 2018.

http://edgeofarabia.com/artists/saeed-salem

---. Saudi Aramco,” Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now, edited by Myrna

Ayad. Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014.

Scarborough, James. “A Conversation with Ahmed Mater, Co-Founder of Edge of

Arabia.” The Huffington Post. September 20, 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-scarborough/a-conversation-with-

ahmed_b_5602286.html

Sekula, Allan. “The Body and the Archive.” October 39 (Winter, 1986): 3-64.

Shabout, Nada. “Framing the Discipline of Contemporary Art of the Arab World

throughout the Press.” In Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional

Interactions with Global Art Discourses. London: Tauris & Co Ltd., 2015.

Sharjah Art Foundation. “Mission and History.” Accessed April 25, 2017.

http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/about/mission-and-history

Sharjah Art Foundation. “Initiatives and Programs.” Accessed December 18, 2017.

http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/about/initiatives-and-programmes 194

Sharjah Art Foundation. “Sharjah Biennial 13: Tamawuj.” Accessed December 18, 2017.

http://sharjahart.org/biennial-13

Shehab, Fakhri. “Kuwait: A Super-Affluent Society.” Foreign Affairs, April 1964.

February 18, 2018. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/kuwait/1964-04-

01/kuwait-super-affluent-society

Smith, Terry. “Our Contemporaneity?” In Contemporary Art: 1989 to the Present, edited

by Alexander Dumbadze and Suzanne Hudson, 20. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,

2013.

---. “Sophia Al Maria ‘Everything Must Go’ at the Third Line, Dubai,” Mousse

Magazine. Accessed January 22, 2017, http://moussemagazine.it/sophia-al-maria-

everything-must-go-third-line-dubai-2017/

Soniak, Marr. “Giant Middle East Dust Storm Caused by a Changing Climate, Not

Human Conflict.” Accessed February 18, 2018.

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/01/13/giant-middle-east-dust-storm-

caused-changing-climate-not-human-conflict

Stapleton, Stephen. Interview by Rawya Aljared. Brooks Museum. Memphis, TN.

October 11, 2017.

Stapleton, Stephen. “Stephen Stapleton on Artists.” In Contemporary Kingdom: The

Saudi Art Scene Now. Dubai: Canvas Central, 2014.

---. “Saudi Aramco,” In Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now. Dubai:

Canvas Central, 2014. 195

Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Zephyrs of Najd: The Poetics of Nostalgia in the Classic

Arabic Nasib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1993.

Stoekl, Allan. “Foreword.” In Oil Culture, edited by Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden, xi-

xiv. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

“Sundance Filmmaker Marina Zurkow and MESOCOSM: WINK, TEXAS.” Accessed

February 24, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql7GV_TyYk8&t=14s

Szeman, Imre. “System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster.” In South

Atlantic Quarterly 106, no. 4 (2007): 805-822.

Szeman, Imer, et al. After Oil. Edmonton: The Petrocultures Research Group at

University of Alberta, 2015.

Taylor, Diana. “Performance and Intangible Cultural Heritage.” In The Cambridge

Companion to Performance Studies, edited by Tracy C. Davis, 91-104.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Tedlow, Richard S. The Business History Review 54, no. 1 (1980): 135-36.

---. The official website of Monira Al Qadiri. Accessed Jan 18, 2018.

http://www.moniraalqadiri.com/about

---. The official website of Documenta. Accessed January 18, 2018.

https://www.documenta.de/en/retrospective/documenta11

---. The official website of Guggenheim Museum. Accessed February 12, 2018.

https://www.guggenheim.org/about-us

---. The official website of Misk Art Institute. Accessed February 12, 2018.

https://miskartinstitute.org 196

Tylor, Alan. “The Opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.” November 8, 2017. The Atlantic.

Accessed on Feb 13, 2018 at https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/11/the-

opening-of-the-louvre-abu-dhabi/545333/

Thalib, Lukman, and Al-Taiar. Abdullah. “Dust Storms and the Risk of Asthma

Admissions to Hospitals in Kuwait.” Sci. Total Enviroment 433 (2012): 347–351.

Thompson, Emily. “Introduction: Sound, Modernity, and History.” In The Soundscape of

Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America,

1900-1933, 1-12. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002.

Timothy, Morton. Ecology Without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Tsui, Kevin K. “More Oil, Less Democracy: Evidence From Worldwide Crude Oil

Discoveries.” The Economic Journal 121 (2010): 89-115.

Urry, John. Societies Beyond Oil: Oil Dregs and Social Futures. London: Zed Books,

2013.

Urry, John. “Consuming the Planet to Excess.” In Theory, Culture & Society 27(2-3).

U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Total Petroleum and Other Liquids Production

– 2016.” Accessed February 20, 2018.

http://www.eia.gov/countries/index.cfm?topL=con

Vasquez, Sybel. “A conversation with Sophia Al Maria.” published on September 25,

2017, video, 3:1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psu0rXVvKwQ&t=20s

---. Venice Biennale, Rhizoma (Generation in Waiting): Saudi Arabia at the 55th, edited

by Miriam Lloyd-Evans, ‘Exhibition catalogue.’ Accessed January 25, 2018. 197

https://artintheheartofsummer.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/rhizoma-generation-in-

waiting-saudi-arabia-at-the-55th-venice-biennale/

Wallace-Thompson, Anna. “Sophia Al Maria’s EVERYTHING MUST GO.” Accessed

March 28, 2017. http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/sophia-al-maria’s-

“everything-must-go”/

Walonen, Michael K. “‘The Black and Cruel Demon’ and Its Transformations of Space:

Toward a Comparative Study of the World Literature of Oil and Place.”

Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 14, no. 1 (2012): 56-78.

Warren, Perry. “Artist Talk.” Desert to Delta: Saudi Contemporary Art in Memphis,

Tennessee. Brooks Museum. October 12, 2017.

Wasil, Saddek. Interview by Rawya Aljared. January 26, 2018.

Wasil, Saddek. “Artist statement.” 21/39 Earth and Ever After (exhibition). Jeddah, Saudi

Arabia. March 2016.

Watts, Michael. “Petro-Violence: Community, Extraction, and Political Ecology of a

Mythic Commodity.” In Violent Environments, edited by Nancy Lee Peluso and

Michael Watts, 189-212. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Watts, Michael J. "Antimonies of Community: Some Thoughts on Geography, Resources

and Empire." Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 29, no. 2

(2004): 195-216.

Watts, Michael. Violent Environments. Edited by Nancy Lee Peluso and Michael Watts.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001. 198

Wenzel, Jennifer. “Petro-Magic-Realism: Toward a Political Ecology of Nigerian

Literature.” Postcolonial Studies 9 no. 4 (2006): 449–464.

Wenzel, Jennifer. “Introduction.” In Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and

Environment, edited by Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Patricia Yaeger. New

York: Fordham University Press, 2017.

Wilson-Goldie, Kaelen. “Off the Map: Contemporary Art in the Middle East.” In The

Future of Tradition, the Tradition of Future: 100 Years After the Exhibition

“Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art” in Munich, edited by Chris Dercon and

León Krempel, München: Prestel, 2010.

Wilson, Sheena. "Gendering Oil: Tracing Western Petrosexual Relations." In Oil Culture,

edited by Barrett Ross and Worden Daniel, 244-264. Minneapolis, MN:

University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

Winkler, Stefan. “Cultural Heritage-Authenticity-Tradition: On the Origin of The

Exhibition’s Title “Mustaqbal Al-Asala-Asalat Al-Mustaqbal” The Future Of

Authenticity- The Authenticity Of The Future in Contemporary Arab Discourse,”

in The Future of Tradition, the Tradition of Future: 100 Years After the

Exhibition “Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art” in Munich, edited by Chris

Dercon and León Krempel. München: Prestel, 2010.

Xinos, Dana. “Petro-capitalism, Petrofiction, and Islamic discourse: The Formation of an

Imagined Community in Cities of Salt.” Arabic Studies Quarterly 28, no. 1

(2006): 1-12. 199

Ziser, Michael G. “The Oil Desert.” In American Studies, Ecocriticism, and Citizenship:

Thinking and Acting in the Local and Global Commons, edited by Joni Adamson

and Kimberly N. Ruffin, 76-86. New York: Routledge, 2013.

Ziser, Michael G. “Home Again: Peak Oil, Climate Change, and the Aesthetics of

Transition.” In Environmental Criticism for the 21st Century, edited by Stephanie

LeMenager, Teresa Shewry, and Ken Hiltner, 181-195. New York: Routledge,

2011.

Zurkow, Marina. “The Return of the Really Realest Real.” Interview by Rachel Cooper,

Fluent Collab.org, April 20, 2012, print.

http://www.fluentcollab.org/mbg/index.php/interview/index/188/124

Zuromskis, Catherine. “Petroaesthetics and Landscape Photography.” In Oil Culture,

edited by Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden, 289-308. Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press, 2014.

---. “28 Nov. Offshore Interactive Documentary.” Accessed January 20, 2017.

http://petrocultures.com/offshore-interactive-documentary

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Thesis and Dissertation Services ! !