Contemporary Art, Museums and Galleries, Who Cares?

As you approach Preston's Market Square, it’s hard to miss the stunning Neo-classical building which was designed by James Hibbert (1833-1903) to house the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library. 

As you walk into the grand 117 year old building, it is quiet, comfortable and engulfed in a history of its own. You're greeted with smiles from the art shop which leads to a cafe that is surrounds itself with exquisite artefacts. As you ascend the two storeys of the Museum, you will experience the story of Preston unfold before your eyes.

Harris Museum and Gallery is a host to several community engagement projects that strive to intrigue Preston’s diverse community through a wide range of local organisations on creative, tailor made workshops, projects, talks and tours. These projects are funded by Renaissance North West and are in association with six hub museums and galleries namely Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, Whitworth Gallery, Bolton Museum, Tullyhouse Museum and Harris Museum and Gallery.

A constant proportion of 16 million adults in England alone, visit museums on a yearly basis, said The National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport, Annual Report (2006).

Who Cares? is one such community project which explores the positive impact that museums and galleries can have on our lives. The research will be completed by 2011 but ongoing outcomes of this project can be seen in and around the museum.

“Who Cares? is a project that targets young adults and working people thereby trying to gauge how museums and galleries affects their well being,” said Kyra Milnes, Access and Inclusion Manager at Harris Art Gallery and Museum.

It includes several workshops and exhibitions such as Sharing and Learning: A Touching Experience, Fun, Food and Fabric, Stories of the World and Reminiscence sessions.

Sharing and Learning: A Touching Experience is a ceramics project in partnership with Galloway’s Society for the Blind and Coppull Parish Church School. 

“This project works towards educating the community in understanding that visual impairment is a disability and not an inability. Often, people with visual impairments are excluded from the making of art, so during this project young people were educated through working collaboratively with visually impaired adults to create ceramic artefacts,” said Viv Booth, Project Manager from Galloway’s.

Fun, Food and Fabric, a creative textile project in partnership with Sahara Preston’s African Caribbean Women’s Group, featured in the Embellished: the Art of Fabulous Fabrics exhibition in Harris.

Stories of the World is a graffiti project in collaboration with young people at Beneast Training Ltd, this will be featured as a part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad project for young people.

While, Reminiscence sessions involve a specialist team of volunteers, trained to facilitate reminiscence sessions on a monthly service to local care and rest homes. They take them themed boxes of Harris objects and artefacts out into the community and use them to trigger memories. 

Harris Museum and Library

Student opportunities to gain some experience

There’s a wide range of volunteering opportunities at the Harris, in all departments of the museum. “At the Harris, we always need volunteers to help the team develop the program, assist curators, aid with talks and tours and get involved in several projects,” said Milnes.

If you are student aged below 25 years, you could get involved in the ‘Young Harris-Youth Arts Group’ where you get to meet at least once a month and work on creative projects relating to the Harris using art, performance, poetry, animation and music.

For more information you can visit www.harrismuseum.org.uk or contact 01772 905 412.

Art of Matter

With the growing art movement in Dubai, X V A Gallery has pioneered Middle Eastern art in Dubai. Since 2003, it has been one of the foremost contemporary art galleries in the Middle East. The brainchild of Mona Hauser, owner of X V A Gallery, the fair is now in its fourth year and aims to showcase the best the region has to offer.

X V A artists have recently exhibited in the 2009 Venice Biennale. Art Abu Dhabi 2009 and the Unveiled: New Art From the Middle East’ exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, London. This year, the gallery has four remarkable exhibits between 17th January to 5th May 2010. Two art exhibits, Abdulnasser Gharem: Restored Behaviour and Al Braithwaite: Hall of mirrors ran simultaneously, between 17th January to 10th March.

Abdulnasser Gharem: Restored Behaviour, the first major solo show by acclaimed Saudi artist, Adulnasser Gharem, restored behaviour will showcase recent ‘stamp’ paintings, installations and photographs from a series of site specific performances made in and around the artists home in southern Saudi Arabia. Al Braithwaite: Hall of Mirrors are Braithwaite’s portraits of modern Middle Eastern figureheads present a powerful message about the geographical realigning of power in the 21st century. An unusual mixture of modernity and tradition.

Bastakiya Art Fair returns for its 4th year from 15-21 March 2010. Dubai’s only fringe art fair, BAF has a global reach with a focus on Middle Eastern contemporary art. BAF promotes gallery collaboration and artistic unity with Dubai’s art community, plus the fair attracts International artists, collectors and curators. With a series of brunch talks curated by Rose Issa and a wide range of exhibitions including national art pavilions fro Iraq, UAE, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iran, BAF successfully showcases the best of the best emerging talent in Middle Eastern contemporary art.

A Double Exhibition between the 4th April to 5th May, allows us to preview a return of the well loved Lebanese artist Moussa Tiba and a debut in the UAE for German-born-artist Carolin Kropff.

BAF and X V A Gallery guarantees to satiate everyone’s artistic sensibilities and is definitely worth your time.

Glimpses of the Fair

 Bastakiya, Dubai

Art Gallery at BAF

¬Orginally written for an art magazine project that explores contemporary art in the Emirates¬

Preserving Culture in the U.A.E

Art Exhibition

The Arabian Art Centre, Sharjah Heritage Area



Artifacts displayed on the grounds of Sharjah Heritage Area

We all know United Arab Emirates as a modern one, witnessing dramatic changes in the few short years since the state was established, change that has provided them with all the benefits of a modern, developed society. At the same time, however, both Government and the people are determined that their heritage shall be preserved, in line with the late Sheikh Zayed's belief that 'a people that knows not its past can have neither a present nor a future'.

To act as repository of this heritage and a source of information for both visitors and the younger generation who have not experienced a traditional lifestyle, museums and heritage centres have been developed throughout the UAE.‘We preserve our history and culture in museums, through paintings that are so realistic that they almost speak.’ said Najlaa Fikry, an official at Sharjah Museums Department.

‘The Orientalists Collection' displays the works of art in the Sharjah Art Gallery, which were personally collected by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi. The paintings represent Romantic views of the Arab countries and other Islamic lands as they were depicted by European artists and travellers in the 18th, 19th and the early 20th centuries.’ explained Najlaa. Additionally, Sharjah was designated as the cultural capital of the Arab world by UNESCO for its commitment to art, culture and preserving its heritage.

Ms.Najlaa Fikry, Official at Sharjah Museums Department

The Culture and Art Authority play an active role in keeping the history and culture alive during this materialistic and digital today, where youngsters seem to forget the very beginning....‘We host a variety of exhibitions, workshops and programmes that are suited for all ages. Our family programmes that are held every week offer hands-on and minds-on fun with bilingual programmes that are designed to educating children and their parents/caregivers on the culture of UAE. We organize workshops especially for children aged six to eleven, as teaching them when they are young is best. The programmes are held on Saturdays suitable for all, to make some time in their busy schedules.’ said Najlaa.

Sharjah Art Museum, established in 1948

UAE is a fine example of how well an indigenous community which survived an adverse environment for thousands of years by observing a strict tribal code could absorb tremendous change of lifestyle producing the best of two worlds within decades. Today, the indigenous values, heritage and culture which were refined by the adoption of Islam over the past millennium or so, continue to thrive notwithstanding the ultra modern look, infrastructure and facilities and the cosmopolitan, moderately liberal lifestyle that especially characterise the nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi.

Scattered throughout the UAE are forts that were once charged with defending a range of elements including an irrigation system, palm groves and trading hubs. Many of the forts also provided residency to the ruling families, while others served as military/police headquarters and prisons. Heritage villages have been established in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah to provide visitors with a three-dimensional experience of life in the pre-developed UAE. The Emirates of Ajman, Sharjah, Al Ain, Umm al-Quwain and Ra’s al-Khaimah have established museums housing exhibits on archaeology, ethnography and other artefacts of historic and cultural significance. While some collections are not extensive and certain destinations are difficult to reach unless on a guided tour, their existence testifies to the growing focus of cultural preservation throughout the UAE.

Despite the Emirates limitations of being a mainly desert environment and a semi-nomadic lifestyle that prevailed up to the 20th Century, UAE has a rich past evidenced by scores of restored mud fortresses across the emirate and remains of an underground irrigation system in Al-Ain oasis, which has been continuously inhabited for more than 4,000 years and is considered as the old cultural centre of the Emirate.

According to the 2003 Convention, Intangible heritage is defined as “practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills- as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith- that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.” The UAE is ripe with such heritage. The seven Emirates are more than the Burj Dubai and Yas Marina. They are a vibrant and diverse federation of seven autonomous states which share an ancient heritage. Emirate’s cultural life is rooted in a long tradition of literary work, horseback riding, falconry, traditional artwork and the cultural exchange brought about by trade routes. The large collaboration of museums provide visitors with a glimpse of the emirate’s cultural life, history and heritage. Today, culture and arts are witnessing a revival in the emirate with many clubs and funds dedicated to their advancement.

According to Emirates News Agency, The UAE has offered $2million to UNESCO and African countries to safeguard the heritage projects. This was announced at the ceremony held by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage at Emirates Palace on 3rd October 2009 marking the conclusion of the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO, in presence of Director-General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura.

Photo credits: Megna Kalvani