CONCRETE, ALSERKAL AVENUE (6-23 NOV 2019) Alserkal Arts Foundation brings landmark exhibition Is This Tomorrow? to Dubai

Alserkal Arts Foundation announces landmark exhibition Is This Tomorrow? will be presented in and around Concrete, at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, from 6-23 November 2019, in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, London. The exhibition, curated by Whitechapel Gallery chief curator Lydia Yee, responds to timely contemporary issues to offer speculative visions of the future through four pairings between leading artists and architects, including a new site-specific commission by visual artist Rana Begum and architect Marina Tabassum, winner of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

The interdisciplinary installations, environments, and pavilions by Amalia Pica and 6a, Cao Fei and mono office; Mariana Castillo Deball and Tatiana Bilbao Estudio; and Rana Begum and Marina Tabassum Architects reveal the expansive potential of collaboration between art and architecture, in line with the wider November in Alserkal Avenue programme. Is This Tomorrow? will take place in and around Concrete, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture-designed building shortlisted for the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Cao Fei and mono office. I want to be the future. 2019. Metal frame, Chinese brick, vinyl, audio visual and electrical equipment. Installation view: Whitechapel Gallery, London / Image Courtesy of Brotherton-Lock

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Founder of Alserkal, says: “Alserkal Arts Foundation is delighted to partner with Whitechapel to share such an important and groundbreaking exhibition with our audiences in Dubai and the UAE. Our presentation of Is This Tomorrow? not only furthers our mission of championing collaborative, socially engaged, and multi-disciplinary practices but also reinforces Dubai’s position as an epicentre for a broader dialogue on the role of architecture in the region.”

Lydia Yee, exhibition curator and chief curator at Whitechapel Gallery, says: “It is an honour for Whitechapel Gallery to work in partnership with Alserkal Arts Foundation to present a version of the exhibition Is This Tomorrow? This is a fitting context for an exhibition that explores the potential of artists and architects to collaborate on their vision of the future, and one that will reach a dynamic and diverse new audience for the project in the UAE.”

Is This Tomorrow? was first shown at Whitechapel Gallery, London from 14 February – 12 May 2019. For the Dubai iteration of the exhibition, four pairings of international artists and architects will investigate universal topics including borders, privacy, living space, and our relationship with technology. Visual artist Rana Begum (Bangladesh) and architect Marina Tabassum (Bangladesh) will collaborate on a new iteration of Phoenix Will Rise, originally presented at Whitechapel, ‘focused on hope’ that will be created specifically for The Yard, Alserkal Avenue.

Tabassum says: “It is a place of refuge - a space for reflection - contemplation. The highlight of the installation is Rana Begum’s beautiful art piece around the central oculus that catches the light and frames the sky. The architecture builds around it to create a setting and atmosphere of repose, all the while appropriating the context Alserkal Avenue.”

Begum, who is represented by The Third Line in Alserkal Avenue, says: “We live in a world where the boundaries between disciplines are increasingly blurred, and where technology enables us to connect with each other wherever we are. This collaboration is exciting because it playfully pushes boundaries, while simultaneously inviting the viewer to consider space in relation to location and existing elements. I have found it interesting to engage with Marina Tabassum’s vision and experience of space, form, colour, and light.”

Rana Begum, Test samples for Phoenix Will Rise, 2018. Spray paint on paper / Courtesy of Rana Begum

6a architects (UK) collaborate with artist Amalia Pica (Argentina) to explore the way architecture proscribes our relationship with animals through a maze-like environment made of an enclosure, blurring the boundaries between human and animal. Exploring another relationship, the one between people and technology, mono office (China) and Cao Fei (China) conceive a prototype for a machine that dispenses objects and emotions to represent and imagine possible futures. Mariana Castillo Deball’s (Mexico) sculptural work relating to the Mesoamerican calendar, Tonalpohualli, is brought together with Tatiana Bilbao’s (Mexico) architectural exploration of the human need to be isolated— yet communally connected.

6a architects and Amalia Pica Enclosure 2018 / Courtesy 6a architects and Amalia Pica

Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Collage drawing for Mind Garden, Heart Garden. 2018 / Courtesy Tatiana Bilbao Estudio

Is This Tomorrow? is based on the seminal exhibition This is Tomorrow, which took place at Whitechapel Gallery in 1956. Envisioned by architect and critic Theo Crosby, the exhibition brought 38 artists and architects together into 12 groups, including Eduardo Paolozzi, Erno Goldfinger, Richard Hamilton, James Stirling and Alison and Peter Smithson, and is now widely considered a watershed of post-war British Art. Is This Tomorrow? expands on the vision of the original exhibition by showcasing the works of international practitioners, all of whom were born after the original exhibition took place.

Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal, adds: “Is This Tomorrow? will be the cornerstone of our November programming, much of which will explore the confluence of art and architecture, as a reflection and celebration of Concrete having been shortlisted for the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. This exhibition raises important questions about how art and architecture can work together and reveals new realms of potential that can be achieved when practitioners collaborate – questions and ideas we’ll further explore through related programmes throughout Alserkal Avenue.”

The Dubai iteration of Is This Tomorrow? is a collaboration between Alserkal Arts Foundation and Whitechapel Gallery, London. The exhibition is co-commissioned by Whitechapel Gallery, London, and MAAT, Lisbon.