In architectural discourse surrounding the Arabian Gulf, the hinterland has often served as a given—an unassuming space that serves only to contrast, and in turn highlight, the rapid rise of cities fuelled by oil wealth. English language books and articles often discuss the city as the marker of modernization for Gulf nations, signaling their transformation from primitive to modern, only now recognizable as similar in culture or built form. The hinterland is portrayed, when it is portrayed at all, as space yet to be conquered, yet to be developed. A critical and grounded discussion of what the desert truly is remains glaringly absent. Without this vast space, the cities in question would not exist. As the nation’s functional staging ground, the hinterland provides the support needed to fund, the protection required to sustain, the cultural production that anchors, and the many other elements that contribute to these cities.
Marking the end of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, the Kuwait National Pavilion shares images of its exhibition Space Wars. The project was commissioned by the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters and curated by Asaiel Al Saeed, Aseel AlYaqoub, Saphiya Abu Al-Maati and Yousef Awaad Hussein. The exhibition’s aim was twofold: first to present the hinterland and spatial narratives through discovery and interpretation; second, to re-present this landscape in a reflexive and projective manner in order to inform and contextualize the nation’s imminent growth beyond the concentric city.
The main element was a three-piece 7.2 x 3.2 m carpet, designed by the curators, that offered a past, present and future narrative, allowing one to understand the culmination of uses and histories that have made up Kuwait’s hinterland over the years. The work is abstracted over a fixed geographical mapping of the national territory, loosely aligning with the reality on the ground. The field of activity, and its nested programs, are populated with distinct moments in time. Together, spaces, adjacencies, and activities uncovered and discussed throughout the process weave three vignettes of past perceptions, present discernments, and future conception.
Adjacent to the carpet are a series of projections showcasing archival footage, satellite imagery, and contributors’ proposals for sites that together build a comprehensive narrative of the hinterland. In between, a central display presents a culmination of projects, historical artefacts and layered maps that elucidate the hinterland’s evolution. The display makes apparent the patterns that have changed the hinterland’s form fundamentally over time. A withering halfa, Pennisetum plant, a species previously found in the southern desert that has been displaced due to urban expansion, sits idly within the space. Its native home, where it can no longer naturally occur, is now a neighbourhood ironically named Abu Halifa, translated to “Father of the Pennisetum.”
Accompanying the exhibition is the Space Wars publication that includes research, proposals, interviews and narratives from the project’s 20+ multidisciplinary contributors. Divided into four sections, The Gulf War, Cultural Production, Planning and Nature, the book provides an alternative reading that includes the desert as only part of the hinterland’s definition, rather than simply characterizing the landscape as a natural and geographic condition.
The exhibition is a result of the curatorial direction that aimed to create an active, critical, and informative discussion around the hinterland as a continuously evolving and increasingly pressing space. The impact of hinterland functions not only play a significant role in the spatial and day-to-day affairs of the city-state, but have a critical impact on the economic, political, and geopolitical future of the nation. Thus, as Kuwait plans for future developments and the expansion of the metropolitan area, the distribution of land within its boundary—specifically the hinterland—can no longer be thought of as separate from this process.
