‘Heritage engineering’ is a prevalent practice in the Gulf that is used to prioritize certain aspects of culture to create and maintain a prevailing narrative of positivism. To this end, ‘positive energy movements’ have become co-opted by governments in the region; new ministerial positions like the UAE’s Ministry of Happiness are created, and the emerging life coaches and Feng Shui consultants are employed by the hereditary leaders.
In Belief in the Power of Believe, the artists reference antiquity with a set of monumental sculptural reliefs based on 3D renderings of stills taken from YouTube videos and online images of regional practitioners promoting the positive energy movement as state policy. Referring to the erasure and creation of cultural myths, these reliefs become contemporary cultural artifacts: narratives of the present and the politics of cultural extinction and creation.
