Abu Dhabi -- Current Events Current Events: Article Critique

Abu Dhabi -- Current events

Current Events: Abu Dhabi & Cultural Identity

The objective of this brief study is to examine a current event that has been published on Abu Dhabi. For the purpose of this study chosen is a report by the New York Times entitled "Building Museums, and a Fresh Arab Identity" which relates that architecture is being used in what is termed to be an "audacious experiment" and involving "…two small oil-rich countries in the Middle East [reported to be} using architecture and art to reshape their national identities virtually overnight, and in the process to redeem the tarnished image of Arabs abroad while showing the way toward a modern society within the boundaries of Islam." (New York Times, 2010)

Introduction

Reported is that on the Abu Dhabi outskirts workers have began digging the foundations for "three colossal museums" described as follows:

(1) $800 million Frank Gehry-designed branch of the Guggenheim 12 times the size of its New York flagship;

(2) A half-billion-dollar outpost of the Louvre by Jean Nouvel; and (3) A showcase for national history by Foster & Partners, the design for which was unveiled on Thursday.And plans are moving ahead for yet another museum, about maritime history, to be designed by Tadao Ando. (New York Times, 2010)

The report states that Doha, the capital of Qatar has also been "mapping out its own extravagant cultural vision." (New York Times, 2010) In fact, museums are being constructed in many Arab Middle Eastern countries and the stated purpose is the "building of a new narrative," according to the New York Times article. Abu Dhabi was only fifty years ago a Bedouin village possessing no "literary or scientific traditions to speak of, no urban history. Its' few thousand inhabitants, mostly poor and….....