Between Futures, Memory And Meaning: NU-Q Exhibition Reframes Gulf Futurism

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) unveiled Sunday a new exhibition that challenges visitors to reconsider how the Gulf's future is envisioned, not as a predetermined outcome, but as an evolving landscape shaped by uncertainty, memory, and lived blade-->

Titled What's Between, Between? and on view to the public at NU-Q's main exhibition space from January 26 to May 14, the show brings together works by more than 20 artists from across the region, combining new commissions, loaned pieces and digital works.

Rather than offering a single definition of progress, the exhibition foregrounds voices often sidelined in dominant narratives, asking who defines the future and whose realities are left behind. Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor and Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition is structured around the Earth's atmospheric layers, each representing social, cultural and economic pressures shaping life in the Gulf, from consumer culture and global trade to technological ambition and space blade-->

Salt runs through the exhibition as a unifying metaphor. Essential yet corrosive, ancient yet contemporary, it mirrors the Gulf's contradictions and constant transformation, linking past survival practices to present environmental and technological challenges. Among the featured artists is Talal Najjar, whose work Index of Failed Gestures combines sculpture and animated film to imagine alien anthropologists encountering a post-human blade-->

In the fictional narrative, Najjar told 'Gulf Times' that everyday objects are misunderstood and mythologised – smartphones interpreted as“sacred mirrors” and shopping trolleys mistaken for vehicles. Najjar explained that the work explores mistranslation within anthropology itself, noting that even well-intentioned interpretations can distort meaning.“What we leave behind would most likely be misunderstood,” he said, adding a layer of humour to a deeply reflective blade-->

Talal Najjar

Environmental loss and cultural erosion are central to Bahraini artist Sara Aradi's The Water Is Gone Yet The Salt Remains. Her work addresses rising salinity, climate change and e-waste in the Gulf, juxtaposing traditional objects such as rosaries with obsolete technologies like BlackBerry blade-->

The exhibition brings together works by more than 20 artists from across the region, combining new commissions, loaned pieces and digital works. PICTURES: Shaji Kayamkulam

Aradi said her aim was to raise awareness and prompt personal reflection, asking audiences what they can do differently, from consuming less technology to reconnecting with cultural identity.“What disappears from our hands doesn't disappear from the planet,” she blade-->

Saudi contemporary artist Faisal S al-Zahrani's Salt Codes uses salt and 3D-printed forms to create a symbolic language that deliberately resists translation. In his work, he pointed out that salt becomes a metaphor for memory, transformation and survival, reclaiming regional narratives through intuition rather than imposed blade-->

Faisal S al-Zahrani

Free to attend, 'What's Between, Between?' encourages visitors to sit with complexity, between desert and metropolis, heritage and disruption, offering a thoughtful, human-centred perspective on the Gulf's evolving future.

Northwestern University in Qatar digital works

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