DUBAI: To celebrate its 100th year as a public museum, London’s Leighton House is placing one of its most celebrated interiors under a new lens in “The Arab Hall: Past and Present,” a major exhibition that brings together contemporary art, film and scholarship to examine the legacy of its Arab Hall, completed in 1881.
Created by Victorian artist Frederic Leighton following extensive travels across North Africa and the Middle East, the Arab Hall has long stood as a striking example of cross-cultural design. With its intricate tiles sourced from Damascus, Turkey and Iran, the space merges Islamic, Mediterranean and Victorian craft traditions into a richly layered environment that continues to captivate visitors.
Yet, as senior curator Daniel Robbins explains, the new exhibition marks the first time the room has been explored in such depth, bringing together contemporary art installations, a newly commissioned short film, new research, and an exhibition to examine the Arab Hall’s history and its contemporary relevance in depth.
'Atlas of an Entangled Gaze' by Ramzi Mallat. (Jaron James)
“New research by Dr. Melanie Gibson examines the origins of the room and traces Leighton’s travels, showing how these informed his engagement with Islamic art and the design of the Hall,” Robbins tells Arab News. “Alongside this, a new film by Soudade Kaadan and commissions from Ramzi Mallat, Kamilah Ahmed and Soraya Syed offer contemporary (takes) on the space, each bringing a fresh perspective to its architecture, materials and layered histories.
“Together, the project offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore the hall’s history and reflect on its significance today.”
At the heart of the exhibition is a dialogue between past and present that unfolds across three key strands. The first introduces the site-specific commissions from artists Mallat, Ahmed and Syed — the first time the historic space will host such activations.
“Principally, the three artists were chosen on the basis of the visual quality and impact of their proposal, how it might encourage a new engagement with the space, prompting the viewer to look again and reconsider the makeup of the Arab Hall itself,” Robbins says, adding that each proposal was also selected for “its achievability within the confines of a fragile and vulnerable historic environment.”
Each artist engaged directly with the hall’s architecture and symbolic language, offering distinct interpretations that remain rooted in its history.
A concept drawing by George Aitchison for the Arab Hall at Leighton House. (Supplied)
“Mallat’s work responds to the space’s symbolism and power dynamics. It features thousands of blue-glazed Syriac evil-eye charms that appear to be suspended from the central chandelier, forming a ‘shielding canopy of watchful eyes’ inspired by Medieval Ottoman helmets,” Robbins says.
“Ahmed’s installation references traditional Islamic crafts and decorative arts present in the hall. From May 15, a mixed-media embroidered textile arch will sit over the fountain in the Arab Hall. The work draws inspiration from elements present in the hall including Damascene tiles, Iznik patterns, stained glass, gold mosaics, divan marquetry inlay, and mashrabiya screens,” he continues.
“Meanwhile, Syed will present a moving-image work, where animated calligraphy and living forms will be projected onto the water’s surface. Fish will surface and dissolve into script, drawing on ideas embedded in the Arab Hall’s inscriptions, tiles, and patterns, and treating calligraphy not as surface ornament but as a living, animating force.
“Together, the three works create new ways of experiencing the space while remaining rooted in its material and historical framework.”
Syrian filmmaker Kaadan, meanwhile, has contributed a short called “When the Tiles Spoke,” which employs magical realism, dreamscape, and documentary to animate the hall’s antique tiles. It features the voices of Khalid Abdalla (Dodi Fayed in “The Crown”), Souad Faress (“Game of Thrones”) and Leem Lubany (“Fauda”).
“The film allows for a narrative and imaginative exploration of the history of the space and encourages visitors to re-engage and look more closely at each of the individual elements in the Arab Hall,” Robbins said.
Kamilah Ahmed is one of three artists contributing new commissions to the exhibition at Leighton House. (Supplied)
The show’s third strand is grounded in new academic research by Gibson, whose work sheds fresh light on the origins of the hall and the journeys behind its materials.
“Dr. Gibson’s research comprehensively charts Leighton's travels through southern Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, and Sicily in the years between 1867 and 1877, illustrating how these journeys shaped his engagement with Islamic art and architecture. It shows that Leighton spent significant time sourcing tiles, particularly in Damascus in 1873. It also reconstructs aspects of his now-dispersed Islamic art collection and, for the first time, fully transcribes and traces the Hall’s tiles and inscriptions to their original sites.
“The research further highlights the importance Leighton placed on the space during his lifetime, and his pride in describing it as ‘my Arab Hall’ when inviting the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Prime Minister William Gladstone to a musical event in his house in the year that it was completed.”
Ultimately, “The Arab Hall: Past and Present” invites visitors to look beyond the surface of a familiar space and engage with its deeper narratives.
“We hope audiences will experience the space not only as an extraordinary historic interior, but as one that continues to inspire curiosity, reflection and discussion,” says Robbins. “For many, encountering the hall can be surprising and moving, and we hope it encourages visitors to reflect on its cultural references, its layered histories and its broader resonance today.”
