Diplomat's new canvas

Sportsmen have developed the Olympic spirit to federate nations, and musicians are increasingly engaging in collaboration to create awareness on global issues such as Aids, poverty and environment.

In this situation, contemporary artists remain poor cousins when it comes to making an impact on the public.

However, a monumental art installation promises to revive inter-civilisation dialogue. Applied arts can be an effective way to induce social change, with young artists doing interesting work on various issues.

But their art is perceived as an eclectic practice and rarely as a vehicle for change. One of the most important issues addressed by the artists is inter-civilisation entrenchment and rupture of dialogue.

To make art a tool for social reawakening, MetaConcept, a UK-based firm specialising in corporate art services, has launched an initiative aimed at engaging artists of various faiths and backgrounds to promote inter-civilisation dialogue.

The project, named The Womb, is an installation that will explore the birth of our consciousness and the rise of our differences.

“Although where the human consciousness begins is not clear, for French writer and existentialist philosopher Sartre, the answer to this question is unimportant,'' explains Lotfi Kaabi, curator of The Womb and founder of MetaConcept.

“It is only after birth that ‘you' and ‘I' become differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition and religion.

“Let us imagine what would become of us if we were exposed to those issues that differentiate us while [we are still] in the womb. The chances are that we would be much more tolerant towards each other's ideas, no matter the level of our differentiation.

“Similarly, The Womb is an alternative way of approaching our differences by placing them in the very core of the womb, exposed in such a way that even the most contradicting and extreme views of the world become part of the foetus's eyes ....

"Our differences turn into a uniting and empowering factor without any reason for conflict that often emerges from the real-life differentiations.''

The first phase of the project is dedicated to one of the most bitter inter-civilisation relations of our times — the Western-Arab tandem, which is characterised by intolerance and misunderstanding, extremism and racism, and wars and terrorism.

It brings together more than 30 British and Arab visual artists to Liverpool. Teamed in pairs, they will create the first part of collaborative artworks on themes that define the differences between their cultures.

Unifying ideas

British artist Mary Fitzpatrick, in collaboration with her Arab counterpart Mohammad Nabili, is working on the theme of identity.

Fitzpatrick's long-term photographic art projects incorporate images from sites, mostly in the Middle East, exposed to conflict.

Fitzpatrick has built up a body of work that exists in the dualistic sense as a personal art statement and historical archive of the times we live in.

“My creative process is an accumulative one,'' Fitzpatrick told Weekend Review. “And so ideas build up over time. Each project feeds into the next.

Although she is better known for working with the themes of conflict and loss, Fitzpatrick feels her work is changing slowly and evolving because of a more abstract influence.

“I work within a photographic tradition but I'm also very aware that I am not really a photographer at all — I'm an artist,'' she says.

Through her many travels and continuous exploration, Jordanian painter and video installation artist Hilda Hiary's aim is to explore all that is new.

"She is collaborating with British artist Katriona Beales on the theme of “ethics''.

“Philosophers have talked about the philosophy of the circle,'' Hiary says. “What always caught my eye was the circle .... I dug deeper into my thoughts to find all that is around me takes a circular shape and there is nothing straight about our existence.

“... The beginning of our creation was a spot and all our lives are circular routes that revolve and drive us to thinking that we will actually find something on the top … such as high political or social positions. The truth is that [all] we will find is nothingness.''

Hiary's brushstrokes tend to forget all differences, places and dimensions. “... Of course, I am influenced a lot by political and social issues in the Middle East.

" I want to remind the society that we are living a short journey called life.''

Playing up compositions on “trauma of lost'' with collaborative artist Tamara Nouri is artist Barbara Jones.

She works with diverse methods that include printmaking, painting, photography, installation and three-dimensional works constructed from handmade paper.

“I am drawn to an examination of the cell forms, which appear to possess a universal attraction for the viewer,'' says Jones.

“Through the beauty of these abstracted elements of electron microscope images of life forms ... I construct images which are mysterious yet reveal something of the basic elements of all life.''

Barbara's intended goal is to provoke the viewer's perception of what is pleasing to the eye. Her work communicates ideas of beauty versus disgust, fragility versus strength and the visible versus the invisible.

Colin Serjent's photographs contain a combination of many tones, shapes and sometimes dense textures and patterns.

He will collaborate with Jordanian photographer Mohammad Hannon or Moroccan photographer Mustafa Meskin on the theme of culture.

People sometimes make references to the way Serjent manipulates his images. However, he says: “I possess a strong sense of keeping my images, in a sense, pure.

What I see through the viewfinder is what I want printed, framed and exhibited. All the images are non-digital,'' Serjent says, director of the Liverpool-based artist collective Red Dot.

“Creating an image from a mundane source, for example, a rotting log or rubbish or litter trampled into the ground, gives me a buzz,'' Serjent says.

“People sometimes comment that they can look at some of my photos for a second or third time and discover new aspects.''

Artist Jon Nash will work on “stereotypes'' with artist Syrian painter Iteb Hreib. Nash, who has a background in painting, is involved in traditional photography.

He lets the artworks suggest themselves, refining them until he is satisfied. “I have a terrible lucidity at moments when nature is so beautiful,'' Nash reveals.

“It becomes my inspiration; the ideas and images are my vehicles of communication. I am not conscious of myself any more and the pictures come to me as if in a dream.''

The majority of his artworks have no overt narrative or meaning. “I prefer to hear the viewer's interpretation,'' he says.

Painter and installation artist Leon Jakeman, who is working in collaboration with Mohammad Hannon on the subject of politics, says he looks for unusual forms, textures, patterns and colours to extract and use in an abstract way.

“I am always experimenting and trying to use a wide range of materials and processes to explore form.''

UAE-based Syrian artist Sarah Ayoub Agha and collaborative partner John O'Neil will display works on “human conditions''.

Ayoub Agha is disturbed by the media's objectification of women “as delicious appetisers''.

“Being a woman and living in a society saturated with images of the perfect woman, I am concerned and continuously dissatisfied because I am coerced to compare myself with perfect objects of beauty,'' she says.

Tunisian artist Fatma Charfi moves between visible and invisible spaces. “These spaces may be political, social, sensual, poetic or spiritual; they intersect and complement each other, reveal themselves and cause my work to develop along ramifications of themes and media,'' Charfi says.

Despite their differences, these areas remain interdependent and sustain each other in their continuous evolution with the unifying theme of the human that is symbolised by the Abrouc: A tissue-paper figure that is universal in character and is both archaic and modern.

The nature of Abrouc and its capacity for transformation allows Charfi to explore the regions of the universe and the world of human beings.

Other collaborative partners working on the project are Jamal Ez and Alice Lenkewicz on “gender and discrimination'', Pui Lee and Mohammad Rachidi on “communication'', Richard Ashworth and Satta Hachem on “nostalgia'', Chris Holden and Bassem Dahdouh on “refugees'', Neil Warburton and Tayseer Barakat on “humanity'' and Ruth Dillon and Ahmad Bassiouni on “future''.

Open dialogue

In recent years, contemporary art from the Arab world has started to carve a niche for itself in the global scene. Yet contemporary Arab arts remain one of the least visible in Britain despite recent shifts in the reception and representation of non-Western arts.

While business ties between both sides are closer than ever, their people stand in two diametrically opposite worlds.

In the absence of direct experiences of contemporary Arab cultures, the British public has fallen victim to misconceptions created by the media that cast doubt over the characters and values of Arabs and the possibility of harmonious co-existence within multicultural Britain.

The artworks of the first phase of The Womb, which are the building blocks of the project, can be viewed as an abstraction of the world-in-waiting.

“The Womb project will certainly help by initiating a dialogue and providing a forum for discussion and exchange,'' says Nada Shabout, co-curator and MIT professor of art history and president of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran and Turkey (AMCA).

“It will allow articulation and understanding of differences, and expose similarities, without the threat and fear projected daily through the media and inflammatory news titles.''

The artworks that are created at the workshop will be on display at an exhibition called Enlightenment, Act 1 at the Colonnades, Albert Dock, Liverpool, in September.

Another exhibition, Oceans Apart — featuring artworks created by the artists to initiate the idea of The Womb — takes place in July at The International Gallery and at Tito's, both in Liverpool.

The exhibition then moves to Artiquea, London, in August.
Starting at Liverpool, The Womb will travel the world for four years till 2012.

Designed by noted designer Ross Lovegrove, The Womb will grow gradually in dimension as volunteering artists of various faiths from around the globe join the project.

Established as well as new and upcoming visual artists are welcome to take part in this non-profit project.

Enlightenment, Act 1 will be on at the Colonnades, Albert Dock, Liverpool, from September 15 to October 15. Oceans Apart will be on at The International gallery, Tito's, Liverpool, from July 4 to July 17 and at Artiquea, London, from August 24 until September 13.

For the procedure for participation, visit www.pax08.com and www.metaconcept.co.uk.
Layla Haroon is a freelance writer based in Abu Dhabi.