This episode of The Misk Art Library Podcast explores Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan and pioneering Emirati artist Hassan Sharif. The conversation highlights AlDowayan’s evolving practice, the challenges of documenting art histories, and the pioneering experimentation of Hassan Sharif. Together they reflect on how archives sustain artistic legacies and how intergenerational dialogue enriches the contemporary art landscape. 

Their work is celebrated in the Misk Art Library volumes Manal AlDowayan: Participatory Acts and Hassan Sharif: Woven.

00:00 Introduction

00:33 The Importance of Preserving Archives

01:55 AlDowayan's Early Journey

03:22 Catherine David on Hassan Sharif

05:43 Sharif’s Studies and Experiments

12:53 Themes in AlDowayan’s Work

14:00 Through Lines in Sharif’s Practice

18:23 Re-educating Audiences on Arab Art

22:10 Closing Thoughts

Hassan Sharif (1951-2016) is considered a pioneering conceptual artist and a leading figure in contemporary art in the Gulf region. Best known for his sculptural installations using everyday materials, his oeuvre also includes performance, painting, drawing, and weaving, covering themes such as the critique of mass consumption and industrialisation. Sharif was an influential educator, mentor, and critic who wrote prolifically and translated many critical texts to Arabic to make them accessible to people in the Emirates. He cofounded several platforms for artists to convene and to learn, encouraging innovation and experimentation in artmaking.

Catherine David is a French art historian, curator and museum director. From 1982 to 1990, she was Curator at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou and from 1990 to 1994 Curator at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris. From 1994 to 1997, she served as Artistic Director for documenta X in Kassel, Germany (1997), and from 1998 she has been Director of the long-term project Contemporary Arab Representations which began at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona. Between 2002 and 2004, she was Director of the Witte de With Center of Contemporary Art in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She currently works as Deputy Director of Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris.

Contemporary Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan (b. 1973, Dhahran) embraces themes of invisibility, active forgetting, archives, and collective memory with a focus on the condition of Saudi women and their representation. Through photography, sculpture, textiles, and participatory installations, she explores the spatial and social dynamics of public and private spheres. The artist thus expresses personal experiences and observations of time and space in order to resonate with a potentially broader audience.

Connect with Manal AlDowayan 👉 https://instagram.com/manaldowayan
 

Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu

FOLLOW & RATE THE MISK ART LIBRARY PODCAST: » Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/misk-art-library-podcast-powered-by-afikra/id1838991319 » Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dQ5Mxt8ITcQfHHjl4dVLM » Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1074425862 

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl4rdCQr8BWgdjEj6wTFZ3ZW

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide explore.afikra.com
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly https://explore.afikra.com/podcast-network
⚡ Become a member: https://explore.afikra.com/insiders
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.