Sanat Līmani, Istanbul, Turkey
Organised by
Edge of Arabia
Curated by
Progress Art
As part of the official exhibition programme of the European Capital of Culture 2010, Edge of Arabia presented TRANSiTION, the two-month closing exhibition of Istanbul 2010. This was Edge of Arabia’s most ambitious exhibition to date, and the largest ever showing of Gulf artists in Turkey.
Through the artists’ visions, we bear witness to a world in transition; a world where political, cultural and physical realities are in dramatic flux, and where the central axes of identity and faith are adapting to the influences of technology, consumer culture and the global information age. Saudi contemporary art has taken a big step forward in recent years, and we are very proud to co-curate Edge of Arabia in Istanbul, a capital city of cultural importance and the symbolic borderland between East and West.
Ahmed's work featured in TRANSiTION alongside 21 other emerging Saudi artists, all representing a new wave pushing the boundaries of contemporary art practice in the Kingdom. The works spanned a full range of installation, performance, photography, painting, video and sculpture, with the artists representing a new generation of creative voices, reaching out across borders.
The title TRANSiTION referenced the extraordinary era of change that young Saudi artists are living through to this date, and how many of them had chosen to document shifting conceptions of self, faith, culture and society in their work.