GCC (art collective)

GCC (in reference to Gulf Cooperation Council the political and economic union of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) is an art collective made up of members ("delegates") from the six aforementioned Persian gulf nations. Founded in the VIP room at Art Dubai in 2013 it is currently exhibiting the sculpture "Local Police Find Fruit with Spells" as part of the 2017 Whitney Biennial

The collective consists of Nanu Al-Hamad, Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Aziz Alqatami, Barrak Alzaid, Khalid al Gharaballi, Amal Khalaf, Fatima Al Qadiri, and Monira Al Qadiri. As described for their 2013 exhibit at PS1 the group "makes use of ministerial language and celebratory rituals associated with the Gulf to create videos, photographs, sculptures, and installations that examine the region’s rapid transformation in recent decades".

For their piece "Local Police Find Fruit with Spells" exhibited in the 2017 edition of the Whitney Biennial GCC used as their point of departure a melon found on a beach in Sarjah which had talismanic writing upon its skin and was punctured by nails. The modified melon garnered attention from police and in turn the media. The group then took the image of the perishable and had it blown up in size and rendered as a metal, styrofoam, fiberglass, wood, latex paint, concrete pavers, faux rocks and other materials sculpture.