Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi () is an Emirati educator, art collector, scholar, and columnist. Sultan is a member of the ruling

Al Qasimi The Al Qasimi (, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty in the Persian Gulf that rules Emirate of Sharjah, Sharjah and Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, Ras Al Khaimah, today for ...

family of

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

. Al-Qassemi is an influential commentator on Arab affairs, and is known for his use of social media—

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

in particular. He has been described by numerous media outlets as a prominent voice during the events of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

. In 2010, he founded the Barjeel Art Foundation, an organization dedicated to art of North Africa and West Asia based in

. Al-Qassemi is increasingly regarded as an authority on modern and contemporary art in the region. In February 2014 Al-Qassemi joined the Global Commission on Internet Governance and in the summer of 2014 became an

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Media Lab Director's Fellow. He has completed a number of academic fellowships and residencies, including at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

as a World Fellow, at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and others. He has also offered courses on the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art as a visiting scholar at universities including

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut's Global Influence list of Arabic thought leaders ranked Al-Qassemi number 19 in 2018. Al-Qassemi is also the Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities, a joint-venture that was formed with Geojit Financial Services of India.

Barjeel Art Foundation

Al-Qassemi is the founder of the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation whose mission is to promote art by artists from the Arab world through exhibitions locally and internationally. He was on the panel of judges on

Sheikha Manal's Young Artist Award Launched in 2006 as an annual fine arts competition for emerging artists in the United Arab Emirates, under the patronage of Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Women Establishment and the founder of Dubai Ladies Club, wife ...

in 2010, 2011 and 2016. Al-Qassemi was also part of the Jury and Selection Committee of The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award 2017. In January 2020, Sultan and Barjeel Art Foundation debuted the largest collection of abstract art by Arab artists i
"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950's-1980's"
curated by Suheyla Takesh at NYU Grey Art Gallery. This U.S. traveling exhibition explores mid-20th-century abstract art from North Africa, West Asia, and the Arab diaspora.

Barjeel Geojit

Barjeel Geojit was formed as a joint venture between Al-Qassemi and Geojit Financial Services of India in the year 2000. The company is an eight time consecutive winner of Best Performing Financial Advisor in NRI Category at the CNBC-TV18 Financial Advisor Awards. Al-Qassemi was also featured in the World Economic Forum's list of Young Global Leaders in 2011 as the Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities.

Articles

Al-Qassemi's articles have appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Independent and CNN. He sparked a debate in the UAE following an article in which he recommended that certain expatriates be granted UAE citizenship. In 2013 Sultan Al Qassemi was criticised for suggesting in an article that continuous civil unrest in parts of the Arab world is leading to the emergence of

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

cities as cultural and commercial centres of the region. Al-Qassemi has written about media in the Arab world, the Jewish presence in Middle East, British journalists coverage of Dubai and atheism in the Persian Gulf among other topics. He has also written articles on modern art and aspects of popular culture in West Asia and North Africa. An archive of his articles and interviews appears here.

Awards and recognitions

* #39, Apollo 40 Under 40 Global, Apollo Magazine, 2017 * #63, 100 Most Powerful Arabs, Gulf Business, February 2014 * #82, 100 Most Powerful Arabs, Gulf Business, 2013 *'140 Best Twitter Feeds', TIME, 2011

Books

* Chapter "The Arab world : a sum of its parts" in ''"Imperfect chronology: Arab art from the modern to the contemporary: works from the Barjeel Art Foundation"'', edited by Omar Kholeif with Candy Stobbs, published:

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fi ...

, 2015 *''Building Sharjah'' (Co-edited with Todd Reisz), 2021 *''Urban Modernity in the Contemporary Gulf: Obsolescence and Opportunities'' (Co-edited with Roberto Fabbri), 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qassemi, Sultan Sooud Living people Emirati Internet celebrities People from Dubai Emirati journalists Emirati art collectors Emirati political scientists Emirati bloggers Alumni of European Business School London American University of Paris alumni Yale University fellows Year of birth missing (living people)