GCC
As opaque in their referents as they are blatant, GCC exploits the rhetoric around false utopias of transnational bureaucratic bodies, exploring the constructions of such identities through clever articulations of their own. When they appropriate the gestures and self-mythologizing imagery involved in diplomatic proceedings, they seek to uncover them as rituals with no real meaning. GCC stands for many things, but primarily an acronym synonymous with a political and economic union, the Gulf Cooperation Council.
For their debut exhibition at Project Native Informant, GCC presented photographic outtakes from their first annual summit in Morschach, Switzerland. A sinfully beautiful confluence of lakes and mountains is the backdrop for the handshakes, iPad deliberations and tea services that serve as glimpses of the collective’s diplomacy at work. This performance for camera lampoons the convening of the Council, held in a similarly luxurious setting and with similar jockeying between leisure and statesmanship.
Previous solo exhibitions include their first year survey of work at MoMA P.S.1, 2014, which traveled to the Sarjah Art Foundation and participation in group exhibitions as the Future Generation Art Prize and the New Museum, 2014, the UCCA Beijing and Whitney Museum of Art, 2015, and Berlin Biennial curated by DIS in 2016. In 2018, GCC were commissioned by Art Dubai to produce the fair’s extensive programming outside of the gallery halls as a large-scale immersive installation. Titled GOOD MORNING GCC (.صباح الخیر جي. سي. سي), GCC created a working television set, using the tropes of daytime talk shows commonly featured on TV stations across the Arab world as an anchor for the programming.
Founded in 2013, current members include Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Amal Khalaf, Aziz Al Qatami, Barrak Alzaid, Fatima Al Qadiri, Khalid al Gharaballi and Nanu Al-Hamad.
The basic objectives of the GCC are to effect collaboration, transformation and inter-connection between artists in all fields in order to achieve unity between them:
Being fully aware of the ties of special relations, common characteristics and similar systems founded on the creed of Art which bind them; and
In conformity with the Charter of the Federation of Gulf Artists which calls for the realization of closer relations and stronger bonds; and
Having the conviction that coordination, cooperation, and integration between them serve the sublime objectives of the GCC; and,
In order to channel their efforts to reinforce and serve Gulf and Artistic causes.

Installation View
GCC
Positive Pathways (+), 2016
9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Installation View
GCC
Positive Pathways (+), 2016
9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Installation View
GCC
Positive Pathways (+), 2016
9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Installation View
GCC
L'air du temps, 2015
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View
GCC
L'air du temps, 2015
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View
GCC
L'air du temps, 2015
Project Native Informant, London

GCC
Kuwait Congratulant
2013
Crystal glass, acetate and brass trophy, Plexiglas vitrine, silkscreen print, wood pedestal and marble pattern wallpaper
168 x 50.2 x 50.2 cm
66 1/8 x 19 3/4 x 19 3/4 in

GCC
Royal Mirage, 2014
2014
Digital print on wallpaper and oil on canvas, aluminium frames
Dimensions variable

GCC
Detail: Royal Mirage
2014
Digital print on wallpaper and oil on canvas
Dimensions variable

GCC
Detail: Royal Mirage
2014
Digital print on wallpaper and oil on canvas
Dimensions variable

GCC
Ceremonial Spheres 2
2013
Digital print on aluminum dibond
60 x 60 cm
23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in

GCC
Gestures II
2016
Thermoformed styrene with flocking
119.5 x 119.5 x 4 cm
48 x 48 x 1 5/8 in

Installation View
GCC
Good Morning GCC & GCC After Dark, The Room, 2018
Art Dubai, Dubai

GCC
Still: CO-OP
2014
Single-channel HD video
4 mins, 08 secs

GCC
Still: CO-OP
2014
Single-channel HD video
4 mins, 08 secs

Installation View
GCC
Achievements in Swiss Summit, 2013
Project Native Informant, London

GCC
Inaugural Summit, Morschach 2013 9
2013
Digital c-type print
84.1 x 118.9 cm
33 1/8 x 46 3/4 in

GCC
Inaugural Summit, Morschach 2013 11
2013
Digital c-type print
84.1 x 118.9 cm
33 1/8 x 46 3/4 in

GCC
Inaugural Summit, Morschach 2013 3
2013
Digital c-type print
118.9 x 84.1 cm
46 3/4 x 33 1/8 in

Installation View
GCC
Achievements in Swiss Summit, 2013
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View
GCC
Belief in the Power of Believe, 2017
Art Basel Parcours, Basel

Installation View
GCC
Belief in the Power of Believe, 2017
Art Basel Parcours, Basel

GCC
Still: Vision Driven
2015
Single-channel HD video
5 mins, 39 secs

Installation View
GCC
Whitney Biennial, 2017
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

GCC
Still: Ceremonial Achievements
2013
Single-channel HD video
2 mins, 11 secs

GCC
Still: Ceremonial Achievements
2013
Single-channel HD video
2 mins, 11 secs

Installation View
GCC
Achievements in Retrospective, 2014
MoMA PS1, New York

Installation View
GCC
Achievements in Retrospective
MoMA PS1, New York

GCC
Detail: Figure B: Micro Council
2013
Miniature wood conference table
67 x 12.6 x 12.6 cm
26 3/8 x 5 x 5 in
Solo Exhibitions

L'air du Temps
PNI, London

Achievements in Swiss Summit, 2013
PNI, London

Belief in the Power of Believe
James Gallery – The Center for Humanities, New York

Achievements in Retrospective
MoMA PS1, New York

GOOD MORNING GCC (صباح الخير جي. سي. سي.)
Art Dubai, Dubai
Group Shows
GCC
I Put A Spell On You
SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah

GCC
Peer to Peer: Collective Practices in New Art
Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi

DIS, GCC, Shanzhai Biennial
LISTE 2015
LISTE Basel

DIS, GCC, Juliana Huxtable
We Are Here
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

GCC
Post-Capital: Art and the Economics of the Digital Age
MUDAM, Luxembourg

GCC
Whitney Biennial 2017
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

DIS, GCC
Berlin Biennale 9 | The Present in Drag
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

GCC
Here and Elsewhere
New Museum, New York

GCC
America Is Hard To See
Whitney Museum of American Art

DIS, GCC
CO-WORKERS
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris

DIS, GCC, Morag Keil
Art Cologne 2017
Art Cologne, Cologne

Press
Review: GCC at The James Gallery, New York
Artforum

Critics Pick: GCC
Artforum

GCC: Solid Gold
PIN-UP Magazine

1000 WORDS by GCC
Artforum

GCC
KALEIDOSCOPE

The Aesthetics of Nation Building
DISMagazine

Corporate Aesthetics: GCC at MoMA PS1
Art in America

I’ll Be Your Mirror: The confounding strategy of GCC,
ArtAsiaPacific

GCC Transmission
Dazed
