In Saudi Arabia, once considered a closed-off ultraconservative Islamic country, unprecedented resources are now being invested into cultural infrastructure. Yet amid the present moment of grandiose state patronage that has led to a renaissance of sorts across the kingdom, at times the role of private art institutions has been overlooked.
Prior to the present massive government investment in culture, these institutions β independent players such as Edge of Arabia, Athr, Hafez Gallery, and Art Jameel β played a vital role in the development of the Saudi art scene during a time when the state was largely not present in Saudi cultural enterprise. An art scene has long existed in Saudi Arabia.
Its development has been influenced not only by the wider sociopolitical and historical realities of the Saudi state, especially the discovery of oil and changing role of traditional Islam, but also by geopolitics.
Several private actors, including artists, patrons, curators, and art dealers, went against the grain to establish the seeds nearly two decades ago for the breakneck cultural production present today. After two decades of intense religious conservatism and closure to the outside world following the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, a flowering of artistic activity was born in the early s. One important game changer was the introduction of the internet in Saudi artists, most of whom were self-taught, could now search the web and educate themselves on the art world taking place outside of the kingdom.
The movement was led by self-taught artists from the region: Abdulnasser Gharem, a former military officer in the Saudi army; Ahmed Mater, who had previously been a physician; Saudi-born Palestinian Ashraf Fayadh; Abdulkarim Qassim; and poet Muhammad Khidr. Just like its name, the members of this collective called for a deconstruction of modern Saudi art practice, which had its origins in Western modernism, and the creation of something new from the remnants of what had come before.
