Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah is a cultural organisation based on a Kuwaiti private art collection owned by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah (1948 – 2020), founder of The al-Sabah Collection and his wife, DAI director general and co-founder Sheikha Hussa Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.
Since its inception, DAI has grown from a single focus organisation to an internationally recognised cultural institution. DAI’s main activities include:
· An annual Cultural Season (lectures, music concerts, forum, workshops, children’s programme, quarterly magazine/journal, quarterly newsletter, cultural expeditions)
· Travelling exhibitions and loans
· The research and publication of scholarly books
· Conservation training programmes
· Research and excavation projects
While the rehabilitation project of DAI’s buildings at the Qibla Cultural District is underway, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah operates in two locations; the Amricani Cultural Centre (ACC) and the Yarmouk Cultural Centre.
Cultural Season 29 will be rich with discovery. As the Capital of Arab Culture, Kuwait invites residents and visitors to participate in a host of cultural activities scheduled for the year.
The Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI)/The al-Sabah Collection (TaSC) are joining in the celebration with three new exhibitions and a cultural season of lectures on an intriguing variety of subjects; concerts that celebrate almost as many kinds of music as there are in the world; and conferences, special events and workshops – all engaging and fun.
As always, the season kicks off in late September and runs through May, with a break in March for Ramadan. The lecturers participating are drawn from prestigious universities and cultural organisations in Europe, Asia, the United States and, of course, this region. The topics will cover a chronology from the Bronze Age to the present, more than 5,000 years. The Yarmouk theatre will also be buzzing with a plethora of concerts and plays. Whether ‘treading the boards’ or ‘raising the roof’, the performers will be sharing their talents and passion with the audience. All the other activities are sure to maintain the high bar set by by the lecturers and artists.
One exhibition, of the three new exhibitions opening this season, exemplifies the tenor of the season. Through objects from The al-Sabah Collection, the exhibition and the related conference will address many of the misconceptions about life in pre-Islamic Arabia Felix. And while some appear very Greco-Roman, all were created in the region.
With discovery as a theme for CS29, the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) and The al-Sabah Collection (TaSC) are taking the extraordinary step of opening three new exhibitions between October 2024 and May 2025. The first, Dawn of History (opening in October), was curated in collaboration with Kuwait University students. The last exhibition of CS 29, which is being curated in collaboration with eminent scholars from China, showcases objects in TaSC with origins – over centuries – in what is now China. A fourth new exhibition will open in October 2024/CS 30. Between Two Objects will tell the story of the evolution of DAI and TaSC.
It’s the exhibition opening in February that promises discoveries close to home. Ancient Arabia will be under the spotlight in a new exhibition curated by internationally recognised South Arabian scholars. The objects selected for Celebrating Our Ancestors: Art of Ancient Arabia in The al-Sabah Collection shed new light on language and script in pre-Islamic Arabia. The exhibition will also expand our understanding of the role of women in the area and outline more about the daily life of those living and working in the communities of the era.
Eight objects from the exhibition are highlighted in the CS29 Cultural Season programme. The objects represent the work of centuries of artists working in Ancient Arabia and many include inscriptions.
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