Mackay praises Sharjah's support of UAE's culture and heritage

Peter Elsner-Mackay, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria expressed his admiration for Sharjah's contribution to enriching the UAE's cultural arena during a visit to Maraya Art Centre and the Barjeel Art Foundation. He was welcomed by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Founder of Barjeel Art Foundation, and Marwan bin Jassim al Sarkal, CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), and was toured in the Centre's extensive collection of artworks and special exhibitions, including UAE artist Khalid Shaffar's Naturally re-oriented' in which the artist explores the use of natural resources and static form and delivers an ecological statement on the importance of recycling and reusing materials. The Austrian ambassador also took in Blueprint' by Iraqi artist Adel Abidin whose exhibition employs informal architecture and sound to create a large-scale interactive drawing that explores the manufactured and globalised nature of Arab' identity in a post-Arab Spring era. Peter Elsner-Mackay then visited the Barjeel Art Foundation to see RE: Orient', an exhibition that explores three decades of political and socio-cultural transition across the Arab region through investigating the art production of the 1950s to 1970s and features selected works from the collection of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi.