JEDDAH: Contemporary artists and architects are flocking to the heart of Jeddah’s historical downtown to showcase works that depict the city’s first major urban development phase in a new exhibition, going back to “where and when” it all started.
The exhibition titled “Saudi Modern” tackles the narrative of architecture and urban development in the coastal city between 1938 and 1962 by contemporary artists and architects. It was launched at the newly renovated iconic Tamer house, owned by one of the families that lived in the old town.
Saudi Modern is a multidisciplinary initiative founded by Jeddah-based architecture and design studio Bricklab. The project aims to unfold the narrative of modern development in the early decades of the 20th century by focusing on architecture and urbanism across the different cities, towns, and villages in the Kingdom.
Saudi Modern tackles the narrative of architecture and urban development in the coastal city between 1938 and 1962. (AN photo by Huda Bashatah)
“By studying the individual projects, buildings, and developments during this time period, we will better understand our collective modern heritage and develop an articulated discourse around it,” Abdulrahman Gazzaz, Saudi Modern curator, told Arab News.
The first edition of the series looks at Jeddah starting in 1938, narrating the city’s early encounters with modern development. Curated by the founders of the initiative, the exhibition is divided into two parts. The first part documents key moments in urbanism and architecture to reconstruct fragments of a rapidly evolving city. The exhibited material is the result of an experimental approach to building an archive through a limited set of available resources, photographic surveying, and digitization technologies.
Drawing from the research material in the first part, a group of seven artists and architects developed a series of works responding to the city’s broader social, cultural, and economic narratives. This second part sets out to forge new interactions between the artist and the built traces of a period marked with accelerated expansion efforts that forever recomposed the face of Jeddah and its civic community.
Saudi Modern tackles the narrative of architecture and urban development in the coastal city between 1938 and 1962. (AN photo by Huda Bashatah)
Works by contemporary artists and architects will be put on display throughout the exhibition’s run. They include both acclaimed and emerging artists Alaa Tarabzouni, Ahmed Mater, Filwa Nazer, Nasser Al-Salem, Zainab Alireza, Dima Srouji, Aziz Jamal, and Lina Gazzaz.
“It all started with a question, what is the genius loci (the genius of the place) of Jeddah? What is this distinct character that makes it what it is? Surely …….