Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi
Sultan on top of Tahrir Square on the first anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution.
NationalityEmirati
Alma materAmerican University of Paris
European Business School
Occupation(s)Founder of Barjeel Art Foundation
Founder and Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities
MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow
Member of Global Commission on Internet Governance
Known forBarjeel Art Foundation
Websitehttp://www.barjeelartfoundation.org
http://www.sultanalqassemi.com
http://www.barjeelgeojit.com

Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi (Arabic: سلطان سعود القاسمي) is an Emirati educator, art collector, scholar, and columnist.[1][2][3][4] As an Al-Qassemi, he is a member of the ruling family of Sharjah.

Al-Qassemi is an influential commentator on Arab affairs, and is known for his use of social media—Twitter in particular.[5][6] He has been described by numerous media outlets as a prominent voice during the events of the Arab Spring.[7][8]

In 2010, he founded the Barjeel Art Foundation, an organization dedicated to art of North Africa and West Asia based in Sharjah.[9][10] Al-Qassemi is increasingly regarded as an authority on modern and contemporary art in the region.[11]

In February 2014 Al-Qassemi joined the Global Commission on Internet Governance[12] and in the summer of 2014 became an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow.[13] He has completed a number of academic fellowships and residencies, including at Yale as a World Fellow,[14] at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center[15] at Harvard University,[16] and others. He has also offered courses on the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art as a visiting scholar at universities including NYU,[17] Boston College,[18] Brandeis University, Sciences Po, and Columbia University.[19]

The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut's Global Influence list of Arabic thought leaders ranked Al-Qassemi number 19 in 2018.[20] Al-Qassemi is also the Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities, a joint-venture that was formed with Geojit Financial Services of India.[21]

Barjeel Art Foundation

Quote featured at the Fire Station art supplies store, Doha, Qatar. Photo Courtesy of Assil Diab.

Al-Qassemi is the founder of the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation whose mission is to promote art by artists from the Arab world through exhibitions locally and internationally. He was on the panel of judges on Sheikha Manal's Young Artist Award in 2010,[22] 2011 and 2016. Al-Qassemi was also part of the Jury and Selection Committee of The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award 2017. In January 2020, Sultan and Barjeel Art Foundation debuted the largest collection of abstract art by Arab artists in "Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950's-1980's" curated by Suheyla Takesh at NYU Grey Art Gallery. This U.S. traveling exhibition explores mid-20th-century abstract art from North Africa, West Asia, and the Arab diaspora.

Barjeel Geojit

Barjeel Geojit was formed as a joint venture between Al-Qassemi and Geojit Financial Services of India in the year 2000. The company is an eight time consecutive winner of Best Performing Financial Advisor in NRI Category at the CNBC-TV18 Financial Advisor Awards.[23][24][25] Al-Qassemi was also featured in the World Economic Forum's list of Young Global Leaders in 2011 as the Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities.[26]

Articles

Al-Qassemi's articles have appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Independent and CNN. He sparked a debate[27] in the UAE following an article[28] in which he recommended that certain expatriates be granted UAE citizenship. In 2013 Sultan Al Qassemi was criticised[29] for suggesting in an article[30] that continuous civil unrest in parts of the Arab world is leading to the emergence of Persian Gulf cities as cultural and commercial centres of the region.

Al-Qassemi has written about media in the Arab world,[31] the Jewish presence in Middle East,[32] British journalists coverage[33] of Dubai and atheism[34] in the Persian Gulf among other topics. He has also written articles on modern art and aspects of popular culture in West Asia and North Africa.[35] An archive of his articles and interviews appears here.[36]

Awards and recognitions

Books

References

  1. ^ "Arts This Week: 'Abstraction From The Arab World' And 'A Woman Of The World'". News. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Scholar and art collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, an interview | CFA". Conceptual Fine Arts. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi". Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Sultan Al Qassemi". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b Fastenberg, Dan (28 March 2011). "The 140 Best Twitter Feeds Of 2011". Time. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011.
  6. ^ Fastenberg, Dan (28 March 2011). "The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011 - TIME". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  7. ^ Adams, Richard (8 July 2011). "How Sultan al-Qassemi tweeted up a revolution". The Guardian. London.
  8. ^ "On The Pulse - Majalla Magazine". 11 November 2011.
  9. ^ Ayad, Myrna (5 November 2015). "Whitechapel Gallery in London Brings Modern Arab Art to the World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  10. ^ arielhauter (10 September 2017). "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi | Apollo 40 Under 40 Global | The Collectors". Apollo Magazine. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Sultan Al Qassemi and Dian Triansyah Djani join the Global Commission on Internet Governance". www.cigionline.org. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014.
  13. ^ "Person Overview ‹ Sultan Al Qassemi – MIT Media Lab".
  14. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi | Yale Greenberg World Fellows". worldfellows.yale.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Sultan Al Qassemi". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  16. ^ "Teaching Engagements". sultanalqassemi.com. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  17. ^ "Sultan Al Qassemi as Spring 2017 Practitioner-in-Residence | Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies | New York University". neareaststudies.as.nyu.edu. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi - Visiting Instructor - Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences - Boston College". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  19. ^ "Sultan Al-Qassemi | Columbia SIPA". www.sipa.columbia.edu. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi - Global Influence". Global Influence. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Barjeel Geojit wins CNBC award". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  22. ^ "Sheikha Manal Young Artist shortlist shows a healthy mix | The National". Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  23. ^ "Barjeel wins best performing financial adviser award". The Gulf Today. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Barjeel Geojit now a five-time winner at CNBC-TV18 awards". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Winners of UTI CNBC TV18 Financial Advisers Awards". Morning Star. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  26. ^ Staff (6 March 2012). "Four UAE residents are Young Global Leaders". Emirates 24|7. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  27. ^ "Call to naturalise some expats stirs anxiety in the UAE". Reuters. 10 October 2013.
  28. ^ News, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Special to Gulf (22 September 2013). "Give expats an opportunity to earn UAE citizenship". ((cite web)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Responses to Gulf Cities as new Arab Centres of Culture & Commerce article". 15 October 2013.
  30. ^ "Thriving Gulf Cities Emerge as New Centers of Arab World". 8 October 2013.
  31. ^ "Al Jazeera's Awful Week" – via Foreign Policy.
  32. ^ "Welcoming Our Long-gone Neighbors". Haaretz. 16 May 2008.
  33. ^ "Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi: If you think Dubai is bad, just look at your own country". The Independent. London. 10 April 2009. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
  34. ^ "Gulf atheism in the age of social media". 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.
  35. ^ "Blue Collar: Depiction of Workers in Modern Arab Art". رصيف 22. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  36. ^ "Sultan Al Qassemi - journalisted.com".
  37. ^ "Imperfect Chronology: Arab Art from the Modern to the Contemporary". Whitechapel Gallery. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  38. ^ Al Qassemi, Sultan Sooud; Reisz, Todd, eds. (5 July 2021). Building Sharjah. Birkhäuser. doi:10.1515/9783035622775. ISBN 978-3-0356-2277-5. S2CID 241776311.
  39. ^ "Urban Modernity in the Contemporary Gulf: Obsolescence and Opportunities". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 20 April 2022.

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