Why Italy Built a Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi
In diplomacy, the word “cooperation” is often used nonchalantly in a variety of settings and contexts. Cooperation entails two or more actors working towards a common goal, but the true essence of the word is at times overlooked, and often gets lost in diplomatic translation. The element of advancement through mutual support is far more evident when one examines the Arabic counterpart of the word, ta’āwun – which is derived from the word awn, meaning “help.” What stands out in the Arabic definition is the aspect of open reciprocity. Cooperation, in this case, becomes an altruistic practice, and enables international partners to advance, and shape, not only their bilateral relations, but also the kind of world we live in today.
Cooperation, in its truest sense, is what has defined the growing cultural relationship between Italy and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in recent years. Both countries have worked tirelessly to create open platforms for intellectual dialogue and exchange, and chiefly among them is the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (IIC) in Abu Dhabi, more commonly known as the Italian Cultural Institute, which opened its doors in 2020. It is the first and only Italian cultural center in the Gulf, and a testament to Italy’s commitment to advancing and diversifying its cultural relations with the UAE. Both countries enjoy a number of shared values, including tolerance and co-existence, which has made the decision to open the IIC a natural next step in our bilateral relationship. The IIC is the result of a substantial investment by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), with the support of the Emirati government. As its inaugural director, I have witnessed first-hand the synergies between our diverse creative sectors, and the potential in expanding our joint efforts on those fronts. While the IIC works to promote Italy’s vibrant culture, history, and language, it is also keen on facilitating the exchange of ideas between our two societies. I believe the success of our mission is critical not only for its contributions to Italian and Emirati relations, but also for its potential impact on the advancement of wider European and Arab dialogue, too.
A few months after our official opening as an institute, the COVID-19 pandemic took the international community by storm, and not unlike the rest of the world, we had to move our activities online. We did realize, however, that despite, and perhaps because of, the challenges we faced during the early months of the pandemic, interest in our cultural activities skyrocketed. To our audience and stakeholders at the IIC, culture was a tool to come to terms with and make sense of the rapid changes imposed by COVID-19. We witnessed the universal ability of the arts to bring people together, even if they were physically separated by their screens. This reaffirmed the importance of our mission, and we doubled down on our virtual and hybrid activities, which ranged from webinars and online film screenings to panel discussions.
Our experience at the IIC, while still in its early years, can serve as a blueprint for other international actors to follow and adopt. We have chosen to initially focus on four mediums of cultural exchange: literary translations, music, film, and exhibitions, and implemented both short and long-term initiatives. We have partnered with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, through their Kalima translation project, to promote contemporary literary translations from Italian to Arabic. This has enabled us to continue hosting Italian authors in Abu Dhabi and introduce them to a wider range of Emirati and Arab readers. We have also worked closely with the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai to host musical events that featured Italian artists like Tosca (Tiziana Donati), Nicola Piovani, and Paolo Fresu, with the kind support of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation. On film, we have partnered with Cinema Space at Manarat al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi and with Cinema Akil, Dubai’s only independent cinema, to launch a summer-long series of screenings, which featured critically acclaimed Italian director Federico Fellini’s classic masterpiece La Dolce Vita and Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty).
On exhibitions, we collaborated with the Sharjah Museums Authority to open a temporary exhibition entitled “Drop by Drop, Life Falls from the Sky: Water, Islam, and Art,” which included a distinguished collection of art from the Turin Museums Group in Italy. This joint effort aimed to highlight the common heritage that links Italy to the Arab and Islamic world.
We recognize that a key enabler of our long-term cultural cooperation with the UAE is in the field of education, and higher education to be more specific. We are grateful to be building on already-existing knowledge partnerships between institutes in both of our countries, but we are also keen on expanding them even further. We were delighted to witness the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University and both the Canadian University Dubai and the American University in Dubai. One of our main objectives at the IIC is to explore the possibilities of opening an Italian university in the UAE one day, which would focus on the arts and the humanities. Until then, we are working on offering Italian language lessons, for all ages, to begin cultivating the right foundation to build our long-term education goals on.
The successful output of the IIC so far was in no small part due to the pre-existing appreciation of Italian culture by both the Emirati leadership and its people. Here, as elsewhere, when one speaks of Italian culture, the reference is often to beauty, harmony, heritage, history, and art; references that we also share with Emirati culture. This is why I believe that the opening of an Emirati Cultural Institute in Rome would be an ideal next step to further boost our cultural ties. There is so much that the average Italian is yet to learn about the UAE, including its culture, its development, its achievements, and its core values. The average Italian views different emirates across the country as ideal tourist destinations; which they are in their own right, but that is only one of the thriving sectors that make up this dynamic country. Few Italians know about the great Emirati museums, the literary and artistic festivals which attract creatives from all over the world every year, and, more recently, the diverse platforms of cross-cultural dialogue that Expo 2020 Dubai has offered. These are the kinds of gaps that an Emirati Cultural Institute in Rome can help bridge. Additionally, an Emirati Cultural Institute in Rome would also benefit from collaborating with the various Italian associations that are dedicated to the diffusion of Arabic culture in Italy, which already work hard to increase Italian awareness of the cultural realities that shape the Arab world, including the UAE.
Many Italians, and European societies more broadly, have unfortunately not yet fully grasped the richness and uniqueness that characterize the Gulf region. An Emirati Cultural Institute in Rome would shed much-needed light on Emirati and Gulf culture to Italian citizens and residents, and help break many stereotypes about the Arab World that still exist to this day. We, at the IIC, stand prepared to fully support such an endeavor.
The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author, and do not represent Fiker Institute.
