OBRIST IN QATAR

Dear Hans-Ulrich Obrist,

On curateaward.org, you're launching a call for project with a very weird video (shown on their website) .

The production budget and the lucky winner's fees are not mentioned. A dreamed situation! The Qatar Museum Authorities hosting the project are "estimated to spend $1 billion per year on art – or roughly 30 times what MoMA spent on artwork in its last financial year and a whopping 175 times what Tate invested". (Artreview)
What's even more extraordinary is that there is no restriction of theme. I'd very much like to submit the project I'm currently working on: "The biggest painting show - ever" (view the tumblr or read the press release), but I fear it might be awfully haram (illicit or against Muslim principles). Far from me to want to indulge in "Qatar bashing" as Jaham Al-Kuwari, Qatari ambassador in France has it (JDD in French). But I must admit I have serious questions though, in particular around the exercise in adapting to totalitarian guidelines.

NOTHING WILL BE SAID if one is being raped or if one witnesses an assault. You might remember Eman al Obiedi, who dared to accuse publicly Libyan militaries to have abused her and was been sent back to her country. (Amnesty International) As three residents out of four are men (The Guardian), I would urge all female members of the team to wear whatever it takes to hide.

NO COMMENT WILL BE MADE on the veil worn by Sheikha Al-Mayassa, cheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Thani Al-Wajbah's wife number two, head of the Qatar Museum Authorities, and number one of the ten most important people in the art world (artreview). It might be peculiar to discuss ones feminist practice with someone obeying this precept (The Quran, 33v58) and accepting "to lower their gaze and be modest" (The Quran, 24v30). We shall also try not to think about the metaphor "your wife is your field, use it as you please..".(The Quran, 2v 222)

FORGET ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS if you don't want to end up like Zahir Belounis, the French professional footballer trapped there since June 2012 because of a legal dispute with his former club al-Jaish, over two years' unpaid wages. If he wants to get out, he needs to withdraw his complaint (The Guardian). That is very well understood, Hans-Ulrich. The curator and artists will be asked to shut their mouth if anything goes wrong in terms of work contract - or as a matter of fact anything at all.

DO NOT SUPPORT Shiite rebellions. Keep in mind the way their last demonstration was repressed. Anyway everybody knows Qatar provide arms to the djihadists of Sunnite Islamist movements. And seven billion dollars given to the Egyptian Muslim Brothers when they were still in power, that was quite something, wasn't it? (Monde Diplomatique in French)

DO NOT SHOW ANY HUMAN REPRESENTATION OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM: if you don't want it to be removed like Adel Abdessemed's monumental bronze sculpture of Zidane, as an "anti-Islamic idol". (Al Jazzera) Apparently, the sharia law doesn't quite apply inside. Which is quite weird as Sheikh Ibn Baz states that the prophet said "Angels will not enter a house where there's an image or a dog." (Al-Bukhari & Muslim in Al-Fatawa min Silsilati Kitab id-Da'wa, Vol. 1, pp. 19-20 and Fatawa 'Ulama' il-Balad il-Haram, pg.568.)

FORGET NUDITY, if you don't want your work to be taken away as were the antique Greek athletes sculptures during "The Olympics – Past and Present" exhibition at Alriwaq Doha last April. OK. Let's make a note of it.

ONLY GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE ROYAL FAMILY if you don't want to spend the next fifteen years in prison like Mohamed Ibn Al-Dheeb, the poet who dared write a poem that was critical of the royal family (Amnesty International). OK, I'll make a note of it and forward it to the team.

NO HISTORICAL REFERENCES, not even what you might find in A-level history books, as you don't want to be incarcerated as was Hafid Adnani, former director of the Doha's French lycée, accused of "anti-Muslim attitude". It seems that there was a disagreement between the secular mission and the Qatar authorities on the content of history and biology books.

NO MENTION OF ANOTHER RELIGION in front of a Qatari under 18. (l'Express). No African fetish, no Budhas... no crucifixions... no philosophy... Pfff, it's too long a list to write it.

NO GAY CURATORS, NO GAY ARTISTS and no gay partners. No gay nothing nowhere. It's illegal. Good for you you're straight Hand-Ulrich! And if you think you're clever and can fool customs, you might not pass the detection system they're setting up to prevent homosexuals from entering the country. (pinknews)

NO PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION OF AFFECTION between a man and a woman. OK. I'll take it might not really be welcome inside the museum either, but one must check it out... What about demonstration of annoyance? Of respect? Of desire?

NO ISRAELI CURATOR OR ARTISTS, as people with Israeli passports cannot enter the country. What about if I'm called Sarah Rosenblum, do you think I should still apply, Hans-Ulrich?

DO NOT APPLY IF YOU COME FROM A MUSLIM FAMILY AND YOU'VE BECOME ATHEIST or if you have converted to another religion, as the freedom of conscience is not accepted there, as in all other countries where Islam is the official religion. Apostasy is punishable by death as Youssef al-Qaradawi, Al-Jazeera tele-islamist states so. (youtube) This Sharia specialist will also answers every Friday questions you might have about what's licit or not, like when you can beat your wife, and where and how you can punch. He also regularly reminds the believers of the Jihad's obligation.

ACCEPT GENDER SEGREGATION ON SITE. If it's like in Paris' Islamic Bank of Qatar, men enter through an impressive golden door when women are asked to enter by the back door, we'll deal with it... It's probably quite something to experiment such segregation anyway. On the other hand, it might be more complicated if a team of male and female artists want to do some research in the university's library as there's one for each sex.

FORGET SLAVERY: The curator and the team of artists are advised not to look at videos showing workers begging for their passports before going there, or before writing their project, as slavery is, in this case, cultural difference. The workers are "adopted" by Qatari masters according to the Sharia law. They can't change job, leave the country, get a driving licence, rent a flat or open an bank account without the permission of their sponsors or kafils. The team should also try and forget about the announced death rate on the vaginal football stadium as 4000 people might lose their life before it opens. (The Guardian)

But when I say forget, it's not quite as simple as that. For his Mathaf's exhibition Adel Abdessemed showed several pieces, which could be seen as political critique, but which haven't been censored. In "Shams" (which means "deception" or "simulacrum"), he has reconstituted a building site where workers carry enormous bag on their shoulders under the surveillance of armed guards. In the entrance hall, he has installed a monumental vase covered with false dynamites sticks and pseudo-bombs linked to alarm clocks (Le Monde) These two pieces haven't been censured because they are not contrary to islamic practices and laws. And what we might think is a critic might not quite be so... SO it you fancy a huge installation dealing with the putsch habits in the country, the "Bidoun", Bedouins without nationality living in Qatar, on the fact that a Qatari who marries a non-Muslim woman would loose part of his income, or that women can marry foreigners (C. Chesnot, G. Malbrunot "Qatar")... that should be possible.


Dear Hans-Ulrich, are you taking the piss out of the Qatari by being part of this project, knowing that insofar as possible, one shall respect the cultural specificities from so generous hosts? Is it to awake the Western art world with a performative and political message? Is the joke of them or on us?

It's very nice of them to invite whoever wants to curate, but is because you know most professionals won't even think twice about it? Would you for example imagine a surgeon-award, open to everybody? This is weird. Cheikha Moza did a lot to try and change women's condition there, like by nominating the Korean musician Han-na Chang at the head of the Qatar Philharmonic orchestra, but I still have serious doubts. Especially with a video that looks like a Tosco add, nobody in the art world will think your investment in this project can be genuine or non-cynical...

Please tell me, Hans, what do you do, or what do you suggest we should do regarding:


- women's inferiority
- homosexuality's illegality
- the non freedom of conscience
- the hatred of Jewish people
- slavery
- the negation of history


Would you advice us to adapt to these fascist principles? Should we accept them as difference(s)? Like one should have accepted Nazi's difference when they offered lost of money? Should one tolerate this gender apartheid? What for? What's the idea behind the project? Is this a new form of colonisation "we'll come to you and show you who to do it, and at the same time, we'll try and make you understand about homosexuality and women being equal to men.”? Is it that maybe something will come out? When there's no budget limit, there must be ways around differences... let's forget about women's inferiority for a while as well as homosexuality being illegal, they'll grow out of it eventually...