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Revision as of 15:33, 14 November 2012 by Vermeer100 (talk | contribs) (→Gulf Futurism)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Sophia Al Maria is an artist, writer, and filmmaker. She studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, and aural and visual cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work has been exhibited at the Gwangju Biennale, the New Museum in New York, and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. Her writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, Five Dials, Triple Canopy, and Bidoun. She originated the concept of "Gulf Futurism". This concept was discussed by Bruce Sterling in his column in Wired magazine
Her memoir The Girl Who Fell To Earth will be published by HarperCollins on November 27, 2012
Gulf Futurism
Gulf Futurism is a term coined Sophia Al Maria to explain an existing phenomena she has observed in architecture, urban planning, art, aesthetics and popular culture in the post-oil Arabian Gulf.
Her interest in these areas arises from her youth growing up in the Gulf during the 80’s and 90’s, experiences she describes in The Girl Who Fell To Earth.
Definition
Sharing some qualities with 20th century movements like Futurism, Gulf Futurism is evident in the agenda of the dominant class of this region, concerned with master planning and world building, and with a local youth culture that exhibits an asset bubble fuelled sense of entitlement and is preoccupied with fast cars and fast technology.
“The Arabian Gulf is a region that has been hyper-driven into a present made up of interior wastelands, municipal master plans and environmental collapse, thus making it a projection of a global future.
The themes and ideas present in Gulf Futurism include the isolation of individuals via technology, wealth and reactionary Islam, the corrosive elements of consumerism on the soul and industry on the earth, the replacement of history with glorified heritage fantasy in the collective memory and in many cases, the erasure of existing physical surroundings.
Informed by texts such as Baudrillard’s The Illusion of the End, As-Sufi’s Islamic Book of the Dead and Zizek’s The Desert of the Unreal, Gulf Futurism also uses imagery from Islamic eschatology, corporate ideology, posthumanism and the global mythos of Science Fiction.” From “ Sci Fi Wahabi” by Sophia Al Maria
Origins
The concept originated in a 2007 essay called “The Gaze of Sci Fi Wahabi” which was made available as a limited edition book and can also be seen on a related website. More recently it was the subject of a feature entitled "Deserts of the Unreal" in Dazed & Confused Magazine which declares the article gives "the scoop on Gulf futurist and video artist Sophia Al-Maria" and states “Sophia Al-Maria's coined the term Gulf Futurism” , Renowned science fiction author Bruce Sterling discussed the concept in his regular column in Wired Magazine
The influential Dutch art institution Impakt, which presents critical and creative views on contemporary media culture and innovative audiovisual arts in an interdisciplinary context included discussion of the concept during its 2012 festival, stating in its catalogue for the exhibition "No More Westerns" that "Sophia Al-Maria is interested in that which is coming. Her work as a writer, filmmaker and artist focuses on Gulf Futurism and the inkling that the state of the contemporary Arabian Gulf is a premonition of our global future. She is based in Doha, Qatar. Her project “Sci-Fi Wahabi,” as illustrated by videos and essays, is an epic deep-dive into a displaced futurism that can only be glimpsed through the contemporary-surrealism of the Gulf States".
The concept is also cited by the website “Islam and Science Fiction”
"Scout"
This interest is further explored in her entry for the 2012 Gwangju Biennale "Scout" , an internationally renowned art event. “Scout”, a sculpture and sound installation which makes use of an echoing voice inside a mysterious fibre glass sculpture. The soundtrack includes an Arabic excerpt from the 1977 Voyager spacecraft's golden record of sounds from Earth and it's inhabitants. This piece was reviewed in the worlds leading art magazine Flash Art
Some Examples
Examples of Gulf Futurism can be seen in urban planning in cities such as Dubai and architectural bids such as the Al-Haram Masjid Mecca Expansion. The obsession with master plans is evident in the Qatar 2030 Vision document. There are also individual artists such as musician Fatima Al Qadiri, who are concerned with its ideas as well as artists from previous generations such as Khalifa Al Qattan, Hassan_Sharif and Mahmoud Sabri.
References
- Sophia Al-Maria (2010-03-24). "Sophia Al-Maria from HarperCollins Publishers". Harpercollins.ca. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
- http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/15040/1/feature-the-desert-of-the-unreal
- http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/11/gulf-futurism/
- The Girl Who Fell to Earth: A Memoir. "The Girl Who Fell to Earth: A Memoir: Sophia Al-Maria". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
- http://scifiwahabi.blogspot.com
- http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/15040/1/feature-the-desert-of-the-unreal
- http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=1324801804&targetid=profile
- http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/11/gulf-futurism/
- http://impakt.nl/headquarters/news/festival-exhibition-no-more-westerns/
- http://www.the-propeller-group.com/news
- http://islamscifi.com/sci-fi-wahabi/ which declares that "Sophia Al-Maria's work is mainly fused with futurism in the Gulf region".
- http://www.gwangjubiennale.org/eng/
- http://vimeo.com/49052707
- http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=onweb_det&id_art=903&det=ok&articolo=Photo-reportage-from-the-9th-Gwangju-Biennale:-ROUNDTABLE
- http://thesunnivoice.com/2008/01/29/new-expansion-to-masjid-al-haram-makkah/
- http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/gsdp_en/qatar_national_vision
- http://www.quantumrealism.co.uk