The return of Alserkal Lates, a renowned yearly event that ushers in the UAE’s art season, is a hint that summer is about to end.
The cultural district in Al Quoz, Dubai, has expanded organically over the past ten years, giving more than 70 contemporary art galleries, performing arts companies, and local businesses a place to call home. Most significantly, Alserkal Avenue has supported a real creative neighbourhood.
The streets leading up to Alserkal Avenue were congested, parking was scarce, and the lanes and galleries along the avenue were crowded with people. Everyone gathered to experience art in all its manifestations, including young artists, art collectors, movie buffs, literature lovers, tourists, and families.
At the event, more than 12 new shows showcasing Emirati and well-known artists from the region and outside were introduced.
Between the Dune Lines, an exhibition by Emirati designer and artist Azza Al Qubaisi, at Leila Heller Gallery, offers a glimpse into a scaled-down, intricate, and sophisticated sculpture wonderland.
Al Qubaisi, who started out in the arts as a jeweller who made wearable art, has now produced work that anyone can participate in. Her enormous, rusty sculptures, which are shaped and decorated in accordance with the textures of the desert, are adorned with exquisite patterns drawn from conventional antique techniques.
The invisible enemy should not exist is the title of Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz’s one-man show at Green Art Gallery. It is a potent and urgent ongoing project that is focused on the threatened, lost, and destroyed cultural heritage of Iraq.
Leaving is Home, a magnificent installation by Bahar, is a must-see. 3D printed sculptures hovering in the air give the impression of being windy, transitory, and also frozen in time. On the sheets, her late grandfather’s words, passages, and memories are written. They are taken from his own personal journals and describe memories of his childhood in Jaffa, Palestine, and the exodus of his family.
The Beautiful Voyage, a curated collection of Nabil’s works from 2016 to the present, is a delightful collection of work by a well-known artist on a global scale. The fourth of his short films, as well as pictures of bizarre self-portraits, are included in the exhibition.
Nabil is skilled at delicately referencing inspirations, movements, and trends with his very own, highly developed, and rich visual language, giving viewers a glimpse into his profoundly poetic mind and singular imagination.
