Love arts and culture? Then you need to know about BASMOCA, if it’s not on your radar already. You have until Sunday March 20 to swing by What Lies Within, an exhibition of works from the private collection of BASMOCA founder Basma Al Sulaiman at the Maraya in AIUIa. But if the daily grind makes a desert escape tricky, there is still a way you can experience Al Sulaiman’s expert eye for a piece.
Simply jump online, become an avatar and step into BASMOCA, the virtual museum the prolific art collector created using cutting-edge gaming technology 11 years ago. Displaying works by artists such as Bassim Al-Sharqi, Manal AlDowayan, Ahmed Mater (the triptych titled Urban Witness by Iraqi artist Halim Al Karim is particularly eye-catching), BASMOCA is the realisation of Al Sulaiman’s desire to open the art world to all.
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“I am deeply invested in the power of art to open dialogue and to facilitate connections,” she says. “It allows us to form new perspectives and achieve a greater understanding of one another.” And she hopes that encountering works by artists in her collection, particularly those by successful female artists, will ultimately inspire others.
“We are currently seeing huge changes in Saudi society, and it’s fantastic that female empowerment is part of that. Women now represent approximately half of the Kingdom’s emerging artists and have an increasingly prevalent role in the artistic ecosystem as a whole,” Al Sulaiman notes. “I am passionate about supporting all Saudi artists, and my first priority is always to identify and support talent, intellectual creativity, and dedication; however, I am of course incredibly proud that in What Lies Within we have eight female artists and a female curator in Lulwah AlHomoud. I hope that encountering works by successful female artists in my collection will inspire women in particular to aspire to a level of international recognition.”
Al Sulaiman tells us that she’s currently got an eye on dancer and choreographer Sarah Brahim and painter Alia Ahmad right now. You heard it here first. “
It is such a pleasure to see how much the art sector has flourished,” comments Al Sulaiman. “There has recently been a vast expansion of cultural infrastructure, which is still ongoing and will hopefully bolster an ingrained art ecosystem. This is such an exciting time and, with the government’s ongoing support of the cultural scene, this is only just the beginning.”
experiencealula.com; basmoca.com.
