Dubai Next: Face of 21st Century Culture

Dubai represents a fascinating rebuttal of the idea that time is the key to achieving cultural depth. The largest city in the United Arab Emirates has evolved from an invisible fishing village to an omnipresent global city in only a few decades, and has left the rest of the world clinging to the tassels of the magic carpet on which it rides. Dubai’s aesthetic is unabashedly broad in its vision, encompassing the entire globe, yet specific in its mission: the tallest tower, the most opulent hotel, the largest land reclamation project. It is no surprise then that the state-run culture authority hired one of the world’s most renowned architects to curate an exhibition of images tasked with answering the question “what does ‘culture’ mean in a city like Dubai?”.

For Rem Koolhaas, “almost always, Dubai is interpreted, presented and discussed as an exception”. It is a city outside the paradigm and beyond comparison. However, Koolhaas has looked beneath the glittering façade and found that “beyond the tourism Babel on which its current fame is based, Dubai is turning into a vast mosaic of (sub)cultures – a unique urban assembly of the locals, the expats, the part-time, the traders, the workers, the rich, the poor, the serious, the frivolous”. In this regard, the culture of the place cannot be discussed in the singular, but rather viewed as a gloriously efficient model for the coexistence of discrete cultures, all of which are subsumed within a generic city that leaves no idiosyncratic imprint.

The language of urbanism, of assemblies and municipal evolution, is trademark Koolhaas. The Dutch architect is one of the most acclaimed in the field, having won the Pritzker Prize in 2000, and was this year named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Over thirty years Koolhaas has built one of the world’s most respected architectural practices by following an unswerving dedication to recognising the human scale in urban environments. This dedication has remained as his experience of urban environments has grown from Rotterdam to include the European capitals, New York and recent fyosra into Beijing. A decade ago Koolhaas proposed the idea of the ‘generic city’ to characterise the development of global cities – profoundly identical places whose inhabitants exist in a global rather than local realm. Dubai arguably represents the epitome of the globalised city and the context of twenty-first cnetury urbanism in which such cities exist, so while characterising it may be a challenge to Koolhaas, it is unlikely to be an insurmountable one.

While Koolhaas’ sociological analysis is located in a global context, the vision of his co-curator is firmly grounded in the everyday lives of the artists who call Dubai home. Jack Persekian sees “the intensity of life, the mix of peoples, the undulations of commerce, the capriciousness of wealth, and an unremittingly changing landscape” as drivers of an “emerging and charged context for creating art”. The artists of Dubai work in a city which “constantly accommodates paradox: forcing its residents to question the scalar relationships between domestic life and global urbanism”. However, Persekian does not believe Dubai’s accommodating attitude extends past the paradox: artists must respond to an unsympathetic and fast-paced life, with many choosing to shield themselves from this complex and impatient society by focusing on peculiarities in their own lives, sometimes seemingly inconsequential yet in many ways telling and poignant.

Persekian is perhaps uniquely placed to empathise with Dubai’s artists. A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, Persekian’s identity is also heavily influenced by a narrative of displacement. His choices for the DUBAI NEXT exhibition illustrate this – images of humble mortals whose interests are subordinated to development; traditional icons staring into a future where their existence is threatened; and symbols of pride foregrounded to national flags. His contribution recognises the oxymoronic environment in which Dubai exists: desert and bloom, tradition and skyscrapers, and an indoor ski-slope in the desert.

Persekian and Koolhaas bring to their exhibition a conversation on localism in a global age. In a world beset by historical divisions and uncertainty as to the future, Dubai is discovering the unexpected possibility of a truly global culture. As Koolhaas says, “architecture can’t do anything that the culture doesn’t.” +

1 "Held back", series, Spring 2006, Reem Al Ghaith. An inhabitant surveys the increasingly jagged and monochrome Dubai skyline. The placement of the observer is a frame is a comment on both the transferable and showcase nature of the city. 2 Dubai Next, Firestation, Vitra Campus, 05.06 - 14.09.2008. Photo: Thomas Dix. An anecdotal map of Dubai. Most of the text is commentary on the communities. 3 "C-Series", Tarek Al Ghussein. The artist is represented by Third Line Gallery, Dubai. Is it possible for humanity to tame the sky where it meets the sand? 4 Photo: Mohammed Kazem. The artist is represented by The Flying House, Dubai. The eternal paradox whereby one of the world's most barren lands sires a rich culture of vibrant colours. 5 Photo: Jalal Abuthina. While some believe Dubai's leadershave a singular tunnel vision in the pursuit of their goals, others believe it to be focus. 6 Dubai Next, Firestation, Vitra Campus, 05.06 - 14.09.2008. Photo: Thomas Dix. An anecdotal map of Dubai. Most of the text is commentary on the communities. 7 Photo: Jalal Abuthina. A study in chiaroscuro: the imposing face of modern living. The half-completed Burj Dubai spindles into the heavens in contrast to the people of the land from which it rises.