CONTENTS
22 60 62 72
06 FROM THE EDITOR Two covers, one conviction: heritage is what holds us together when everything else is under threat.
08 CONTRIBUTORS Meet the experts and thought leaders shaping this issue.
10 IN FOCUS Beyond the spectacle, Saudi Arabia is quietly building one of the most ambitious museum ecosystems in the Arab world.
22 BEACONS In Amman, thirtyeight years of nurturing Arab art on its own terms— and in Giza, a pharaonic collection in dialogue with the twenty-first century.
32 IN CONVERSATION Five decades of painting Palestinian memory into existence— and the weight that comes with being its keeper.
38 AUDIENCE MATTERS From a New York mansion to a theatre in Jenin— inside and beyond the museum walls, two models of community at the center of the experience.
50 CURATOR ' S CUT Contemporary art, photography, and cinema— three practitioners pushing the boundaries of cultural meanings.
60 LEADERSHIP VOICES Glenn Lowry on leadership, purpose, and the museum’ s responsibility to its community.
62 TIMEKEEPERS From Jeddah’ s Al-Bunt to Gaza’ s Omari Mosque library— heritage rescued, restored, and reimagined.
72 STAYING POWER When a private collector decides his collection belongs to the world, philanthropy becomes an act of cultural faith.
78 LEARNING LAB What museums offer that technology never can— the chance to cocreate belonging.
82 DIGITAL DIMENSIONS When heritage is damaged or destroyed, what is lost— and how can digital technology preserve what stones cannot hold?
86 GUARDIANS Why environmental control is not a maintenance issue— and what irreversible damage looks like before anyone notices.
90 DESIGNING MUSEUMS At Diriyah Art Futures, the answer to building something new without erasing what came before is an architecture that thinks with the land it stands on.
94 MATAHEF READS Six essential books— including two for the youngest readers— spanning digital heritage, archival practice, intangible culture, exhibitionmaking, and the stories Arab children deserve to see themselves in.
98 UNFRAMED AFIKRA and the Dalloul Art Foundation— rewriting the rules of Arab cultural engagement, each in their own way.
MATAHEF. COM 5