KAMIAR’S MONTHLY REPORT

Among the highlights I took in at Art Dubai:

Perrotin who himself was present at this year’s fair exhibiting for the first time brought a strong booth of artists JR, Daniel Arsham, Johan Creten and more. Constant buzz was around his stand. Custot Gallery based in Dubai brought along some fabulous pieces including Ian Davenport, a favorite artist of mine, and also had a very successful fair. Templon focused its attention on Abdelkader Benchamma and brought some inspiring work by this fabulous artist working with charcoal. The gallery also brought Dubai veterans such as Jittish Kallat, Sudarshan Shetty and others. The never tiring Dastan Basement had two booths at the fair exhibiting artists from Derakshani to Taba and Shooki.

Notable VOLTA galleries participated in this edition, including: Gallery 1957, with a strong booth featuring a double presentation of Joana Choumali and Abdoulaye Konate. SARADIPOUR Art Gallery brought a solo presentation of Mohslem Khezri. Vin Gallery from Vietnam showed a dual presentation of Yohei Yama and Karine Guillermin. Marc Hachem’s curated booth was very active throughout the show.

Elsewhere at the fair, Leila Heller Gallery featured a strong booth with artists such as Aref Montazemi whose mirror works drew a large crowd. Experimenter showing many great artists including Aysha Sultana, a Dubai veteran. The Third Line also had a strong booth showing the likes of Nima Navabi, Monir Farmafarmaian and Rana Begum.

Sadly we cant mention every great gallery here but all in all Art Dubai was a roaring success and it was great to be back at an in real life fair again. Congratulations to the team of Chloe Vaitsou, Pablo del Val and Hala Khayat who gave us all hope for future fairs to happen later on this fall.

Dubai is of course not just about Art Dubai. It has a strong cultural art hub most notably in Al Serkal Avenue established in 2007 by Abdelmosem Bin Eisa Alserkal.

Al Serkal Avenue has transformed the cultural landscape of Dubai and the UAE through the creation of a thriving, region-specific community of art galleries, visual, and performing arts organizations, designers and entrepreneur-led businesses. It also has fabulous restaurants, shops, co-lab offices and more.

Al Serkal Avenue was a week of exhibitions, commissions, and talks occurring across the Avenue from 22 to 27 March 2021. Contemporary art galleries and not-for-profit spaces presented new exhibitions, and they welcomed Guest Projects and talks with artists and curators from the region throughout the week.

During the week, Al Serkal Avenue unveiled Study for an Incision, the first phase of Tania Ursomarzo's 2021 public art commission at The Yard. Over the spring, Ursomarzo began a careful study of the environment of the Yard, a shared community space at Alserkal Avenue. In preparation for a more substantial future intervention, conditions were measured through space-making and space-shaping elements designed to capture wind, hold light, dampen sound, and cast shadow onto the most exposed area of the Yard—the grass footprint of the former Nadi al Quoz. As light and air move through the space of the Yard over the course of the day, these test elements trace the path of the sun, with a view to carving out fluid and hospitable spaces for social activity.

They also held Open Studios and Lecture Performances for Spring 2021 artists-in-residence with Alserkal Arts Foundation: Wilf Speller, Dorota Gawęda, and Egle Kulbokaite. 

Palestinian artist Hazem Harb took over one of their warehouses, welcoming visitors to his ‘moving’ studio—a nomad temporary studio where drop-in guests will experience a moment of an artist’s life in this inner creative sanctum. 

In collaboration with Gulf Photo Plus, ASA hosted the inaugural Disappearing Art Show, designed to encourage a younger audience to collect art, this show proposes art as accessible to everyone by selling works at 1,000 AED each. Interested collectors and art enthusiasts acquired art from galleries in Alserkal Avenue and the Al Quoz district, as well as emerging artists and art collectives participating in The Disappearing Art Show's debut exhibition. The participating galleries, artists, and collectives were: Aliyah Al Awadhi, Almaha Alkelabi, Ana Escobar, Bait 15, Gulf Photo Plus, Seeing Things, Cinema Akil, Kave, Zawyeh Gallery, Nahla Tabaa and Lena Kassicieh, Daftar Asfar, Amina Yahia, 1x1 Gallery, 101.art, Zayed University, Rare Magazine, Postscript, and Sa Tahanan Collective. Other Guest Projects included Lebanese artist Marwan Sahmarani’s pop-up exhibition called Before the Blast by Leila Heller Gallery.

Of course aside from the side projects each of the galleries in Al Serkal had new shows open during the fair. Carbon 12 who for the first year did not participate at Art Dubai showed Monika Grabuschnigg’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. Zawyeh Gallery presented in pursuit of Utopia, a solo show by Nabil Anani who paints the picturesque hills of Palestine. The Third Line had two shows Tarek Al-Ghoussein’s showing a selection of new works and a show by Yasin Bey, an audio and video installation. Leila Heller showed works by the talented Sacha  Jafri and Aref Montazemi. Lawrie Shabibi presented Ishmael Randall Weeks’ hugely anticipated sculptures. Green Art Gallery showed beautiful works by Pakistani artist Seher Shah.

Following an amazing journey through this cultural hub I made my way to the Jameel Arts Center nestled at the Jadaff Waterfront in Dubai. This independent institution is dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art to the public and engaging communities through learning, research and commissions.

Amongst the art on show from Conrad Shawcross in their sculpture park, There is a fabulous curated exhibition called ‘The age of You’. It is an exhibition about how you’ve been morphing into something else. Curated by Shumon Basar, Douglas Coupland and Hans Ulrich Obrist, with graphic design by Daly & Lyon, it includes over 70 visual contributors from the worlds of art, design, filmmaking, photography, technology and electronic music. My personal favorite exhibition though was Hiba K’s Do you remember what you are burning? 

Moving on to some more gallery spaces in town I went to the Foundry close to the Dubai Mall to see not only Harif Guzman’s show but also Adil Aubekerov, a Russian artist curated by my friend Dina Baitassova.

As you see aside from the regular tourist attractions, the buzz and hype of being able to eat at a restaurant again, Dubai truly is a place that not only is vibrant and energetic but is dedicating a lot of its energy into promoting not only local but international culture to their audiences. I can’t wait for next year’s edition.

Text and images: Kamiar Maleki

Follow @kammaleki and @voltaartfairs for more art insights.