Trade Routes: Globalisation and Middle Eastern Art at Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth Piccadilly in London presented 'Trade Routes' from May 3 to July 27, 2013, an exhibition exploring contemporary cultural exchanges along ancient Eurasian trade routes, focusing on Middle Eastern art. The show highlighted how military invasions, luxury industries, and expatriate communities now shape cultural interactions. Key works included Adel Abidin's three-channel video 'Three Love Songs' (2010), featuring Western female singers performing Iraqi ballads commissioned by Saddam Hussein, with lyrics glorifying his regime. Maha Malluh's 'Food for Thought' (2013) arranged religious sermon cassettes in wooden bread molds, spelling out Arabic terms like Haram and Halal. Wael Shawky's video 'Al Araba al Madfuna' (2012) showed children with fake mustaches reciting an Islamic parable in adult voices. Fatima Al Qadiri and Khalid al Gharaballi's 'Mendeel Um A7mad (NxlxSxM)' (2012) recreated the Kuwaiti Chai Dhaha tea tradition with cross-dressing young men in a hotel ballroom, stripping the scene of domestic familiarity. The exhibition juxtaposed neo-orientalist gloss with deep conservatism.