Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 69

character and reliance on user-generated content; secondly, in the sense
that it acts as a platform for hosting contributions and giving people the
freedom to choose the medium, form, and context of their contributions;
and, thirdly, it is in the way the project incites people to pause and think
reflexively and critically about issues of identity, culture, and belonging. By
asking “What does the UAE identity, culture and life represent and mean
to you?”, Autopoiesis opens up a space for engaging with one of the most
important, timely and, at times, contentious questions concerning the UAE.
How people respond to such a question is something the project has left open
to contributors both in terms of format and themes. Some have responded
through the medium of photography, while others have chosen drawings
or videos, prose or painting. Some engaged directly with social issues such
as migration, labor, climate, and unity. Others chose a more metaphorical
approach through illustrations of ideas, such as, “the sand castle”, “the
chair”, “desert”, “forgotten streets”, the duality of “tradition and innovation”,
etc. (see the artworks display on http://www.autopoiesis.io) (Figures � and �).
The above two artworks are examples of the diverse contributions submitted
to Autopoiesis. Each represents a singular way of relating to the question of
the UAE identity and culture. Together they reveal the eclectic nature of the
UAE, creating a mosaic of images and a cacophony of voices. Importantly,
as a digital platform that is open to people from different backgrounds and
social strata, and to artists and amateurs alike, Autopoiesis aims to flatten
the hierarchy often defining art and culture and dissolve the boundaries
between contributors and experts. In her discussion on public memory in
the digital age, Ekaterina Haskins argues that the digital space can level
the traditional hierarchy between author, text, and audience by decentering
authorial agency and “preventing any one agent from imposing narrative
and ideological closure upon the data” (����:���). This is the case insofar as
the digital space and Web �.� technologies allow users to supply their own
content and actively choose their own paths through the platform instead
of rigidly following a museum audio-tour format, for instance. In this sense
and instead of acting as mere consumers of a linear story, audiences become
active participants in creating meaning and choosing how to engage with
images and narratives.
Admittedly, however, the extent of Autopoiesis’ participatory and engagement
efforts have been limited by a number of factors. First, as a digital platform,
Autopoiesis might unwittingly privilege those who are “connected”, that is,
those who have access to the Internet and the ability/desire to participate to
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