GCC is an artist ‘delegation’ or collective composed of seven members who each have ties to the Arabian Gulf region of the Middle East. Founded in 2013 its members are based in various locations in the Gulf region, in Europe and the USA. Their collective expertise spans a broad range of disciplines including fine art, design, architecture, creative writing, music and curating. Their work also reflects this multidisciplinary approach, taking the form of installation, sculpture, video, photography and performance and employing both traditional media and recent technologies. The name, `GCC´ is an acronym that does not necessarily stand for but alludes to the Gulf Cooperative Council (the intergovernmental political and economic partnership that connects six countries in the region), from which the group have adopted certain visual and ceremonial codes.

Like many of their works, Royal Mirage (2014) can be seen to comment on the culture of the Gulf States, which has been shaped by the accelerated change of recent decades and the transition from feudal tribal societies to a neoliberal one. The installation comprises a series of 8 portraits and a wallpaper which acts as a background to the paintings. While the portraits, made by specialised “delegate-painters”, show the members of the collective in their capacity as official representatives, the wallpaper reproduces, like a perfect trompe-l’oeil, the pompous golden architecture of the region’s luxury hotels and contributes to the illusionism of the whole. This installation is characteristic of the collective’s work, which includes creating pseudo-prestigious environments or symbolic objects such as trophies that or videos that take the form of promotional films such as CO-OP (2014), which entered the Mudam collection in 2015.