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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

A Rare Glimpse of the Art and Culture of Arab Countries

The “FLUID FORM I - Arab Contemporary Art and Urban Design” exhibition was presented at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center (May 18-24, 2010), through the cooperative efforts of the Korea Foundation, Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Arab embassies in Seoul, and the Korea-Arab Society.



The year 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In line with Korea’s efforts to bolster its cooperative relations with Arab countries in the Middle East, the Korea-Arab Society (KAS) was founded in 2008. The KAS has organized the Arab Cultural Festival as an annual event in an effort to promote personal networks, facilitate resource diplomacy, and encourage exchange and cooperation between Korea and 22 Arab countries. The Korea Foundation has extended support to each of the three Arab Cultural Festival events thus far, including an exhibition of the works of Thuraya Al-Baqsami, a highly regarded painter from Kuwait, in 2008. This year, the Foundation provided assistance to an exhibition, entitled “FLUID FORM I - Arab Contemporary Art and Urban Design,” which provided viewers with a rare opportunity see the contemporary art works of prominent Arab artists, together with an overview of the urban design initiatives being applied in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, where a futuristic metropolis is rapidly being constructed.

The World and the Self
The exhibition introduced contemporary art works of various genres, including photography, cinema, and video art, by artists from such countries as Syria, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine. Among the participing artists, Faisal Samra, a citizen of Saudi Arabia who resides in Bahrain, is an especially versatile artist whose artistic career includes drawing, painting, and sculptural works, in addition to the installation, digital photography, and performance art forms. He strives to express a critical viewpoint toward the ways of today’s society and the surrounding world, through such fundamental themes as identity and memory.
In particular, his video installation work on display, “Distorted Reality (Looking in the Hole) 2007,” is an example of his critical . In this work, video images are projected from the ceiling onto a of sand on the floor through what appears to be a hole. However, the hole is actually a visual illusion d special lighting effects. Meanwhile, the video depicts a series of slowing changing scenes that represent the passing of time during a day. By forcing viewers to look through the “hole” to observe the scenes, the artist encourages us to examine the relationship between the world and the self, as well as our perception of reality.
The exhibition also featured the photographic works of Manal Al Dowayan, of Saudi Arabia, who sought to portray the status of Arab women in Islamic society, along with that of Mohammed Kazem, of the UAE, whose series of photos captured the extensive urban development of cities around the Gulf region.



Futuristic Urban Design
Based on its abundance of natural resources, the Arab region has been developing itself into a center of international finance and leisure activities. Indeed, the region’s affluence has fueled a proliferation of one-of-a-kind projects designed by world-leading architects, including mega-scale hotels, commercial complexes, residential areas, and public facilities. During the Middle East construction boom of the 1970s and 1980s, Korean contractors actively participated in numerous construction projects, including the development of large-scale infrastructure works. Nowadays, the Arab countries are promoting highly innovative urban development projects, which emphasize environmental protection, long-term sustainability, and coexistence with nature. In this way, the high-profile Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island in Dubai, has attracted a large number of international celebrities, while the construction of similar developments is underway as well. Of note, world-leading financial groups, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have advanced into Dubai. The exhibition introduced the urban design initiatives of various regions in the Gulf, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjha. Of note, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, generates an annual GNP of some $187 billion. And while it is said to possess about 9 percent of the world’s oil reserves, its primary source of revenue is related to the construction and financial sectors. The city commenced large-scale construction projects and urban planning efforts in the mid 1960s, which included the development of stadiums, airports, and hotels, in cooperation with British engineers and European architects. In 2008, Abu Dhabi broke ground for the development of Masdar, a cutting-edge ecocity, which features the latest in renewable energy, material recycling, and auto-free transport.

The exhibition “FLUID FORM I - Arab Contemporary Art and Urban Design” was a meaningful occasion to acquire an understanding of the culture, history, and life of the Arab region, with which Korea has recently sought to develop closer cooperation. It is thus hoped that the Arab Cultural Festival will become an even more effective means to realize cultural exchange between Korea and countries of the Arab region.

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