In yesterday’s post, I mentioned the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, which just partnered with LACMA. The Center, pictured below, hasn’t received much national press in the U.S. (though apparently it held a meeting with the press at Art Dubai). It’s a venture of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned global petroleum and chemicals giant of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At its founding, it had American oil companies as partners, but no more (they’re not listed in “History” on the website, either).
The Center for World Culture (located “near the famed Prosperity Well, a national landmark that commemorates where oil was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in commercial quantities”) apparently is intended as an investment in “Citizenship,” per Aramco’s website, which says:
…the multi-faceted Center will use knowledge, creativity and cross-cultural engagement to both shape the next generation of Saudi talent and support economic and social development.
Snøhetta was selected to design this cultural facility (see the description here), which when opened in 2016, will include (and I quote):
- a 21st century social library with general public, youth- and child-oriented and academic materials, including more than 200,000 print and 20,000 media titles
- a four-gallery museum where visitors can explore the rich Arabian heritage, culture, natural history, and contemporary art
- theaters equipped with the latest technologies to showcase the world of performance, audiovisual and cinematographic arts
- the Kingdom’s first ever children’s museum, a vibrant place where children and their families can explore, learn and create through discovery labs and interactive displays
- Keystone, an entrepreneurial creativity and innovation center where young Saudi professionals can bring their ideas to fruition by creating market-ready products and services
- a lifelong learning center
- an exceptional interactive learning environment for visitors of all ages
Construction began in 2008, and it was originally intended to open around 2012–but construction being construction, there have been delays. I am not sure what the current oil price bust will mean for it, if anything.
LACMA is not the only partner institution, but I believe it’s the first American partner: The British Museum is organizing exhibitions with and for the Center, and London’s Natural History Museum is working on an archaeological section. The Pompidou Center is also involved.
Saudi Arabia seems to be opening up a tad of late: the Roads of Arabia exhibit, which displays fabulous artifacts found along the Kingdom’s trade routes, has been traveling since 2011, including a stop at the Freer-Sackler, and there’ve been stories about the country being more open to archaeological digs.
This can only be good.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Aramco