Article by Alice Bardos // Mar. 10, 2016
Spanning from March 13th to 19th, Dubai’s Art Week will hit the city with variety of programmes, each honing in on a different creative facet including photography, forum, gallery openings, design, post-card art, and an art fair. Art Dubai and other events are spread throughout the city at venues such as Sharjah Art Museum, along with Alserkal Avenue, and the Zayed University College of Arts, just to name a few. Though the city-wide programme is sure to uniquely situate Dubai within an intriguing Middle Eastern and international artistic context, Berlin Art Link has sought out some favourites for the week’s openings, events and, exhibitions.
Considering Dynamics & the Forms of Chaos
March 9 – May 16
Sharjah Art Museum
Corniche Street, Sharjah
The exhibition places two solo art works side by side; those of Canadian artist Angela Bulloch’s and German artist Maria Zerres, whose works hover around the central concept of entropy. Bulloch’s multimedia pieces confront disorder by questioning pattern rules, and systems that people have constructed to know the world, while Zerres provokes similar ideas through the use of her chaotic brushstrokes, which yield both abstract and figurative images.
Angela Bulloch: Horizontal Technicolour, 2002 // Copyright of the Artist, Courtesy: Esther Schipper, Berlin
Art Week at Alserkal Avenue
March 14 – 19
Alserkal Avenue
Unit 1-84
Street 6A, Al Quoz 1
Dubai
Throughout the week the venue will host a variety of commissioned programmes including the much-anticipated opening of Custot Gallery, The Jean-Paul Najar Foundation and the studio of famed street artist eL Seed. Featured exhibitions include the region’s first solo exhibition by Michelangelo Pistoletto, presented by Leila Heller Gallery in cooperation with Galleria Continua at Alserkal Avenue’s project space; Seher Shah’s surrealist architectural renderings at Green Art Gallery; as well as the works of YZ Kami at Leila Heller Gallery and Hassan Hajjaj at The Third Line among others.
Custot Gallery Dubai Inaugural Exhibition: The World Meets Here
March 14
Warehouse 84
Custot Gallery Dubai
Alserkal Avenue, Unit 1-84
Street 6A, Al Quoz 1
Dubai; 18:00
The World Meets Here brings together large-scale sculptures as well as modern and contemporary fine arts according to the taste of seasoned French gallerist Stéphane Custot for his inaugural exhibition in his new Alserkal Avenue space. The exhibition is a survey of international pieces including those of: Ian Davenport, Jean Dubuffet, Chu Teh-Chun and more.
Marc Quinn: Planet (Atlantic Perspective (AJ200R6785)), 2011 // Courtesy of the Artist and Custot Gallery Dubai
Jean-Paul Najar Inaugural Exhibition: Vision & Legacy
March 14
Warehouse 45
Jean-Paul Najar Foundation
Alserkal Avenue, Unit E45
Street 8A, Al Quoz 1
Dubai; 18:00
The non-profit private museum offers a look into its permanent collection of European and American abstract art collected since the 1960s, but also presents new additions. Their inaugural exhibition, curated by Jessamyn Fiore, offers a first look at pieces such as Neutron Star by astronomy-inspired American artist, Linda Francis.
Jean-Paul Najar Foundation: 3D Render 1 // Courtesy of the Organization
Art Dubai
March 16 – 19
Madinat Jumeirah
Al Sufouh Road, Umm Suqeim
Dubai
The region’s most popular and successful art fair brings together a selection of 90 galleries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. It includes master contemporary and modern art as well as spaces that are centred around particular themes. Dubai Art also produces a not-for-profit component which offers multimedia displays, educational programmes for youth, an exhibition of the works of the Abraaj Group Art Prize winner as well as the renowned art conference Global Art Forum.
Art Dubai: Gallery Hall, 2015 // Courtesy of The Studio Dubai
Global Art Forum 10
March 16 – 18
Art Dubai, Fort Island, Madinat Jumeirah
Global Art Forum 10
Madinat Jumeirah
Al Sufouh Road,
Dubai; Wed & Thur 15:00 – 19:00, Fri 16:00 – 19:00
This year’s programme entitled The Future Was, explores how various specialists including artists, writers, technologists, historians, musicians and thinkers construct and contribute to a collective future. Highlights include a discussion entitled The Future Was the Past, where individuals including art historian and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, will tackle the topic of how museums, which are quite squarely oriented toward protecting the past, contribute to our perceptions of the future. A conversation about The Future Was the Future, will include Hito Steyerl talking with Shumon Basar about the cultural and political projections of the very concept of the future and how they have failed us. Later, sound artist Christine Sun Kim will perform The Future Was Two Semi-Circles. Imagine a sound knot bringing together different languages and systems of knowledge to question how people communicate about the future. Expect the events to get political, a little philosophical as well as technological with features about the USSR’s Sputnik 1, hypothetical all-seeing smart city operating systems, and the politics and imaginary of today’s Emirati youth.
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Adam Szymczyk in discussion at the Global Art Forum 2014 // Photo courtesy of Art Dubai
Design Days Dubai
March 14 – 18
The Venue, Downtown Dubai
Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard
The fifth edition of Dubai’s design and furniture fair offers a selection of new and established international contemporary and modern designer galleries, as well as talks, workshops and guided tours. This year will include additions such as M.A.D Gallery alongside returning firms such as Paris’ Gallery S. Bensimon.
Aljoud Lootah: Unfolding Unity Stool // Courtesy of the Artist and Dubai Design Days
