EXHIBITIONS
"SHARED THOUGHTS"
Institut du Monde Arabe - Paris
“Shared Thoughts” was an exhibition Basma Al Sulaiman did in partnership with the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.
Inaugurated in September 2015 by IMA’s president Jack Lang, former French minister of culture, it brought together highlights from the collection including “The Black Arch” by Shadia and Raja Alem previously presented at the 54th Venice Biennale, alongside a presentation of BASMOCA which at the time was still amongst the first virtual museum of its kind.
The idea for BASMOCA began in 2010. While virtual museums are becoming a norm nowadays, back then it was not the case. BASMOCA (which stands for Basma Al Sulaiman Museum of Contemporary Art) started as a means to share the collection both locally and internationally.
Designed as a metaverse, BASMOCA was based on virtual technology within a 3D space where people could converse and look at art together with a click of a button from their computers.
The solution allowed people to access the collection from anywhere in the world without any limitations of time or space, regardless of age, gender, ethnic, cultural or socio-economic identities.
“People from the Arab world, China or America could literally meet in this space as avatars and talk about art, watch lectures and go to openings. It is a channel enabling the dialogue I have tried to create between my motherland and the rest of the world through the artists I have in the collection”.
- Basma Al Sulaiman
Since its launch in 2011, BASMOCA has used cutting-edge technology to bring a contemporary art collection into the minds and the lives of as many people who were interested and inspired to explore this new space.
The works presented in ‘Shared Thoughts’ adopted a perceptive and documentary approach. Organized around themes that structure contemporary societies, they offered a comparative view of the East and West.
BASMOCA was presented by IMA as a pioneering example of using technology efficiently and effectively and as a revolutionary tool to disseminate art and culture while freeing us from our everyday limitations.
