Eye on Design designer Tala Safie recommended an article last week from the magazine Bidoun: “Louvre Me Tender: soft power plays” by Rahel Aima is a smart, incisive, thoroughly engaging piece on the Louvre Abu Dhabi, “the first overseas franchise of the Louvre museum,” which opened in November. Aima’s review of the new Louvre is embedded within the context of the UAE’s eagerness to become a cultural capital, and against a backdrop of global dynamics. It also gives a helpful overview art and design in the Gulf (peppered with the type of rich and off-kilter descriptions that serve to animate the whole piece):
“If the UAE was a petrol pump—roll with me here—Dubai would be the high-octane Ultra HurricaneX 2000 premium version, Sharjah would be diesel, and Abu Dhabi… I guess Abu Dhabi would just be regular? At risk of broad strokes, we might characterize Dubai’s art scene as being primarily commercial, defined by its glitzy art fair, its galleries, and its first-in-class duty-free offshore storage facilities. Sharjah, meanwhile, is known for its long-term commitment to arts infrastructure through the activities of the Sharjah Art Foundation, its biennial, and its sister museums. Sharjah presents as organic, authentic, unthreatening; its arts areas are even somewhat pedestrian-friendly. (People love the idea of walking outside.) You can become fond of Sharjah in a way that Dubai will never let you. Abu Dhabi’s strategy has been very much one of importing famous brands and hiring brand-name architects to design them.” Read the full thing here.