In a world increasingly defined by environmental concerns, many contemporary artists are stepping up to address the challenges of our time, spurred by a growing public awareness of climate change and sustainability. One such artist, Christiane Peschek, showcases her work in a captivating exhibition at the NIKA Project Space in Al Quoz, Dubai. The exhibition, titled Fever, is currently on display and will run until January 11, 2025.
Peschek’s multi-sensory showcase features a unique blend of sound, scent, temperature, glass-blown sculptures, AI-inspired portraits, and other visuals, offering an immersive experience that encapsulates the urgent theme of environmental crisis. The gallery describes her work as a “large-scale immersive takeover,” as she confronts the interconnected yet contrasting notions of geographical and corporeal fever dreams.
“Designing an exhibition around ‘fever’—the rising heat of both body and planet—feels especially urgent in a region on the frontlines of climate extremes. Approaching it from a Global South perspective adds a critical layer to my worldview. I want visitors to feel the intensity of these insights, drawn from the region’s culture, the climate crisis, digital realms, and a future-driven mindset,” states Peschek, who is based in Vienna and has conducted research in the Liwa Desert for this project. She further adds, “Working in the UAE has been a transformative experience. The environment, starkly different from what I’ve known, feels both confronting and captivating. Here, I’ve tapped into a well of cultural wisdom and resilience that pushed me to create this new body of work.”
Her latest creations delve into the practical and spiritual aspects of desert landscapes and their rich literatures, exploring cultural contradictions.
One piece draws from local myths surrounding protective desert snakes and the Ouroboros—a serpent in Greek mythology that symbolizes the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In Fever, this act represents contemporary environmental toxicity.
Veronika Berezina, founder of NIKA Project Space, established the gallery in Dubai last year with a vision to facilitate critical dialogue on contemporary issues and promote philosophical inquiry and artistic experimentation through the works of dynamic artists like Peschek from around the globe.
Formally trained as a lawyer, Berezina expresses her commitment to supporting artistic research and experimentation in her new role as a gallerist. Peschek is the third artist to be invited to NIKA Project Space’s research programme.
Previously, NIKA Project Space featured London-based artist Nika Neelova, who explored ancient marine life at Buhais Geology Park, as well as Katya Muromtseva, who interviewed women migrants in Dubai to inform her solo exhibition.
“I see NIKA’s role as expanding one’s worldview and encouraging empathy through art. With this in mind, our residency programme, which was launched with the opening of the gallery in 2023, invites artists to participate in research trips in the region to discover the nuances of local societies and local life,” Berezina tells us. She acknowledges that Dubai’s vibrant art scene has motivated her to collaborate more closely with local curators, cultural practitioners, and artists, fostering deeper connections and cross-cultural dialogues. “We are now working with Emirati artist Fatma Al Ali. We showed her works in Paris at MENART Fair in September 2023, and she participated in a duo show, Ephemeral Structures, where her newly commissioned work by NIKA Project Space was presented alongside Nika Neelova’s art,” she explains.
One of NIKA Project Space’s core objectives is to champion feminist voices, and the gallery has collaborated with numerous women artists over the past year, including Dalia Khalife, Sara Niroobakhsh, Lilia Ziamou, Katya Muromtseva, Mona Ayyash, Peschek, and most recently, Mirna Bamieh. Berezina elaborates, “I feel like there is the need for female artists to have more access for gallery representation and provide more opportunities for them to showcase their works. Though talent is not about gender, there has been a disbalance in male/female representation for some time.”
Just over a year since its establishment in Dubai, NIKA Project Space has made strides in the European market by opening an outpost in Paris.
This new venture marks an “important step” for Berezina. “The Paris space corresponds with our gallery’s ongoing commitment to highlighting internationally the work and concepts of artists and curators from usually overlooked regions of the world, and create a bridge between Paris and Dubai programmes, facilitating rich exchanges and dialogues, and help to amplify the practices of artists we connect with and provide opportunities for their voices to be heard,” she states. Berezina, who originally hails from St. Petersburg, began her journey as an art collector before relocating to Dubai in 2022 to pursue a career in the art world.
The NIKA Project Space in Paris, located in the Komunuma arts district, recently opened its doors with an exhibition featuring the works of Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh. Through a thoughtfully curated pantry and fermented ingredients, Bamieh’s ongoing series Sour Things reflects on the themes of displacement and the Palestinian experience. “These works deal with grief, pain, and processing the uncontrollable. They invite reflection and create empathetic spaces. The Sour Things series has always been about processing big topics without providing answers, offering internal, psychic spaces of empathy,” shares Bamieh, who founded the Palestine Hosting Society, a live art project established in 2018 to document Palestinian recipes at risk of disappearing. A previous iteration of Sour Things—entitled Sour Things: The Kitchen—was exhibited at NIKA Project Space prior to the Paris showcase.
For Berezina, while the Paris outpost represents vast potential, Dubai remains a vital space for igniting new conversations and serves as the birthplace of NIKA Project Space. “I find Dubai to be an interesting city located at the crossroads of different cultures while being open-minded towards new concepts, people, and projects,” she reflects. “I admire its cosmopolitan character.”