Recomended

Edge of Arabia exhibition

SOAS in UCL held an exhibition of contemporary Saudi Art. Having spent a few years living in the Middle East this was an exhibition that appealed to me as contemporary art is definately not something that i assocuiated at all with my time living in Egypt and Oman.
Oman aprticularly borders Saudi Arabia and has close ties to it.
The exhibition was from 17 Saudi artists.

It was very inspiring, the work covered diverse media from painting to video to sculpture. However what most stood out was the deeply imbedded spiritual and personal nature of all the pieces. Issues of family, religion, relationships, politics, identity and human rights drove all the work and coupled with amazing ambition and creativity made for a great experience and exhibition.

From a landscape/spatial perspective, I noticed a particular emphasis on personal/spiritual relationships associated with space. Obviously places of religious significance but also with regard to buildings/streets and the natural landscape.

One particular piece stood out looking through a Landscape Architecture lens was entitled Flora and Fauna, created by Abdulnasser Gharem. It was of the artist wrapped in plastic holding a Cornocarpus Erectus tree, (one commonly imported from Australia by the Saudi government for its beauty) that is having a disastorous effect on the local environment.
Within the plastic the artist managed to survive for hours from the oxygen emitted by the tree.
The was a good note on the trade off between desire for aesthetic quality in the short term and the longevity and sustanability of this quality, and also of the tree or (or any living phenomena for that matter) as a furnishing rather than a integral part of the landscape.
As on our course we have to consider the design implications of time, I found this to be particularly interesting.

www.edgeofarabia.com has more details.