Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The sixth Culture Summit in Abu Dhabi, themed “A Matter of Time,” ended today, bringing together over 200 speakers and 1,150 attendees from 90 nations. Leaders from arts, music, public policy, design, heritage, media, museums, and technology sectors discussed how culture can transform societies and communities worldwide. They emphasized the urgent need to integrate culture into global sustainable development efforts.
“Change can happen at any time: the time to act is now,” His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak declared in the closing panel. “What we have accomplished at this Summit is to create a safe ground, a connecting point between East and West. We pledge to make this Summit a place, year on year, where intellectual thought and discussion can flourish, and dialogue can expand. A platform where we can discuss challenges and offer tangible solutions. We look forward to welcoming you back to Abu Dhabi, your second home, next year.”
Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director of The Design Museum in London, highlighted the Culture Summit’s vital role in bringing together political and cultural figures. He praised the opening of the Summit by Club Madrid, the largest global forum of democratic ex-Presidents and Prime Ministers. Marlow emphasized the significance of political leaders engaging with cultural narratives to build connections.
Pressing issues such as new technology and climate emergency dominated conversations. “With technology we have to urgently regulate culture,” warned Ernesto Ottone Ramírez, Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO. “Humans have the right to create, and artificial intelligence cannot take this away from us.” The need to start thinking from the environment’s perspective rather than our own was proposed. During a panel exploring climate change as the catalyst for new cultural dialogues, Adriana Sandoval Trujillo from the Embassy of Colombia to the UK remarked: “If we work with museums to bring indigenous knowledge to the forefront, we’ll unlock a synergy that can save our planet.”
The theme of time was explored through engaging performances, including Wayne McGregor’s “UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey” at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi. McGregor CBE discussed stimulating the audience’s imagination to engage with the concept of the body in space and time, viewing the body as a repository of experiences and a source of layered intelligence.
“Time claims to be scientific but is actually quite subjective, infused with memory,” reflected Richard Armstrong, Director Emeritus, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. “I say to museum leaders of the future that art bends time to us so that we not only understand one another but that we see that the past has a very deep connection to what we are doing today. We should have courage to be ourselves, but we must also have courage to be together.”
The Summit showcased insightful keynotes from acclaimed creatives and intellectuals such as poet Adonis and Professor Homi Bhabha, who provided profound perspectives on the theme of time. Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries in London and Founder and Chair of the World Cities Culture Forum, praised the mainstream recognition of culture, highlighting a significant shift from its previous niche status.
Looking ahead to the next MONDIACULT forum for ministers of culture in Barcelona in 2025, the Summit was an opportunity for stakeholders to declare the urgency of their aspirations for cultural policy, as H.E. Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, Republic of Cuba, said: “Without culture we lose our future.”
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