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Muscat Daily
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Muscat Daily
Omani pavilion wins award at London Design Biennale
Muscat – Oman's pavilion – titled 'Memory Grid' – has won the Best Design Award at the opening of the London Design Biennale 2025 last week. The recognition marks a significant achievement for the sultanate in its debut participation at the global cultural platform. The pavilion has been designed by multidisciplinary artist Haitham al Busafi and curated by the Zawraq Collective. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the project reflects the ministry's broader efforts to promote artistic and intellectual creativity among Omani youth. Haitham al Busafi 'Memory Grid' explores the ideas of memory, value and preservation in a fast-changing world. Visitors are invited to observe how perception shifts with perspective, with meaning transforming depending on how closely or distantly the work is viewed. Drawing inspiration from Oman's pottery traditions, the installation reimagines ancient clay vessels – once vital for carrying water and connecting communities – as symbols of cultural memory. The pavilion presents these traditional forms as metaphors for protecting what is valued, both in the past and present. In a modern context, the installation proposes that data is the new essential resource – requiring safeguarding much like water once did. Through the immersive experience, visitors are encouraged to reflect on how heritage, knowledge and identity are passed through generations. The project represents how traditional symbols can guide modern questions about preservation. The win at the biennale highlights Oman's increasing engagement with contemporary art and design on a global stage. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth said the pavilion represents the strategic direction to elevate creative output by young Omanis to international platforms.
The National
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Oman pavilion exploring memory and identity in digital age wins award at London Design Biennale
A meditative exhibition exploring memory in the digital age has earned a prestigious medal for the Oman Pavilion on what is the sultanate's first appearance at the London Design Biennale. The pavilion commissioned by Oman's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth collected the best design medal at the traditional award ceremony held before the 2025 event opens to the public today at Somerset House. It runs until June 29. Curated by Muscat's Zawraq Collective and developed by architect Haitham Al Busafi, the Oman Pavilion is titled Memory Grid. It arranges transparent, machine-milled vessels in a darkened room to create a contemplative grid – a metaphor for how memories are retained in a connected world. As well as being one of the biennale's most Instagrammable installations, the pavilion invites visitors to quietly ruminate in a space scored by a low, humming atmospheric soundtrack. 'We really wanted this project to ask questions about how we choose to remember and preserve our heritage in an age where everything is shared online,' Zawraq Collective co-founder Noor Al Mahruqi tells The National. 'We don't often consider where we're actually sharing these memories and how they're physically stored in data centres. What we tried to do with this exhibition is create a fictionalised data centre – one represented through elements of our Omani heritage.' To come here for the first time and win the Best Design Medal is a real privilege and a moment of pride Noor Al Mahruqi, Zawraq Collective co-founder Memory Grid took a year to make and included an open call for Omani designers to propose an exhibition aligned with the collective's curatorial vision of fusing 'tradition, identity and contemporary life'. The winning designer, Al Busafi, is the Omani architect behind the country's first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022. Al Mahruqi adds: 'Memory Grid is a continuation of the transmission of shared wisdom passed down by our elders and through family ties and expressed through craft and design that runs through all aspects of Omani society, from the creation of our aflaj water irrigation system to traditional pottery. 'So to come here to the London Design Biennale for the first time, and to win the Best Design Medal, is a real privilege and a moment of pride.' While the Oman Pavilion looked into the digital future, the biennale's Abu Dhabi Pavilion took inspiration from the UAE's maritime past. Co-commissioned by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and presented by Qasr Al Hosn 's House of Artisans, the exhibition traces each stage of a traditional pearl diving voyage through sculpture installations, historical video footage and audio recordings. Some of the historical items on display include the maflaqa, a curved oyster knife and the fattam, a nose plug made from sheep bone or turtle shell used by divers. Audio recordings of naham chants – sea shanties – reverberate around the space, evoking the camaraderie necessary during those long and arduous journeys. The Abu Dhabi Pavilion also showcases a natural pearl found on Al Marwah Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Dating back to between 5800 and 5600 BCE during the Neolithic period, the discovery is viewed as one of the earliest known pieces of evidence of pearling. Saudi Arabia 's industrial-themed pavilion explores the hidden cost of making clean water freely available. Produced by the kingdom's architecture and design commission and curated by Alaa Tarabzouni, Aziz Jamal, Dur Kattan and Fahad bin Naif, Good Water takes its structure from the traditional public water fountain known as the sabeel. At its centre is a metallic frame stocked with plastic cups, bottled water and looping video footage of large-scale industrial water production. Described in the curators' notes as 'design without designers,' the space is intentionally raw and cold, exposing the infrastructure behind the free water fountains we often take for granted. 'While it offers water freely, the reality is that the water is not free at all. Every sip is made possible by a complex system of labour, energy, and economics,' the exhibition notes read. 'Ultimately, the pavilion asserts that while free water may be paid for by someone else, it is never without cost.'
Muscat Daily
01-06-2025
- General
- Muscat Daily
Oman to debut at London Design Biennale 2025
Muscat – Oman will participate for the first time in the prestigious London Design Biennale in 2025 with a national pavilion titled 'Memory Grid', a conceptual installation designed by multidisciplinary artist Haitham al Busafi. With over 30 pavilions representing nations, cities or institutions, the three-week exhibition starting June 5 will feature curated installations accompanied by a programme of events, thought-leadership talks, performances and workshops. Expressing his excitement in a post on LinkedIn, Busafi wrote, 'A moment of immense pride! I'm deeply honoured and privileged to share that I will be designing Oman's debut pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2025. This opportunity to represent my country on such a global platform is truly special.' Curated by Zawraq Collective and commissioned by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the pavilion represents the ideas of memory, value and preservation in a rapidly evolving world. It invites visitors to consider how perception changes with perspective, offering an experience where meaning shifts based on how closely – or distantly – one observes. Haitham al Busafi 'This pavilion is multilayered,' Busafi explained. 'We move through life constantly shifting our lens – sometimes catching the smallest details, sometimes stepping back to see the whole. Without realising it, we adjust our resolution of perception and thought, finding different meanings at different scales.' 'Memory Grid' draws inspiration from Oman's pottery tradition, reimagining ancient vessels as metaphors for how humanity protects what it values most. Historically, these vessels were lifelines – shaped from the earth, fired with care and used to carry water; these connected communities to land and to each other. Over time, they evolved from tools of survival into symbols of cultural legacy. The installation juxtaposes this traditional symbolism with modern needs, suggesting that today's essential resource – data – now demands similar protection. Through this immersive experience, visitors are invited to consider what these vessels can teach us about the preservation of knowledge, values and identity across generations. As visitors move through the space, the installation challenges them to reflect on shifting notions of value – what we keep, share or pass on. In doing so, it bridges the past and present, exploring how physical objects can hold conceptual weight and carry human stories forward.
