DETROIT (AP) – A U.S. exhibition featuring the works of roughly 40 Saudi Arabian artists aims to share their expressions, foster conversations and challenge conceptions of life in the conservative Islamic nation.
“Epicenter X: Saudi Contemporary Art” opens July 8 and runs for about three months at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It will feature photographic and video installations as well as murals exploring themes of urbanization, globalization, religion and the impact of U.S. culture on a restrictive Saudi society that’s loosened somewhat when it comes to arts and entertainment.
It’s among the first and largest U.S. shows featuring a group of contemporary Saudi Arabian artists, some of whom have had their work exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and elsewhere. It’s also a big score for the Smithsonian-affiliated Arab museum in a Detroit suburb that can lay claim to being the capital of Arab America.
“I think there’s a lot changing in Saudi Arabia right now,” museum Director Devon Akmon said. “What I find really interesting is obviously the role of the artist in society, regardless of where they are. They are chroniclers of our time – they bear witness, they reflect, they speak about contemporary issues. That’s exactly what many of the artists in this show are doing.”
Themes explored in the exhibit include the role of urbanization and changing landscapes in cities and the impact of religion on society. Akmon said many Americans are neither “attuned to” those issues in Saudi Arabia nor aware that artists are “giving voice to these discussions.”