Abu Dhabi -- Current Events Current Events:

Abu Dhabi -- Current events

Current Events: Abu Dhabi & Cultural Identity

The objective of this brief study is to examine a current event that has been published on Abu Dhabi. For the purpose of this study chosen is a report by the New York Times entitled "Building Museums, and a Fresh Arab Identity" which relates that architecture is being used in what is termed to be an "audacious experiment" and involving "…two small oil-rich countries in the Middle East [reported to be} using architecture and art to reshape their national identities virtually overnight, and in the process to redeem the tarnished image of Arabs abroad while showing the way toward a modern society within the boundaries of Islam." (New York Times, 2010)

Introduction

Reported is that on the Abu Dhabi outskirts workers have began digging the foundations for "three colossal museums" described as follows:

(1) $800 million Frank Gehry-designed branch of the Guggenheim 12 times the size of its New York flagship;

(2) A half-billion-dollar outpost of the Louvre by Jean Nouvel; and (3) A showcase for national history by Foster & Partners, the design for which was unveiled on Thursday. And plans are moving ahead for yet another museum, about maritime history, to be designed by Tadao Ando. (New York Times, 2010)

The report states that Doha, the capital of Qatar has also been "mapping out its own extravagant cultural vision." (New York Times, 2010) In fact, museums are being constructed in many Arab Middle Eastern countries and the stated purpose is the "building of a new narrative," according to the New York Times article. Abu Dhabi was only fifty years ago a Bedouin village possessing no "literary or scientific traditions to speak of, no urban history. Its' few thousand inhabitants, mostly poor and illiterate, survived largely on animal herding, fishing and pearl diving." (New York Times, 2010)

I. Reasons for Museum Construction

It is reported that instilling national pride plays a primary consideration in the museum building initiative of Abu Dhabi and other Arab countries in the Middle East. In fact, the precise idea is to "tell a new story, one that breaks with a long history of regional decline, including the recent upheavals caused by militant fundamentalism and to re-establish a semblance of cultural parity with the West." (New York Times, 2010) According to one Arab consultant "there are religious extremists in the Middle East -- even here…" and the hope is that the projects' "cosmopolitan influences…may help 'open up the minds o these younger Emiratis before they go down that road." (New York Times, 2010) It is reported that Norman Foster upon presenting his first proposal for the museum design was informed that something much grander was wanted and the new design is stated to feature "an enormous landscaped mound capped by five featherlike wind towers -- the tallest rising 300 feet -- an attempt to evoke falconry, a favorite pastime of Arab royals." (New York Times, 2010) It is reported that in the 1950s and 60s that architects came in great numbers to the Middle East and it is in fact something that the New York Times article states is at least partially to blame for the "rise of fundamentalist violence…" due to the reinforcement of "divisions between a privileged elite -- modern, educated, in turn with the West -- and a struggling underclass, something that was not a small factor in the rise of fundamentalist violence." (New York Times, 2010)