Modern Art in the Gulf – Beginnings and Milestones

June 21, 2025

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM (KSA Time)
Project Space – Hayy Jameel

In this lecture, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, UAE-based writer and art collector, will discuss the emergence of modern art in the Gulf region, its deep and intrinsic connection to nation-building projects, as well as to its societal reception and evolution throughout the following decades.

As old identities eroded and new national ones were formed, some artists from Kuwait to Oman sought to utilise their art to celebrate national affinities and aspirations. Others reflected a sense of nostalgia and longing for another reality, reacting to what they considered a swift disintegration of centuries-old dynamics, sacrosanct traditions and spaces by the tide of modernity.

This lecture will explore this polyphonic dialogue between a diverse pool of artists in the region and their complex relationships with the wider social and cultural actors.

This lecture accompanies Hayy Arts’ current landmark group exhibition ‘Redrawing the Boundaries: Art Movements and Collectives of the 20th Century Khaleej’, curated by Dr. Aisha Stoby; the talk will be followed by a curator-led tour (6-7pm)

Registration required

Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is an Emirati columnist and researcher on social, political and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf States. He is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established in 2010 to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region. He has taught ‘Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art’ at New York University, Yale University, Georgetown University, Boston College, The American University of Paris, Brandeis University, Harvard Kennedy School, Columbia University and Bard College Berlin. In 2023, Sultan completed a Fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and in 2024, Sultan was a Research Associate at SOAS Middle East Institute, London. Sultan is currently an Instructor at the American University of Sharjah.

(Photo credit: Sebastian Boettcher)