Once Upon Design: New Routes for Arabian Heritage

What happens when the makers of today collaborate and experiment with elements of tangible and intangible heritage, working through their own contemporary practice? This exhibition demonstrates ways in which contemporary design is influenced by old practices native to the Arabian Peninsula or carried over by migrant communities, such as woodwork and ceramics.

Eight installations blend past and future and merge time with space; they reflect collaborations across various design disciplines that respond in diverse and imaginative ways to traditional forms of making. Architecture is recontextualised or deconstructed, Nabati poetry is transformed, and nostalgic traditions and rituals such as incense and majlis gatherings are methodically enhanced or playfully subverted.

Designers:

Ayah Al Bitar & Reem Hantoush – U.A.E.

COdESIGN – U.A.E. & Italy

Diana Hawatmeh – U.A.E.

Loci – U.A.E.

Think Tank -Saudi Arabia

Talin Hazbar & Latifa Saeed – U.A.E.

Studio Mieke Meijer – The Netherlands