Alserkal announces the 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest, the region’s biggest annual arts and culture festival – where art, performance, live music, and food meet

QUOZ ARTS FEST
Organised by Alserkal
24 & 25 January 2020
Al Quoz

Free and open to the public

Dubai, UAE — The creative industrial neighbourhood of Al Quoz will celebrate the 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest on 24 and 25 January 2020. Organised by Alserkal, the two-day annual festival of arts and culture is led by more than 60 thinkers and makers from the music, art, design, and performance realms in the UAE and beyond. The festival is free and open to the public, and takes place across Al Quoz.

Quoz Arts Fest showcases the breadth and depth of creativity across the arts that can be found in Al Quoz, with a two-day celebration of art exhibitions, live music, contemporary dance performances, food trucks, outdoor art installations, film screenings, and educational seminars, among other interactive activities for a wide range of audiences.

The 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest is the biggest yet, with the 60+ creative homegrown concepts in Alserkal Avenue activating, alongside events and exhibitions by their neighbours across Al Quoz. Quoz Arts Fest 2020 explores the theme ‘In Search Of…’, with special programmes including a free concert by Jordanian-Palestinian shamstep band 47Soul; the exhibition FOOD: Bigger than the plate, held in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and much more.

Regional band 47Soul will take the stage in The Yard, Alserkal Avenue, on Friday 24 January. The Jordanian-Palestinian band combines traditional dabke music with electronic beats, and is best-known for creating the Shamstep, a combination of mijwiz (a levantine folk musical style) and dubstep.

FOOD: Bigger than the plate will open on 24 January in Warehouse 46 in Alserkal Avenue. The experiential exhibition invites visitors to participate, taste, and debate, as it explores current experiments at every stage of the food system – from compost to table. This iteration of the exhibition, previously staged at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, presents a quirky approach to experiencing food, and understanding how the collective choices we make can lead to a more sustainable food future.

Other highlights from Quoz Arts Fest 2020’s regional programme include:

Ansaf, a contemporary dance performance by Sima Dance Company, choreographed by acclaimed Palestinian choreographer Alaa Krimed, which explores questions and concepts facing the Arab World. The performance will take place on 24 January;

The Reel Palestine Film Festival, which returns for its sixth edition, in collaboration with Cinema Akil, the GCC’s first arthouse cinema whose flagship home is presented in partnership with Alserkal Avenue;

A Photo Walk of Al Quoz and a cyanotype workshop by Gulf Photo Plus;

A number of workshops at The Courtyard, including the Courtyard Playhouse improv plays, a live drawing performance with Ali Razavi, and an Art of Zero Waste workshop with Yasmin Sinai;

Africa & the other 54 countries: Focus on South Africa, an exhibition of art, culture, and cuisine from South Africa by African contemporary art gallery Akka Project;

The Short+Sweet Theatre festival at The Junction, the world’s largest 10-minute play festival;

A children’s walking tour of art galleries by thejamjar, encouraging them to discover art as a form of expression;

A variety of children’s workshops focusing on art and creative writing by Wisdom Warehouse.

-ENDS-

For press enquiries:
press@alserkal.online

Editor’s Notes

About Alserkal Arts Foundation
The Alserkal Arts Foundation is a non-profit that extends Alserkal’s mission to support cultural production. The Foundation offers opportunities for research and artistic production to cultural practitioners and researchers with strong regional or contemporary relevance who challenge conventional disciplinary boundaries. Through its initiatives, which include support for artistic projects, research grants, alternative learning, and artist residencies at purpose-built studios located in the heart of Alserkal Avenue, the Foundation seeks to incubate creative thinking that contributes to the region’s cultural sphere, leading to new forms of knowledge. Alserkal Arts Foundation is supported by Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Ahmad Bin Eisa Alserkal and the Alserkal family.

About Alserkal
Alserkal is a socially responsible and forward-thinking cultural enterprise dedicated to developing sustainable models for homegrown initiatives and to supporting narratives and research emerging from the Global South. Founded in 2007 by Emirati businessman and patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Alserkal is renowned for its ground-breaking artistic productions, experimental approach and for the creation of culturally meaningful spaces that inspire and shape communities. Alserkal has three primary areas of activity: cultivating a creative economy in Dubai and building a collaborative network of civic cultural institutions through its renowned cultural district, Alserkal Avenue; providing advisory services to public and private sector entities; and, supporting public artist commissions, residencies, research grants and educational programmes through its non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation.

Alserkal has transformed the cultural landscape of Dubai and the UAE through the creation of a thriving, region-specific community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers and entrepreneur-led businesses at Alserkal Avenue, providing an essential platform for the development of creative industries in the region.

Alserkal utilizes its collective expertise in arts initiatives and cultural production, heritage creation, community building and engagement, as well as urbanism and planning for creative industries, to guide public and private sector entities in developing sustainable and responsive business models.

About Alserkal Avenue
Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant cultural district in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai, and is home to a community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers, home-grown and entrepreneur-led businesses, and community spaces across 500,000sqft and 90 warehouses. Alserkal Avenue provides an essential platform for the development of the creative industries in the United Arab Emirates. As one of the region’s foremost destinations for contemporary art, and home to Dubai’s risk-takers, makers and wide-ranging creative communities, Alserkal Avenue provides cultural experiences for local, regional and international audiences through its extensive year-round programming. Alserkal Avenue is home to Concrete, a multi-disciplinary exhibitions space conceptualised and programmed by Alserkal, as well as the artist residency program of Alserkal’s non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation. Alserkal Avenue was established in 2007 by Alserkal following the visionary thinking of its founder, Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, who sought to cultivate a vibrant creative community and support cultural production in Dubai.