Neoliberalism(s)

Overview

From close partnerships between the government and corporations, to public-private zones, to the non-melting pot of cultures, the United Arab Emirates presents a new neoliberal lifestyle to its inhabitants that is extreme and unique. 'Almost everybody who lives in Dubai also lives somewhere else', architect Rem Koolhaas has said. These people, mostly from other neoliberal nations, experience different geographies, weathers, languages and social worlds in their home and host towns, yet they share common ground in respect to globally dominant economic policies. The UAE is thus one of the few areas where one finds relational bridges between diverse neoliberalisms.

This work uses a questionnaire and mapping software to capture the relationships between expatriates’ subjective encounters with neoliberalism in the UAE and in their home countries. The survey, as a method of generating social scientific data, is infamous for its limitations. Despite this, it is the standard methodology for market research; in other words, it is yet another ingredient in the neoliberal fantasy.

The questionnaire has been sent to participants identified via social media such as Facebook or Twitter. For example, when 'People who live in United Arab Emirates and were born in United Kingdom' is entered into Facebook Graph Search, more than a thousand names are returned. By design, the five to seven questions asked demand both facts and suppositions as answers.

The data generated up until the opening of the Sharjah Biennial is used to create network diagrams. These printed maps are displayed in the exhibition. As people continue to answer the questions, presented on a touch-screen interface and also available online during the run of the exhibition, the ever-growing database is continually updated on digital versions of the map.


2013

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 11

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation