More Than 25,000 Attend Alserkal Art Week: A Compelling Art Programme

Alserkal Avenue, Dubai's vibrant contemporary arts and culture district, recently concluded Alserkal Art Week, with over 25,000 visitors. Throughout the week, visitors were treated to a diverse array of art and cultural experiences, highlighted by the impactful exhibition Can You Hear Me? by leading artist and pioneering video art practitioner Nalini Malani.

Alserkal Arts Foundation’s public art projects made a return to our public realm with the first of our 2024 commissions Walk With Me curated by Zoé Whitley, launching with This Is Not Your Grave by Dima Srouji. Three interactive sculptures Hearth, Sanctuary and Library will remain at the Avenue and welcome community-led participatory activations such as meals, readings and performances throughout the year, inviting togetherness in moments of grief and solidarity.

As Dima explains, "Together, they form a constellation of follies as a response to the current failure of architecture to maintain its core purpose – providing shelter for its users. The follies are designed with inspiration from childhood memories growing up in Palestine where domestic spaces like staircases were frequently used as makeshift shelters. The title of the project ‘This Is Not Your Grave’ comes from a verse in a Mahmoud Darwish poem titled “I didn’t apologise to the well…”, in which Darwish has a conversation with a well, a spiritual portal in Palestinian folklore and oral history. The well in the poem helps Darwish navigate grief by reminding him that he is still alive."

Dima Srouji, Heart / Courtesy od Alserkal Avenue

Dima Srouji, Sanctuary / Courtesy od Alserkal Avenue

Walk With Me will continue to unfold across Alserkal Avenue with responsive site-specific commissions planned with Abbas Akhavan, Vikram Divecha and Asma Belhamar which will launch in the fall.

Alserkal Lates, where the Avenue came alive with exhibitions, art walks, workshops, and pop-ups, was one of the highlights of Alserkal Art Week, inviting visitors to explore the vibrant art scene after dark.

Alserkal Lates / Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue

From Nalini Malani’s powerful work to thought-provoking discussions and immersive experiences, Alserkal Art Week showcased the dynamic and diverse landscape of contemporary art in Dubai. As we reflect on the week-long celebration, we look forward to continuing to foster creativity and engagement within the arts community.

Alserkal Art Week / Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue

A Forgotten Place, a talk with Muhannad Shono & curator Tairone Bastien (Ongoing)

Muhannad Shono, a multi-disciplinary artist, spoke about his public art installation, A Forgotten Place on 2 March, with curator Tairone Bastien. The work is part of the Global Co-commission project A Feral Commons, helmed by Alserkal Advisory. The work itself carries water condensate from air conditioning units inside warehouses on either side of the laneway in the Avenue to irrigate a garden of feral plants. It is a microcosm of the inadvertent and varied plant life that grows largely unnoticed around Al Quoz, fed by unintended lifelines of condensate drip.

A Forgotten Place, installation / Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue

A Forgotten Place draws attention to what the artist calls “AC ecologies” representing nature’s resilience and adaptation to anthropocentric climate change. The project sets out to think with AC ecologies, to consider the potential of an abundant yet untapped irrigation source that can be found in water-scarce parts of the world.

Nalini Malani’s Can You Hear Me? (25 February - 3 March)

Textual and visual quotations, annotations and snippets of sound and music — what the artist calls ‘thought bubbles’— come together, intersect, and are taken apart in Nalini Malani’s ‘animation chamber’, for this solo exhibition for Alserkal Art Week. A powerful expression of outrage against the persistence of social violence and global injustice, particularly gender-based violence, this exhibition projects a large-scale, nine-channel video installation of over 88 iPad-drawn animations made from 2018-2020. The first major presentation of her work in the Middle East, the exhibition inhabited the architectural expanse of the OMA-designed Concrete with unprecedented theatrical impact. This presentation of Can You Hear Me? was accompanied by special outdoor screenings of an adapted version of the artist’s newest and equally powerful work, Ballad of a Woman, a 5-minute single-channel stop motion animation also hand-drawn on an iPad.

Nalini Malani, Can You Hear Me? / Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue

Nalini Malani, Ballad of a Woman / Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue

Majlis Talks Let the beauty we love be what we do (27 February)

‘Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.’

The dynamic series of conversations curated by Zoé Whitley was an evening of engaging participation, aligning with the introspective yet passionate theme by exploring diverse artistic pursuits via conversations between curators and artists such as Abbas Akhavan, Mandy El-Sayegh, Sara Reza, Dima Srouji and more. We convened a dynamic cross-section of artists, architects, playwrights, musicians and filmmakers discussing how we can collectively make and hold space. Inspired by the lines of Rumi’s poem, this was an evening of participation and discussion.

Concluding Majlis Talks was Alserkal Arts Foundation’s Spring Residents Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser with a poignant, atmospheric lecture performance, On Translucency, in which it invited viewers to embrace the in-between space and to forge new communities built on shared experiences.

Gallery Exhibitions

Zawyeh Gallery launched a new exhibition titled Posters for Gaza, with the participation of 26 artists, hoping to shed light on the horrific massacres inflicted on the Gaza Strip.

Posters for Gaza, installation view / Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery

Carbon 12 brought a solo exhibition by one of Germany's most relevant contemporary artists, André Butzer, who founded the Akademie Isotrop in Hamburg. The exhibition is on view until 30 March.

The Third LineFarah Al Qasimi's exhibition, Toy World, on view until 17 April, providing a unique approach to visual storytelling, and challenging your perspectives of everyday life.

Farah Al Qasimi, Jarash, n.d., Archival Inkjet Print, 50.8 x 68.58 cm, Edition of 5, 2AP / Courtesy of The Third Line and the artist

Lawrie Shabibi introduced Mandy El-Sayegh in A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose, curated by Sara Raza, an exhibition that collages fragments of information, such as newspapers, aerial maps, her father’s calligraphy, alongside hand-painted elements and non-traditional materials such as latex, investigating the relationship between them. The exhibition is on view until 28 March.

Mandy El-Sayegh / Courtesy od Lawrie Shabibi

Green Art Gallery introduced the work of Ana Mazzei, How to disappear, inviting viewers to explore the complex nature of identity, on view until 20 April.

Leila Heller Gallery presented a solo exhibition by renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. The gallery also presented Carpets of Eden, Gardens of Fantasy, a curated exploration of the mystical qualities of carpets in the realm of fantasy, and Immortal Mirror by Aref Montazeri, featuring handmade mirrors that invited audiences to discover themselves in new situations.

Ayyam Gallery presents Immortal Moment, Coping with the Shock by Faisal Samra that delves into the concept of an immortal moment and the coping mechanisms associated with it. The exhibition is on view until 12 April.

1x1 Art Gallery presented two exhibitions: Owais Husai's solo exhibition, featuring his latest artistic endeavours, and Graciela Magnoni's Watan, curated by Salima Hashmi, exploring themes of identity and belonging. Both exhibitions are on view until 30 April.

Graciela Magnoni, Watan, 2020 / Courtesy of 1x1 Gallery

Firetti Contemporary hosted two exhibitions. The Fifth Wife, a group exhibition curated by Mara Firetti, Celine Azem, and Ali Cha'aban. The exhibition is on view until 26 April, and presents works by Aidha Badr, Anissieh, Ghaleb Hawila, Jason Seife, Khalid Zahid, Salmah Al-Mansoori, and Sawsan Al Bahar. And Metamorphosis, curated by Mara Firetti and Celine Azem, which showcases Laura Lappi's sculptures inspired by ancient basilicas, cathedrals, and mediaeval Scandinavian wooden structures, on view until 26 April.

Gallery Isabelle introduced the duo exhibition, Rest, featuring the works of Dubai-based artists Mohammed Kazem and Vikram Divecha. The exhibition delves into the intricate relationship between labour, rest, and the ever-evolving landscape of the UAE, and will run until April 15, 2024.

Rest, featuring the works of Mohammed Kazem and Vikram Divecha / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle

Ishara Art Foundation displayed Sheher, Prakriti, Devi, an exhibition that marks artist and photographer Gauri Gill’s first extensive curation. Ruminating on the interwoven relationship between dynamic cities, the natural environment and the inseparable sacred. Volte Art Projects presented a solo exhibition of the modernist master of the figurative genre, Manjit Bawa, one of the few artists who took figuration right from the outset. The exhibition is on view until 1 June.

Sheher, Prakriti, Devi / Courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation

Sheher, Prakriti, Devi, installation view / Courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation

Elmarsa Gallery presented An Ode to Intertwined Histories, revisiting a collection of artist Rachid Koraïchi’s work, in an ode to the gallery’s longstanding collaboration with the artist.

Rachid Koraïchi, Exhibition views of Les Priants / Courtesy of Elmarsa Gallery

Custot Gallery presented the first solo exhibition of Bolivian artist Kenia Almaraz Murillo in the region, titled Invitation to a Mystical Dreamland. A combination of new and existing works come together to give the viewer a glimpse into the oneiric world of the artist, built in 6 chapters, representing 6 different dreams.

Mestaria Gallery unveiled Taking L's, the latest exhibition by the remarkable Charmaine Chanakira. The exhibition is a vibrant testament to the power of art as a medium for self-discovery, resilience, and empowerment.

Grey Noise, Dubai showcased works by Pakistani artist, Iqra Tanveer, titled Lament of a tree. The works resound to a collective grief, a loss similar to a moment of fall a memory that is held through incessant incantations. The exhibition will be on view until 20 April.

Iqra Tanveer, Arrival, 2023. Video projection( loop), portable vintage projection screen, sea salt. Dimensions variable / Courtesy of Grey Noise

Iqra Tanveer, Witness to the passing breaths, 2023. Laserjet print on wall, video projection (loop), candle, candle stand, chair. Dimensions variable / Courtesy of Grey Noise