Arab summer

‘It’s serendipity that it’s all coinciding, but it’s not a political festival,’ says Sue Davies, project director of Shubbak, London’s first festival of contemporary Arab culture, which takes place in more than 30 venues across the city from 4 to 24 July. The planning for Shubbak began two years ago, long before the Arab Spring uprisings.

‘It’s interesting to have artists from across all the sectors – visual arts, film, music, theatre, dance, literature, architecture – who will inevitably be speaking about what’s happening in the Arab world, but the goal of the festival is to show how Arab culture has long made a positive impact on London’s cultural and economic life,’ says Davies.

Arab-American photographer Rania Matar’s exhibition, A Girl and Her Room, above, is a hot ticket, while one of the quirkier events is Shopopolis (4 July to 24 August) at Westfield Shopping Centre, which will see a group of Emirati artists engaging with staff and shoppers to produce site-specific works around the mall. Some of the high-profile venues hosting exhibitions and performances are The South Bank Centre, British Museum, Sadler’s Wells and Trafalgar Square.

'‘The word ‘Trafalgar’ even originates from the Arab language,’ says Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, whose office is organising the event, along with financial sponsors, HSBC. ‘We didn’t want there to be any cost to the public purse,’ explains Davies.

Visit the Shubbak festival website at london.gov.uk/shubbak to browse the dozens of exhibitions, performances and talks by artists from the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Sudan.

See the article online here: www.bmivoyager.com/2011/07/01/despatches-13/