The work entitled “Shaping our Future” was created by Dubai-based Belgian artist Quentin Desmit, looking at fifty years from now.

The United Arab Emirates is a country that has been putting all its efforts to foster the creative sector, represented here by a massive paintbrush. In this context, the barrel serves as the foundation for the rest of the sculpture. Through its exaggerated scale for dramatic effect, this piece implies that the creative sector is to become a driving force behind the country’s economic prosperity and global influence as the discovery and development of oil reserves in the country have been.

The artist's intention is to place the creative industry on the pedestal it deserves, leveraging culture and creativity to influence and shape perceptions on a global scale, thereby exerting an economic impact, all the while working to reduce the significant environmental consequences.

Made of natural fiber, the oversized paintbrush is the focal point of the sculpture and likely the most visually striking element. It can be interpreted as a symbol of creativity, as well as the act of painting itself or like the artist says, a symbol of “Shaping our Future,” notably through the dripping paint that suggests motion, as if it's in progress.

Quentin’s work is embedded with a sense of complementarity between freedom and control, simplicity and intricacy, motion and stillness, reality and fantasy, tradition and innovation. In this work, the combination of the barrel and the paintbrush forms a visually engaging and conceptually intriguing sculpture, inviting the viewer to consider various themes, such as the relationship between art and industry.