Jazz and film festivals, fashion weeks, book fairs, art biennales, and exhibitions are now becoming a part of the cultural fabric in Saudi Arabia, alongside ambitious plans to build multiple museums. Welcome to 21st-century Saudi Arabia, where culture is emerging as a strong force aimed at triumphing over conservative religious ideology. Ever since Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled his Vision 2030 eight years ago, the kingdom has been placing significant bets on culture to attract tourism and thereby bolster its economy.
To further this vision, the country has already expended about $1.25 trillion on mega building projects, according to global real estate consultants Knight Frank. These projects include such ambitious initiatives as the Red Sea Project, where archeological sites, islands, and waters akin to the Maldives are expected to draw visitors. The kingdom’s efforts are finding fans, including the renowned footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved there two years ago with his family. Ronaldo has been taking to social media recently to express his admiration for the land and its culture, sharing multiple posts highlighting his positive experiences.
Among other ongoing initiatives is the development of AlUla, a 2,000-year-old historic site on the ancient incense route, replete with caves and tombs, being transformed into a cultural destination. It boasts two major museums currently under development: a contemporary art museum supported by the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of the Incense Road. These museums are among 15 cultural properties planned for the area.
This newfound cultural embrace is resulting in sundry conferences and events across Saudi Arabia. One such event was the inaugural Future Culture Summit, hosted earlier this year in AlUla. Designed to explore the various ways culture can advance human thought, the summit seemed particularly apt given the political turmoil in the region.
The summit featured distinguished speakers such as Laurent Le Bon, president of the Centre Pompidou, and Nora Razian of Dubai’s Jameel Arts Center, and kicked off with the third edition of Desert X AlUla, an immersive open-air art exhibition. The setting itself seemed a perfect metaphor for the scale of what the kingdom is trying to achieve. Co-curated by Oxford-based Maya El Khalil and Brazilian documentary filmmaker Marcello Dantas, the exhibition, titled “In the Presence of Absence,” featured artworks that explored themes of trade, migration, and time. “Deserts are full of life, they are full of history and full of different kinds of life forms… so how do we learn from that environment,” noted El Khalil.
.
Guests attending the summit had the opportunity to tour various art installations, including Kimsooja’s notable work titled “To Breathe.” “There are not so many countries in the world where among the first possibilities for development is culture,” remarked Le Bon, while Jerome Sans, who co-founded Palais de Tokyo, a centre for contemporary creation, found it fascinating that Saudi Arabia recognized the importance of culture. “Culture opens doors to possibilities, and that is what is happening here now. My colleagues from other institutions, artists, curators, thinkers are here because Saudi is one of the most interesting laboratories of the future — they are rethinking how they should adapt.”
One of the summit’s most captivating performances was by Professor Eduardo Miranda of the University of Plymouth in the U.K., who demonstrated how quantum computers can help create music by mapping brain waves, with potential benefits for people with special needs. Additionally, on the sidelines, an art exhibition showcased Saudi art from the past 25 years, held at Maraya, the world’s largest mirrored building. This exhibit reflected the diversity and complexity of a nation often viewed monolithically from the outside.
“This is a region where a lot has been spoken about, but not much has been heard from,” said Abdullah Al Rashid, director of the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran. “We’ve been running the Saudi film festival for 10 years [over 400 Saudi films are exhibited annually] and this year our guest program will be from India, not just Bollywood but independent films too.” Given the preponderance of Western experts involved in building the kingdom’s future cultural infrastructure, questions have been raised about why geographically proximate neighbors like India do not have more involvement.
With 63% of its 37 million population under age 30, Saudi youth are helping drive much of this change. Loulwa Al Sharif, who performed underground until 2018 when it became legal for women to sing in public, exemplifies this shift. She is the kingdom’s first female singer to perform at public concerts and describes her own experience as living proof of significant change.
Of her first public performance, she recalls, “I was nervous, my hair was uncovered, and the women in the audience were covered, but they were so supportive and they sang along. They came up to me afterwards to say how much they loved my performance. Finally, we have a platform and a chance to be who we are.”
Published – September 06, 2024 05:13 pm IST
The Hindu Sunday Magazine
/
culture (general)
/
arts, culture and entertainment
