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Paris: The latest contemporary art exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris — “Arabofuturs,” which runs through Oct. 27 — is, according to curator Elodie Beauford, “built around the dynamics of singularity expressed in the Arab world, and the singularity of each artist.” Those artists hail from the Arab world and its diasporas, and include Saudi artists Ayman Zedani and Zahra Alghamdi, Lebanese sculptor Souraya Haddad Credos, Tunisian artist Aicha Snoussi, and Moroccan artist Hicham Berada.

The program is divided into two parts: “Programmed Futures” and “Hybrid Futures.” In the first, Bouford explains, the featured artists examine contemporary society, “capitalism, hyper-consumerism, questions of exile, diaspora, and identities—often through a postcolonial perspective.”

The second part addresses imaginary societies—artists use aesthetic narratives that transport visitors to biological worlds “that make us travel back in time, and reflect on transhumanism, the future of humans, and the resilience of nature,” Beauford says.

Both passages underline that the perception of the future, and the perception is personal, each artist draws on his personal experiences.

The exhibition begins with a space dedicated to artworks from the Gulf, and an introduction to the concept of Gulf Futurism created as part of a photo series by Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria and Kuwaiti musician and conceptual artist Fatima Al-Qadiri in 2012. Interview in Dazed magazine. This, according to the IMA website, is a “worrying question of the rapid hyper-modernization at work in the field.”

“This article was a decisive moment in Gulf Futurism, for artists to be interested in the question of the future and science fiction,” explains Bouffard.

Al-Maria's “Black Friday”—a series of photographs and a video installation—questions the standardization of spaces and the isolation that can arise from it. It follows al-Ghamdi's “Birth of a Place,” which was previously exhibited at the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, and explores new architectures.

“She's trying to create a new universe — a new (example) of horizons, the growth of heritage, and the future of metal and glass construction, in an environment where real materials and architecture are cultural,” notes Bouffard.

The purpose of this section is to present different perspectives on architecture, heritage, identity, and exile in the Gulf and North Africa.

“The themes related to the future of societies can be rooted in their past,” Beauford says. “Our job at IMA is to stop seeing the Arab world as a bloc. We want to show that there is not just one future. When we talk about the future, everyone thinks of video games and artificial intelligence, but futures manifest in all forms. We thought that artifacts, It will be interesting to reflect on paintings, ceramics and biological materials.”

For example, Al-Ghamdi used leather, a biological material, in “The World to Come,” while Berada used metal to create hybrid masks combining insects, plants, and humans in “Les Hygres.” Elsewhere, Credos worked with ceramics “to shape colored magma and construct post-apocalyptic biological worlds,” Beauford says.

Meanwhile, Snoussi, “recreates manifestos that testify to past societies that have disappeared, leading to Arabic writing, but also in Amazigh, with a symbolic theme that rebuilds bridges between the present and the future.”

Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour contributes “In the Future They Ate the Finest Porcelain,” a 2015 video showing archaeologists burying porcelain bearing the keffiyeh motif, an attempt to stake a future claim to the area.

“She highlights in this video the politicization of archeology in Israel and Palestine, which has particular resonance today,” Beauford says.