Saving the Best for Last: Exploring Dubai & Sharjah

Abu Dhabi's new souq

Abu Dhabi Corniche

 My time here has come to a close - and I spent the last weekend of my two and a half-month long jaunt across the Middle East in Dubai and Sharjah. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE, and of course the site of my dissertation research, but ...there is something about massive cities in the desert where you drive fast with the stereo up loud and the cities are criticized for being modern and soulless, but they are places where larger-than-life dreams come alive. They are cities of possibility. Los Angeles is one of these, and I didn't expect to like it before I lived there and fell in love with it. Maybe that's why Dubai immediately felt right to me: I recognized the humming of energy and big dreams. Emily Dickinson said it best: I dwell in possibility.

The Burj Khalifa by night

I stayed at the Ramada Downtown Dubai, right next to the Burj Khalifa. It is the tallest building in the world, and it's really beautiful. The hotel was really great, too. It was a quick (but sweaty) walk to Ara Gallery around the corner, which had a really beautiful exhibition on Arabic calligraphy. If I hadn't been so desperate to see Rob, I might have pawned my ticket back just to buy something so beautiful to look at.

Ara Gallery, Downtown Dubai

Backstage

I also drove up to the Museum of Islamic Civilization in Sharjah. Getting there from Dubai wasn't a directionally complex story, but the roads got skinnier and the traffic didn't slow down accordingly, so it was a bit harrowing. And the signs didn't point to where they were supposed to, which is always disconcerting. I was really thankful I had paid $7/day for the GPS, it proved invaluable.

Sharjah, of all the Gulf cities, has the jump on museums. The government has about 16 of them, incorporating various facets of Gulf history and built heritage. Many of them are located along the Corniche in or near the Arts Area in the heart of Sharjah. The Museum of Islamic Civilization is located in a former souq, and it's a really long skinny building that's quite beautiful. Due to Ramadan, entry was free and there was free parking. Fantastic!

Museum of Islamic Civilization in Sharjah, UAE

 The museum's ground floor is dedicated to temporary exhibitions, a hall on Islamic faith, and a hall about Islamic scientific and technological innovations. The display above was entitled "stretching assist." Uhm....what? When paired with the drawing behind the little mock-up, and the slicing & dicing tools in the foreground...call it what it is, folks!

Upstairs, the galleries attend to Islamic decorative arts chronologically. The museum houses over 5000 artifacts in total, and many of them are just stunningly beautiful.

After the museum, I headed to Maraya Art Center. I thoroughly enjoyed this place, even if I had to do some minor off-roading in my Mitsubishi Lancer (that's right!) to get there.  

It's the Middle East, so yes, obviously it's about camels...

Installation from The Beginning of Thinking is Geometric

by Basmah Felemban

Both the exhibitions were excellent. The Beginning of Thinking Geometric felt akin to exhibitions in New York & LA, big open white cubes that are covered in various interpretive contemporary art. In a different vein, the RE:Oriented exhibit of Arab modernists was thought-provoking (even if there was only one female artist included). While the security guard followed me around the exhibit, and I was the only one there at the time, it wasn’t as awkward or oppressive as some similar experiences have been (ie, Crafts Museum in Bucharest, Romania – that security guard takes the prize for creeper guards). At the end, he handed me a pretty sweet canvas tote with the exhibition catalogue and a bunch of swag inside. I’m a grad student, so please understand I am extremely susceptible to being bribed with free swag or food.

While in Dubai, I thought I’d check out Al Serkal Avenue, which is a trendy new consortium of galleries that have set up shop in the warehousey, industrial area of Al Quoz. Many galleries are closed or operating on restricted hours for Ramadan & August (because, really, who leaves their air-conditioned office, car or home during this heat? Really.). This crazy girl, apparently. A half-block walk from where I parked into Ayyam Gallery had me coated in a slick film of sweat, and I wished there were some way to un-awkwardly hang out in the entryway and cool down sufficiently under the A/C before any of the immaculate gallery attendants saw my pink face. Alas.

On Saturday, I visited a colleague at his university office at Al Ayn. In two days, I put 700km on the rental car and visited 3 of the top 4 cities in the UAE – much more movement and activity than two weeks in Abu Dhabi. I couldn’t help but think, at the end of my first research trip here (inshallah, one of many, if I do my job well!)…I think we, Westerners who reside in the West, perhaps judge expats in Dubai and Abu Dhabi unfavorably at times. But this is a place where people who don’t belong anywhere can belong, and as someone who belongs nowhere and cringes at the question “Where are you from?” I understand the desire to live somewhere that question is irrelevant. My professor friend here said that belonging and citizenship are different things. They are. And one of my interviewees told me, “The great thing about Abu Dhabi is that you come here, no matter who you are, and you are accepted. It is open.” And it is incredibly diverse – more than just a lip service diversity.* The UAE has made itself a land of dreams coming true, of big aspirations, of grandiose plans, and a desire to shape the future. We can criticize the Gulf and its expats for this, but at the end of the day… at least they’re going for what they want. They're doing. By putting it out there, they change the terms of the conversation and make it necessary to acknowledge them. And they may just represent a post-nationalist way of belonging.

*To be clear, diversity does not always mean equality and there are always discrimination and exploitation issues where migrant labor is involved.