How has living in Asia furthered or challenged your curatorial vision?
During my time in Beijing, working for UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, I witnessed how the global art world is still largely a hegemonically Western construct. As I returned to Europe amidst the pandemic, I was interested in China’s global influence, and the connotations of the country in media.In 2021, I worked for the inaugural Diriyah Biennale in Saudi Arabia, where I noticed similar dialogues taking place. The title of the Biennale came from the Chinese slogan saying, “crossing the river by feeling the stones,” which delineates a steady attitude towards socio-cultural exploration in the face of new things.
Reflecting on my time and interest in the region, Albion Jeune was inaugurated after our John Pawson renovation with an exhibition by Alia Ahmad, whose work continues the legacy of Middle Eastern landscape painting, yet draws on the lush characteristics of Riyadh’s industrialised desert, the colours of Al Sadu textiles woven by nomadic Bedouin tribes, and the calligraphic lyricism of the oldest form of the Arabic script, khatt.
Okwui Enwezor famously discussed the “will to globality,” whereby curators and scholars flocked to biennials to de-centre the hegemonic art machine of the West. In the context of the emergence of the Global South, art hubs of the periphery set the stage for relevant and integral discussions about the existing narrative of modern art history, as well as the future.
