Multidimensional Research Insights

The Oman Bedouin landscape is full of images, material and cultural features that include the grand emptiness of the wide open space, the rectilinear simplicity of the spaces, the rhythmic fluctuations of the light and color. This richness has made it a subject of decoration and not of the contemporary experimentation which has been given to it in the local artistic practice. The recent tendencies of environmental aesthetics are focused on the usage of the sense of place experience which can be used as a promising source of artistic knowledge creation. This study intended to explore how Omani Bedouin setting can be decalibrated off of the visual reference and into the proactive matter and conceptual organization of the contemporary installation-based artworks. It utilized the practice-based experimental approach, which entailed studio experimentation with natural materials (sand and stones and organic texture) and critical self-reflection applied through the model of art criticism of Feldman. These findings revealed that the immediate contact with the environmental content prepared the process of elaborating a modern visual language. The Camel and the Castle became the last artwork that managed to send a message about identity, movement, stability, cultural memory using the help of scale, texture and chromatic music via the desert. The paper demonstrates that the scenery of the Omani Bedouin is potentially an active contributor to the modern artistic composition instead of a dormant object of the image. Additional research is needed to grow the testing practice to various installations in various settings in Oman and to incorporate interactive or spatial engagement with exhibition.