Alserkal Art Week to Open Under the Theme "A Wild Stitch", 13-20 April

Alserkal Art Week has long been a platform for pioneering public programmes, presented in collaboration with cutting-edge contemporary artists, partners, and galleries. Taking place each April to coincide with Art Dubai, it is part of Alserkal Avenue, founded in 2008 by Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, with a vision to foster a dynamic creative community and support cultural production.

VANISHING POINTS: AN EXHIBITION BY IMRAN QURESHI

At the heart of Alserkal Art Week, Vanishing Points debuts new works by Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi, presented for the first time at Concrete. Curated by Nada Raza, the exhibition showcases photography, video, painting, and site-specific installation by Qureshi, a leading figure from the acclaimed Lahore school of contemporary Indo-Persian miniature painting, renowned for his innovative reimagining of this classical form. Qureshi captures the layered cityscapes of South Asia, where Mughal and Sikh architecture merge with the post-industrial present, rejecting the fixed gaze of European perspective. By collaborating with skilled practitioners, he creates immersive, tactile experiences that reimagine the world in miniature.

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS

Curated by independent writer and curator Fatoş Üstek, this year’s public art commissions unfold across the Avenue under Between a Beach and Slope, inspired by Emirati artist Nujoom Alghanem’s poem of the same name.

Alghanem’s photographic intervention marks the Avenue’s corner façade, opening a contemplative dialogue between self and landscape. In The Yard, Indian artist Shilpa Gupta’s light-text sculpture, Still They Know Not What I Dream, gives form to silence and resistance. Each work is placed in dialogue with the city’s shifting horizon—where the ancient rhythms of desert and sea meet the bright glare of the future.

The commissions will be accompanied by talks by the artists and curator, live block-printing workshops, and a film screening.

MAJLIS TALKS FEATURING CRIT CLUB BY CEM A, CURATED BY STEPHANIE BAILEY

Curated by Stephanie Bailey, the Majlis Talks hosts a special edition of Crit Club, a performance project by Cem A. of @freeze_magazine. Framed as a sports tournament, the talks invite participants into a site-specific arena to dialogue and debate on unrealistic questions and impossible positions—drawn from conversations within the UAE art scene.

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS AROUND THE AVENUE

Alserkal Art Week brings together artists from the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, with 16 galleries presenting exhibitions that confront histories of displacement, resilience, and identity.

Efie Gallery debuts with Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’ I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water, an immersive reflection on migration, ancestral memory, and nature shaped by colonization across Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Zawyeh Gallery presents British-Palestinian artist Bashir Makhoul’s The Promise, where petals become symbols of displacement and renewal. Ayyam Gallery showcases Iraqi-Palestinian Sama Alshaibi’s photographs, reconstructing Baghdad’s shifting landscapes through LiDAR technology and archives. Gulf Photo Plus hosts A Memorial in Fragments, featuring Saudi artist Majd Arandas’ posthumous work on photography’s role in documenting Gaza. Green Art Gallery presents paintings by Iranian artist Maryam Hoseini that explore the fragmentation of women’s bodies and identity.

Exploring modernist legacies, Leila Heller Gallery presents Iranian artist Reza Derakshani’s I Paint Your Grace, I Paint Your Pain, I Paint Love, his first solo in five years, meditating on memory and transformation through Persian-inspired works, while Gallery Isabelle revisits pioneering Emirati conceptual artist Hassan Sharif’s Objects series, interrogating materiality and storytelling.

Other exhibitions include 1x1 Art Gallery’s showcase of Indian artist and filmmaker K.M. Madhusudhanan’s The Shape of the Sky, A Rectangle; Firetti Contemporary’s Reverie, featuring Cuban-born Reynier Llanes’ paintings that blend folklore and contemporary themes to explore poetic existence; and Aisha Alabbar Gallery’s A Radical Intimacy of Hanging Out, a group show featuring Asma Khoory, Taqwa Al Naqbi, and Sultan Al Remeithi, questioning the logic of Gulf urbanism, and Waddington Custot Gallery’s group exhibition features international artists such as Landon Metz and Marc Quinn.

GUEST PROJECTS

This week features two guest exhibitions. Leila Heller Gallery and Dastan Gallery present Maydan: A Living Agora, a group exhibition curated by Behrang Samadzadegan, exploring the Maydan as both place and symbol—a site of gathering, exchange, and negotiation across cultures. The Mine presents Resonant Turns, a solo show by Hadieh Shafie, where sculptural scrolls and cascading book forms transform language, repetition, and movement into fluid, cyclical storytelling.

A NEW MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH ART DUBAI

Mexican artist Héctor Zamora presents his site-specific intervention Existence-emitting Movements, complementing his performance art at Art Dubai 2025. This work arises from group actions where performers engage with terracotta objects, exploring symbolism through clay vessels. By integrating ritualistic elements, the performance invites introspective reflection on human culture—challenging norms around materiality, ritual, and collective action. This performance-installation marks the start of a multi-year partnership between the two organisations, co-commissioning artists rooted in performance.

Full programme can be found here.
For images, click here.

* ENDS *

For press interviews, information or imagery:

Gautami Reddy | gautami@alserkal.online
Barbara Francini | press@alserkal.online.

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About Alserkal Avenue

Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant cultural district located in Dubai’s Al Quoz industrial area. Established in 2008 by Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, the district was founded with a vision to foster a dynamic creative community and support cultural production.

Today, it has evolved into a hub of over 90 curated, homegrown creative businesses and one of the region’s leading destinations for contemporary art. The Avenue features cutting-edge galleries and dynamic spaces for film, theatre, performance, literature, music, food, education, and wellness.

Throughout the year, Alserkal Avenue offers diverse cultural experiences through extensive programming, including pop-ups, commissions, exhibitions, and festivals. It is part of Alserkal Initiatives—a cultural enterprise that includes the Alserkal Arts Foundation and Alserkal Advisory—both dedicated to nurturing homegrown talent and fostering sustainable creative businesses.