What happens when urban goes corporate

Tucked away in a little corner on one of the Amwaj Islands, you can find a creative space called Malja. Calling itself a hub for contemporary artists, designers, and musicians, the Malja building is relatively new, only opening its doors at the end of January. Owned by Red Bull, the space is multi-purpose as it has a gallery, DJ's stage, recording studio and a small art/dance room inside.

You can view this art installation as you walk from the parking lot into the side entrance. Reminds me of Sphair.

When I visited Malja there was a group exhibit on called Urban Nest, which featured both local and expat artists from the regional urban art scene, including Assil Diab (known as Sudalove), Eman Ali, Mohamed Alaabar (known as Leon. D), Mahmood Alshargawi (known as HuviL), Mahdi Aseeri, and Malja partner Melchior de Tinguy. The exhibition primarily consisted of photographs taken of the urban art scene in the Gulf region, but it also had a cubic installation, a watercolour painting, an illustration, and a few spray painted objects. I enjoyed the photos the best so I've included them below. They were all taken by de Tinguy who was actually born in Bahrain and raised abroad. According to his bio, after he came back to exhibit a 2013 project he decided to stay and bring awareness to the growing creativity of the region. He now lives between Bahrain and Paris. LIFE GOAL, PEOPLE. LIFE.GOAL. Tired of the desert heat? Just hop on a jet to the city of love. Tired from all of that loving? Take the next flight out to Bahrain, where you can simply photograph the locals' graffiti and get paid for it!

Anyways, the photos were divided by the countries they were taken in.

Bahrain

"@Huvil, cityscape"

"@thyleond, in production" and "@huvil, in production"

Saudi Arabia

"@mazen_alshamrani, in production"

A basketball court my friend recognized was in Jeddah. "@ododgqllery, texture"

"@mazen_alshamrani, texture"

Ali's photos of Bahrain

Diptych - Series "Shabab Al Muharraq:" "Streets of old Souq" and "Parking lot behind Arab Fort." I kept on coming back to these. Something about these young men's faces, the way they stood, and the fact that she used flash at night just made for compelling photographs.

U.A.E.

"@SAIFBCHILMIRAN 2014" and "@MALIKAH961MUSIC, in production"

Qatar

"@ELNASSERMUSIC, in production" and "@sudalove, in production"

Kuwait

"@bboy_Hamad"

Oman

"@Tahermajid, cityscape" and "@tahermajid, portrait"

I wasn't able to pick out the titles of all of the photographs as they weren't properly labelled and I had to make educated guesses from the pamphlet I was handed.

Malja used to be a grocery store and on their website they describe the building as a warehouse, so they really try to evoke an urban theme with their interior decoration.

Cloth covered tires

Graffiti drawn by Ramah AlHusseini, who's now the curator 

AlHusseini was a great tour guide as she took me through the building and explained how the space works, all while trying to deal with problems in the recording studio. At the time of my visit, she was busy working on an art piece, but she took the time away from her work and I really appreciated that. 

Ultimately though, the space is still run by a corporation, who reminded you of that as soon as you walked in the door or wanted to get a drink of water Red Bull. They were even setting up a half pipe outside in the adjacent parking lot. For some kind of eXtreme sports competition I guess? I didn't even know that people still did that. I thought we left skateboards behind in the '90s. 

But I get it, if you want funding and wider recognition for your work, you go to a big company. I still enjoyed the artwork and the concept behind Red Bull Spaces. It's a little more young in feel than Al-Riwaq and if I can get a ride, I'll be back.