Golden Gates

Centuries before San Francisco and its bridge, there was a Golden Gate in Istanbul. This marble arch formed the imperial entrance to the city and thus to the east itself. This month, a group exhibition in Paris entitled Golden Gates is providing a similar triumphal entrance to the west for a new generation of Middle Eastern artists. With work coming from Egypt, Iran, UAE and Lebanon, the 18 artists on display explore ideas around tradition, consumerism, landscape and society in its widest sense. Artists like Iran’s Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar and Beirut’s Zena El Khalil take traditional iconography and transform it into something embracing and modern.