Imran Qureshi to open landmark exhibition, Vanishing Points, during Alserkal Art Week, April 13–14.

Alserkal Avenue, in collaboration with Nature Morte, is pleased to announce the return of internationally acclaimed Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi to the UAE after seven years with a landmark exhibition, Vanishing Points, curated by Nada Raza, the centerpiece of this year’s Alserkal Art Week, taking place in Dubai from April 13–20.

Vanishing Points is an important exhibition in the way it brings audiences a fresh perspective on an artist who is a central figure in Lahore, not just as the head of the miniature department of the National College of Art, or as one of its best-known graduates, but also as a dedicated champion of its cultural scene.

Nada Raza, curator of Vanishing Points, shares: “Imran Qureshi is not just one of the world’s leading artists of contemporary neo-miniature, as it has come to be called. His recent work and this exhibition demonstrate that he can work at an incredible scale, that he thinks spatially, and that he is always attentive to and inspired by the world. There is an ‘aha’ moment when you experience his iPhone videos and photography, seeing how the world itself transcends dimensionality and is captured within the concise picture plane of the screen, as if it were merely a manuscript page.”

Qureshi’s reinterpretation of miniature art

Qureshi challenges the single-point perspective quintessential to miniature paintings using the spontaneity of street photography, a genre that seems quite distant from the formality of the intricate painting style. It is also this defiance of the miniature world view that lends the exhibition its dynamic title.

This exhibition marks a palpable shift in the way he approaches the 16th century Mughal art form. It is evident in new bodies of lens-based works—two video installations Still Moving (2019) and Deen O Duniya (Sacred and the earthly) (2022) and photo series This shared vision, yours and mine (2018-24)—that are being exhibited internationally for the first time.

In another video installation, Still/Moving, he captures a mirror mosaic rendition of the Kaaba––rendered in a humble and less refined form of the elaborate mirror work associated with the decorative elements of the Mughal or Rajput palace––now increasingly popular within local mosques and shrines in Sindh and Punjab. Clearly encountered on the street, the reflective surface of the mosaic refracts the movement of traffic and passers-by as if they might be circumambulating the sacred square.

The video Deen o Duniya (Faith and World), shown in a mirrored room, amplifies the LED lights that are used to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) presenting a kaleidoscopic, even transcendental, world designed to allow the viewer to lose their bearings. These popular aesthetics also resonate with the veer of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, not only in economic but also in ideological entanglements.

A new site-specific commission for Concrete

The highlight of Vanishing Points is a new site-specific commission for Concrete at Alserkal Avenue, Opening Word of this New Scripture, 2025. Using the architecture of the OMA-designed building as a scaffold, he turns the largest wall in the space into the open pages of a painted manuscript. Echoing the embellished borders and frame within a frame device familiar to those who know the form of the Indo-Persian painting, this spatial intervention also plays with our sense of depth perception and allows visitors to enter into and occupy the foreground. Here geometric patterns are woven from the bright colours of mass manufactured nylon rope commonly used to make the humble charpai, or common string bed. Extending out of the frame and spilling onto the floor, woven stools provide playful seating, as well as the ability to enter this world of layered and multiple perspectives.

Imran Qureshi shares: “The multiplicity extends to his colour palette as well. “The blue of the sky, and the red pigment that I often use in my paintings and installations have a political resonance. Here I combine red and blue to create a new narrative, a sky and stars in the sky. I have used red and blue many times in my paintings, particularly against white surfaces, especially post 9/11 to indicate how the US and the UK, the dominant western powers, were changing the world to suit them.”

The exhibition will be held from April 13–20 at Concrete, Alserkal Avenue.

Full programme can be found here.

For images, click here.

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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.