8. Ruba Al-Sweel Curates “Garden of e-arthly Delights” at SUMAC Space

By Sophie Arni

^{Published on October 1st, 2021}

This fall, closer to our UAE homebase, Ruba Al-Sweel is curating an online exhibition entitled “Garden of e-arthly Delights.” Hosted at SUMAC Space, the exhibition features the works of eight artists, based in and around the GCC, whose work deal with memes as subject and medium. Centered in the Gulf context where digital penetration is particularly high, especially amongst its youth-driven demographic, the online exhibition format proposes videos, digital collages, and other forms of critical engagement with technology. On view are both highlights of GCC-centric peer-to-peer interactions, and works which take as inspiration a broader geographical perspective – connecting the Gulf to Asian and American web aesthetics and social dilemmas. The Internet fuels our global imagination, and memes are visual proof that contemporary artists’ influences today go beyond what Bosch imagined in his Garden of Earthly Delights. I had the pleasure to speak with Ruba, over DMs and Google docs, and pick her brains on this exhibition concept and her choice of artworks.

1. Persia Beheshti, Earthbound, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.

Sophie Arni: Could you tell us more about this exhibition title, “Garden of e-arthly Delights”?

Ruba Al-Sweel: I’m quite fascinated with Hieronymus Bosch’s painting of the same name. The visual breadth and scale, the depth of the subject matter, the endless scenarios it portrays – it reminds me of the multi-layered dimensions of the web and the sheer visual pollution and digital detritus we are presented daily and that just gush at you from each direction. So as the show is literally about just that – the layers of the web – I thought the name was apt, with the ‘e’ in ‘earth’ treated as a prefix which normally indicates that something happens on or uses the internet.

I’m quite fascinated with Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. The visual breadth and scale, the depth of the subject matter, the endless scenarios it portrays – it reminds me of the multi-layered dimensions of the web.

2. Nadim Choufi, I’m Here, 2018 Courtesy of the artist.

S.A.: References to religion felt throughout the works of the exhibition: in everyday, vernacular chat language (Nadim Choufi), or the poignant “There will never be God on the Internet” (Persia Beheshti’s Earthbound), and in subcultures archive (Gulfgraphixx). Do you think the “crevices of the web” can be filled in by some kind of spiritual “garden of e-arthly delights”?

R.S.: The garden of e-arthly delights is the crevice – it’s the subterranean level underneath the clear web and where grievances are aired and needs and aspirations of the material world are not met. It’s at once, a safe refuge for that which hasn’t found a place in our world, and a sleeper cell of neurosis and ideology. Since it’s unchecked, and rarely subject to the terms and conditions, rules and regulation, social contract and decorum of our physical world, it tends to spiral out of control - meaning, while you’ll find harmless pop culture fan groups, you’ll also find extremist and fringe ideas fermenting in some circle, where people of similar ideas find ripples of resonance and validation.

3. Fatemeh Kazemi and Maryam Faridani, shad bash, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.

S.A.: In the exhibition foreword, you mention the “shifting policies of big tech and an institutional rejection and art market failure to [...] absorb them”: are you suggesting art institutions and market players have been too slow to realize the impact of the image-sharing economy?

R.S.: That, and also the subject matter. Those gatekeeping the GCC art world don’t find the ideas addressed here as especially profitable or palatable. I think art-making is facing a real dilemma here because its definition can’t go beyond art for selling or art for diplomacy and soft power. So whatever is mounted on gallery walls or commissioned to occupy public spaces is really shaped by how it would be perceived. There are efforts to centre audience engagement and community building but are drowned out, sadly.

Those gatekeeping the GCC art world don’t find the ideas addressed here as especially profitable or palatable. I think art-making is facing a real dilemma here because its definition can’t go beyond art for selling or art for diplomacy and soft power.

S.A.: All the works on view deal with the idea of archive and research-based practices, and include collages of found footage. Familiarity with social contexts surrounding the found footage is critical to the works’ understanding. Is this why you wanted to include “Artist Rooms” – to give the audience more context to every work and every artist?

R.S.: The Artist Rooms are a staple of the SUMAC platform which I very much agree on the necessity for, especially when addressing meme art. As much as it is about aesthetic consideration, it’s also about ideology, psychological state and political context, so the maker is really at the centre of it and the long tired and hackeyned debate of whether you can ‘seperate the artist from the art’ is especially untrue here - the memelord is both the artist and the art.

S.A.: Who is your target audience for this exhibition?

R.S.: Anyone on the internet really. If the last few years proved anything, it’s that everyone has migrated to the web, and has accrued some great digital real estate. I was quite surprised (and really proud) to learn that the exhibition had over 360 visitors in the first week, most of which spent quality time on the platform, which means they really connected with it.

If the last few years proved anything, it’s that everyone has migrated to the web, and has accrued some great digital real estate.

S.A.: Artists on view are “based in or around the GCC.” I’m interested in “GCC-diaspora” artists: how would you categorize them? E.g. artists based in the US or Europe who were either born or have experience living in the GCC.

R.S.: It’s hard to approach this methodically but everyone in the show is there because I’ve known them through the Dubai art world connection. We have all passed through the city at some point, looking for resonance and community against a shifting landscape, mainly a personal inner landscape as we advance in our journeys. Some have grown up in Dubai but are of other origins and have outgrown it to find homes elsewhere, while others have been drawn to Dubai from Europe or America or anywhere in the region, for the same reason. Some were just passing through.

Everyone in the show is there because I’ve known them through the Dubai art world connection.

4. Ahaad Al Amoudi, Hengli, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

S.A.: Hengli is a work by Ahaad Alamoudi and Mengna Da. What are your views about immigration issues and their relationship to the GCC?

R.S.: There are migrant issues, which have found their way into our GCC art world contexts to offset some guilt or act as some sort of ‘poverty porn’. Then there are immigration issues which we are not doing enough about, but I also caution from thinking the current state of art affairs is the platform to be moral posturing in this way.

S.A.: Thinking of Christopher Benton in the framework of this exhibition – how did you go about choosing his work Who Gets Paid for Digital Labor in this GCC-centric exhibition? He deals with US discourse but also refers to memes as global phenomena.

R.S.: It’s hard for US discourse to remain in the US. Everyone has an opinion about the elections. But that’s not why Christopher’s work is in the show - I thought of how memes quickly become a marketing gimmick. How many times have we seen Emirates airlines co-opt a viral TikTok video format for financial gain?

It’s hard for US discourse to remain in the US.

5. Basmah Felemban, The Jirry Tribe Stop, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

S.A.: You are showing Basmah Felemban’s game. How does its abstract nature relate to other works in the exhibition targeted on subcultures?

R.S.: Basmah’s work is about world-building, which is very much the idea behind logging onto the web and looking for community. This virtual world replaces the physical. It becomes the limits of your reality, which is the premise of consensus reality.

6. Shamiran Istifan, Hauncted by Kings and Kovboys, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.

S.A.: Finally, I’d love to know more about artists Persia Beheshti and Shamiran Istifan, and your previous show “Law and Order” at Kulturforger Zürich.

R.S.: Apart from being brilliant artists with diverse practices, I connected with both on our interest in testing what we know about the limits of the material world. Law & Order is an exhibition that acted as a think tank in which we researched Jinn mythology, family lore and different systems of belief that govern and structure our lives.

^{“Garden of e-arthly Delights” is on view at SUMAC Space [online] until November 2nd, 2021.
Visit the exhibition online.}
Edit [11/02/2021]: The exhibition has been extended until November 15, 2021.

Ruba Al-Sweel is a Dubai-based writer, critic and researcher of art from, about, and around the Middle East. Her writing has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Art Asia Pacific, Vogue, and VICE, among many other publications. She also manages strategic and global communications at Art Jameel, an independent organization that supports artists and creative communities.

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8. Ruba Al-Sweel Curates “Garden of e-arthly Delights” at SUMAC Space

I’m quite fascinated with Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. The visual breadth and scale, the depth of the subject matter, the endless scenarios it portrays – it reminds me of the multi-layered dimensions of the web.

Those gatekeeping the GCC art world don’t find the ideas addressed here as especially profitable or palatable. I think art-making is facing a real dilemma here because its definition can’t go beyond art for selling or art for diplomacy and soft power.

If the last few years proved anything, it’s that everyone has migrated to the web, and has accrued some great digital real estate.

Everyone in the show is there because I’ve known them through the Dubai art world connection.

It’s hard for US discourse to remain in the US.

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About ––

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8. Ruba Al-Sweel Curates “Garden of e-arthly Delights” at SUMAC Space

I’m quite fascinated with Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. The visual breadth and scale, the depth of the subject matter, the endless scenarios it portrays – it reminds me of the multi-layered dimensions of the web.

Those gatekeeping the GCC art world don’t find the ideas addressed here as especially profitable or palatable. I think art-making is facing a real dilemma here because its definition can’t go beyond art for selling or art for diplomacy and soft power.

If the last few years proved anything, it’s that everyone has migrated to the web, and has accrued some great digital real estate.

Everyone in the show is there because I’ve known them through the Dubai art world connection.

It’s hard for US discourse to remain in the US.

︎︎︎Previous Next︎

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Spring 2025

E-Issue 08 –– SEL
Summer 2024

E-08++
Fall 2024

E-Issue 07 –– AUH
Winter 2023-24

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Winter/Spring 2024

E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJ
Spring 2023

E-Issue 05 –– VCE
Fall 2022

E-05++
Fall/Winter 2022-23

E-Issue 04 –– IST
Spring 2022

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