The Circle Game

Installed during Art Week 2016, The Circle Game is a major new multi-form work by conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll that invites the public to interrogate the history, present and future of Dubai. Two LED signs installed overhead ask, 'When did you arrive?' and 'When will you return?' These are familiar questions asked of people who live in Dubai, and they are questions that could also be asked of the city itself.

A 15m high tower in The Yard gives visitors a new vantage point, a view across the low-lying industrial buildings of Al Quoz towards 'old' Dubai and further towards Deira, the original city centre. The elevated platform connects two parts of the city and serves as a space for public programming during and after Art Week, including colloquies on urbanism, music, poetry and storytelling that open up a dialogue with Dubai and its citizens.

About Mary Ellen Carroll
Mary Ellen Carroll's career as an artist spans over twenty years, across a range of disciplines including architecture, public policy, writing, performance and film. The foundation of her practice is the investigation of a single, fundamental question: What do we consider a work of art? Recent examples include Public Utility 2.0, commissioned fo rthe biennial Prospect.3: New Orleans; and prototype 180, Carroll's long-term opus that makes architecture perform as a work of art and employs land-use policy as its foundation. Carroll, who lives and works in Houston and New York, is the recipient of numerous grants and honours, including a Graham Foundation Fellowship, AIA's Artist of the Year Award, Guggeheim Foundation Fellowship, Pollack-Krasner FOundation Award, Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and was recently awarded a Robert Rauschenberf Residency during which she completed the series My Struggle.

Click and listen to the podcast below

The Circle Game: Colloquy
Mary Ellen Carroll in conversation with Hunter Lee Soik, Victoria Lelandais, Chokra and Zahra AlGhamdi
Mon 14 March | Elevated Platform in the Yard

The Circle Game: Colloquy
Mary Ellen Carroll in conversation with Iyad Alsaka, Reinier de Graaf, Samir Bantal and Tairone Bastien
Wed 16 March | Elevated Platform in the Yard