Exhibition : Foreign Architecture

Kuwait owns and manages approximately five thousand gas stations across Europe. Under the not-so-subtle company name ‘Q8’, these stations began as an investment to secure a market for the country’s oil export, but their role continued to grow as they became a key player in funding and lobbying against the occupation of Kuwait prior to the Gulf War. As such Q8 is no longer a series of serving stations across the European landscape, but a roadmap for the small nation’s political and economic autonomy. This exhibition tells the story of the stations that act as embassies across Europe and their role in branding Kuwait abroad in the years to come.

Civil Architecture is a cultural practice preoccupied with the making of buildings and books about them. The work of Civil asks what it means to produce architecture in a decidedly un-civil time, presenting a new civic character for a global condition.

Since its founding by Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Karimi, the practice has attracted a strong following for their provocative works and their offer of an alternate future for a nascent Middle East.

Artist: Civil Architecture (Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Karimi)
Opening: Tuesday, 23rdh April 2019, 7 – 9 pm
Exhibition dates: 23rd April – 23rd May 2019, 10am – 4pm
(Closed on Fridays, Saturdays & Public holidays)