DOI article:
Rattray, Michael: Conversations: The Sharjah Biennale and International Art Relations in the United Arab Emirates
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51713#0322
tion into a kind of oppositional cultural binary. It
is also représentative of the militaristic attitude — us
against them — imbedded in most of our sociétal
organizations. I would argue this attitude is evidenced
through the censorship that occurred at the Sharjah
biennale. This is not to say any one culture is more
militaristically inclined than another, it is simply
to posit the theory that most societies are defined
by and imbed an acceptance of militarism within
their cultural frameworks while inhibiting personal
freedoms, such as sexuality, sexual orientation, or
just plain nakedness.
While there are many problems within the ho-
mogenized West, I would argue there have been
instances in the past where the systém in place has
allowed for a minimal amount of change and accept-
ance, and sometimes this has corne courtesy of art.
However, as Edward W Said has argued, culture, and
therefore cultural products such as art and govern-
ment are “never a matter of ownership [...] but rather of
appropriations, common expériences, and interdependencies
among different cultures” Rather than move back into
a binary of différence, a stance must be taken against
all forms of censorship in the exhibition of art.
Regardless of the offences incurred to whomever
in the exhibition of a work of art, the inability to
exhibit limits our capacity to discuss, to converse,
to dialogue and to share. However, choice must be
respected, so an interesting impasse is arrived at,
and it is one I cannot offer any answers to. In the
theorizing of art and its exhibition it is easy to fall
prey to what Gayatri C. Spivak calls, albeit through
feminist discourse, being one of the "badfaith emis-
saries of a globalisation that assigne itself the status to train
women of otherplaces to be warnen”.^ Likewise, it would
be irresponsible to do the same in regards to what
can, and cannot be art, east or west, censored or
uncensored.
The Biennale structure serves as a means to put
a city on the map of cultural tourist attractions and
boost notions of national identity in the globalized
world.45 The Sharjah biennale is an example of this. It
is a contemporary art exhibition in an Islamic country
during a time when even those who champion de-
colonization and post-colonial theorems perpetuate
an Islamic/Western binary. Now moving toward its
ninth installment, the Biennale looks to be set to con-
tinue for quite some time. Perhaps what will occur in
the future through the conversations of art, similarly
as it has occurred in many forums for the exhibition
of art the world over, is adaptations and notions of
what is acceptable will change and open up to allow
ail forms of expression. Regardless of the outcome,
I would still like to argue, in the end, there is nothing
wrong with a litde bit of butt on display to remind
us not to take ourselves too seriously in the act of
art assessment and display, especially in a time that
is as confusing and tumultuous as our own.
43 SAID, E. W: Thèmes of Resistance Culture. In: Culture and
Imperialism. Vintage 1993, p. 217.
44 SPIVAK, G. C.: Death of a Discipline. New York 2003, p. 52.
45 MESQUITA, I.: Biennials, Biennials, Biennials, Biennials,
Biennials, Biennials, Biennials. In: Bej/ond the Box. Di verging
Curatorial Practices. Ed. M. TOWNSEND. Banff 2002, pp.
63-67, here p. 65.
314
is also représentative of the militaristic attitude — us
against them — imbedded in most of our sociétal
organizations. I would argue this attitude is evidenced
through the censorship that occurred at the Sharjah
biennale. This is not to say any one culture is more
militaristically inclined than another, it is simply
to posit the theory that most societies are defined
by and imbed an acceptance of militarism within
their cultural frameworks while inhibiting personal
freedoms, such as sexuality, sexual orientation, or
just plain nakedness.
While there are many problems within the ho-
mogenized West, I would argue there have been
instances in the past where the systém in place has
allowed for a minimal amount of change and accept-
ance, and sometimes this has corne courtesy of art.
However, as Edward W Said has argued, culture, and
therefore cultural products such as art and govern-
ment are “never a matter of ownership [...] but rather of
appropriations, common expériences, and interdependencies
among different cultures” Rather than move back into
a binary of différence, a stance must be taken against
all forms of censorship in the exhibition of art.
Regardless of the offences incurred to whomever
in the exhibition of a work of art, the inability to
exhibit limits our capacity to discuss, to converse,
to dialogue and to share. However, choice must be
respected, so an interesting impasse is arrived at,
and it is one I cannot offer any answers to. In the
theorizing of art and its exhibition it is easy to fall
prey to what Gayatri C. Spivak calls, albeit through
feminist discourse, being one of the "badfaith emis-
saries of a globalisation that assigne itself the status to train
women of otherplaces to be warnen”.^ Likewise, it would
be irresponsible to do the same in regards to what
can, and cannot be art, east or west, censored or
uncensored.
The Biennale structure serves as a means to put
a city on the map of cultural tourist attractions and
boost notions of national identity in the globalized
world.45 The Sharjah biennale is an example of this. It
is a contemporary art exhibition in an Islamic country
during a time when even those who champion de-
colonization and post-colonial theorems perpetuate
an Islamic/Western binary. Now moving toward its
ninth installment, the Biennale looks to be set to con-
tinue for quite some time. Perhaps what will occur in
the future through the conversations of art, similarly
as it has occurred in many forums for the exhibition
of art the world over, is adaptations and notions of
what is acceptable will change and open up to allow
ail forms of expression. Regardless of the outcome,
I would still like to argue, in the end, there is nothing
wrong with a litde bit of butt on display to remind
us not to take ourselves too seriously in the act of
art assessment and display, especially in a time that
is as confusing and tumultuous as our own.
43 SAID, E. W: Thèmes of Resistance Culture. In: Culture and
Imperialism. Vintage 1993, p. 217.
44 SPIVAK, G. C.: Death of a Discipline. New York 2003, p. 52.
45 MESQUITA, I.: Biennials, Biennials, Biennials, Biennials,
Biennials, Biennials, Biennials. In: Bej/ond the Box. Di verging
Curatorial Practices. Ed. M. TOWNSEND. Banff 2002, pp.
63-67, here p. 65.
314