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PARIS: “Arabofuturs,” the latest contemporary art exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris until October 27, is “organized around the dynamics of singularity expressed in the Arab world and the singularity of each artist,” according to curator Élodie Bouffard. The artists come from the Arab world and its diaspora, and include Saudi artists Ayman Zedani and Zahrah Alghamdi, Lebanese sculptor Souraya Haddad Credoz, Tunisian artist Aïcha Snoussi and Moroccan artist Hicham Berrada.

The show is divided into two parts, “Programmed Futures” and “Hybrid Futures.” In the first part, Bouffard explains, the featured artists explore contemporary society, “capitalism, hyper-consumerism, issues of exile, diaspora, identity, often through a decolonial approach.”

The second part deals with imaginary societies. The artists deploy aesthetic fictions that lead visitors into organic worlds. “This world takes us on a journey through time, and makes us reflect on transhumanism, the future of humanity, and the resilience of nature,” says Bouffard.

Both sections emphasize that the concept and perception of the future is personal, and that each artist draws on his or her own personal experiences.

The exhibition begins with a space dedicated to Gulf art, and is followed by an introduction to the concept of Gulf Futurism, which was formulated in 2012 by Qatari-American artist Sophia Almaria and Kuwaiti musician and conceptual artist Fatima Alkadiri as part of a photo series and interviews for Dazed magazine. According to the IMA website, it was a “concerned inquiry into the accelerated hyper-modernity underway in the region.”

“This article was a pivotal moment for Gulf Futurism, and it sparked an interest among artists in the future and science fiction,” Bouffard explains.

Al-Maria's “Black Friday” is a series of photo and video installations that question the standardization of space and the loneliness it can cause. It is followed by Al-Ghamdi's “Birth of Place”, previously exhibited at the Diriyah Biennale of Contemporary Art, which explores new architecture.

“She’s trying to create a new universe,” Bouffard said. “A new skyline example, an enhancement of a legacy, and a future of metal and glass structures in an environment with real materials and a culture of architecture.”

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

“The topic of the future of society can be rooted in the past,” says Bouffard. “Our mission at the IMA is to stop seeing the Arab world as one bloc. We wanted to show that there is more than one future. When we talk about the future, everyone thinks of video games and artificial intelligence, but the future comes in all forms. We thought it would be interesting to reflect on artifacts, paintings, ceramics, organic matter.”

For example, Al-Ghamdi used organic materials such as leather in “Worlds to Come,” while Berrada used metal to create hybrid masks combining insects, plants, and humans in “Les Hygres.” Elsewhere, Credos used ceramics to “form colored magma and construct a post-apocalyptic organic world,” says Bouffard.

Meanwhile, Snusi “recreates a manifesto that testifies to a vanished society in the past, leading to Arabic script, and to Amazigh, a theme of symbolism that recreates a bridge between the present and the future.”

Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour contributed a 2015 video, “In the Future They Ate the Best Pottery,” which shows archaeologists burying pottery with Keffiyah motifs in an attempt to claim ownership of the site in the future.

“In this film, she highlights the politicization of archaeology in Israel and Palestine, which is particularly resonant today,” Bouffard said.