Situation leading to a courtyard (address rehearsal)

Overview

The head of the Centre of Gulf Studies advised that questions regarding 'Mascalat' have been raised previously, but unfortunately no information or resources have been compiled or published regarding this topic aside from what you have mentioned.

The following is his own interpretation from his personal experience and conversations that took place earlier regarding this issue: the meaning of the name is contested – there are speculations that it came from 'masalat', which literally means 'needles' or can stand for 'forts'; alternatively it could be a reinterpretation of the word 'mushklat', which means problems, but that particular area of land was not deemed dangerous/unsafe.

It could have been a settlement that disappeared, but there is no further documentation that could prove or disprove that hypothesis. The fact that it was referred to as imaginary is of romanticised motivation according to him.

– Excerpt from e-mail from the Sharjah Biennial 11 production team to the artists


2013

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 11

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation