An exhibition of Architecture and Art in Saudi Arabia. Curated by Abdulrahman & Turki Gazzaz of BRICKLAB. Artworks by Zainab Alireza, Nasser Alsalem, Lina Gazzaz, Aziz Jamal,
Ahmed Mater, Filwa Nazer, Dima Al Srouji, and Alaa Tarabzouni.
Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, the brothers behind Bricklab, a Jeddah-based multidisciplinary architectural and design studio, lean into the city’s modern architectural revolution with Saudi Modern: Jeddah 1938 - 1963, opening on November 15th at Tamer House, a 1950’s modernist villa located in the Al Sharifiya District.
Saudi Modern offers a fresh take on Jeddah's role in shaping modernist principles in the Middle East while drawing parallels between the city’s traditional, modern, and contemporary cultures.
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA — Since the discovery of oil by the American Standard Oil Company in 1938, Saudi Arabia has sped towards a technologically advanced future with Jeddah, its vital port city, transforming into a modern metropolis. At the pivotal mid-20th century mark, towns built of mud, bricks, and stone gave way to sprawling expanses of cladding reinforced concrete. Today, the break between historical past and modern present is considered so abrupt that Jeddah’s critical society disregards the cultural value of the city’s early, modernist architectural developments.
Among the modernist structures featured in the architectural component of Saudi Modern are The Printing and Publishing Establishment, The Green Palace, King Saud's Palace Complex, and the Air Pilgrim's Accommodation.
By researching 13 structures located within Jeddah, Saudi Modern examines modernism's influence on urban development within the city. This highly researched survey is accompanied by installations from eight contemporary artists that further respond to the themes and implications of this historic adaptation of modern architecture and the newly urbanized culture it inspired.
In 2015, internationally renowned artist Ahmed Mater met the urban planner Dr. Abdulrahman Makhlouf who had been tapped by the United Nations to draft a master plan for the quickly developing Jeddah. Their meeting became the genesis for a body of work by Mater, including photographs, maps, and videos, which now serve as the foundation for the additional new art commissions in Saudi Modern.
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The exhibition includes; "Arabi Gharbi," a neon sculpture by artist Nasser Alsalem, which re-contextualizes linguistic relations formed specifically to help modernize Jeddah; artist Zainab Alireza’s installation explores the various dwellings her family has inhabited over the decades. Lina Gazzaz’s ink drawings on nylon reference the role of water accessibility as a status symbol. Aziz Jamal’s sculptures of bathroom ornaments and soaps made from local clays pointing to the ways in which access to water has transformed Saudi society. Alaa Tarabzouni's historical exploration of both decorative and functional breeze bricks in early Saudi Modern architecture and the skilled wooden window crafts they replaced. Filwa Nazer's work with fabrics, steel, and wood, reflecting modernism's residential impact on the construction of a merchant home in Al Kandara. Dima Srouji’s video installation exploring the connections between emerging urban centers in Jeddah and nearby Ramallah.
