LEILA HELLER GALLERY BECOMES FIRST INTERNATIONAL GALLERY TO OPEN DOORS IN THE REGION AT ALSERKAL AVENUE

16th November Galleries Night programme includes gallery openings, pop ups and previews

Image Courtesy: Leila Heller Gallery, Ghada Amer ‘ Girl With Pink Lips’ 2014, Ceramic, Alserkal Avenue, Courtesy Leila Heller Gallery.

Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, will debut its space on the Avenue with separate solo exhibitions by Ghada Amer and Wim Delvoye on Galleries Night on 16
November 2015, when galleries simultaneously open new exhibitions from 6pm – 9pm. The evening will welcome the creative community to thunveiling of new gallery openings, contemporary art exhibitions and artist talks.

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Alserkal Avenue Founder and Patron of the Arts comments, “The launch of the Alserkal Avenue expansion is affirmation of the development of a sustainable ecosystem for arts in the region with Middle Eastern and international talents laying their foundations here.” .

Ghada Amer’s inaugural show at Leila Heller Gallery, Earth. Love. Fire will mark the first solo exhibition by the artist in the Arab world in nearly two decades.

Curated by Dr. Shiva Balaghi, the exhibit will introduce Amer’s artistic foray into ceramics. Amer’s ceramic pieces represent the ultimate rebellion against painting as a historically male dominated artistic genre. The exhibition features 28 ceramics paintings and abstract sculptures in dialogue with new paintings and Amer’s iconic stainless steel sculptures. Accompanying the exhibit is a catalogue, produced through a collaboration between Ghada Amer, Dr. Balaghi, and Adam Welch. On November 19, at 4:30 pm, there will be a book launch for Ghada Amer: Earth.Love.Fire at the Leila Heller Gallery booth at Abu Dhabi Art. Balaghi and Amer will be present for an informal discussion.

In a second exhibit, Leila Heller Gallery will present the first gallery exhibition in the UAE by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. The neo-conceptual artist is known for his experimental approach to materials and a deep immersion in the techniques of craftsmanship gleaned from his global travels. Wim Delvoye: Sculpture, features a series of sculptural works that encompass Delvoye’s recent body of work, including examples of suitcases embellished with detailed metalwork inspired by craftsmen in Isfahan, delicately laser-cut tires, and his iconic spiral
Gothic towers. Visitors also get the chance to see a panel discussion with Ghada Amer, Wim Delvoye and Prof. Marine Antle - Moderated by Dr. Shiva Balaghi at 6pm in The Yard, followed by a tour of the exhibition at the gallery.

1x1 Gallery will be relocating and opening its new space in Alserkal Avenue with an exhibition of select works by Anju Dodiya, Bharti Kher, Chittrovanu
Mazumdar, Hema Upadhyay, Mithu Sen, Nasreen Mohamedi, Sudarshan Shetty, and Zarina Hashmi. The new gallery will comprise of two large exhibition spaces, a viewing room, as well as an edition shop, Editions1X1, will be a permanent space, housed within the premises and will feature an eclectic selection of books and limited edition works of art, design and craft and will becurated in conjunction with the exhibition programme.

As part of the launch of their new space, El Marsa gallery will open with Il n’est d’autres souverains que ceux qui me regardent by Tunisian artist Rachid Koraichi, featuring a site-specific installation of monumental sculptural and twodimensional works. The show puts forward the spiritual, intellectual and political power of scripture in Koraichi’s art.

Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal Avenue remarks, “The interest from international galleries in moving into MENA reflects the growth of the region's contemporary art scene. Together with our homegrown galleries, they create a strong foundation for dialogue, collaboration and exchange - all central to what Alserkal Avenue is passionate about and strongly invested in.”

To inaugurate its new space in warehouse 12, Ayyam gallery will present a solo show by Khaled Hafez titled A Temple For Extended Days. Characterised by dichotomous juxtapositions of epochs, genres, and cultures. Hafez’s practice demonstrates an inclination towards the collision of worlds. Next door, Ayyam Gallery’s existing space will showcase a solo show by Shama Al Shaibi. Collapsewill feature a diverse range of work spanning several years of her artistic career, the exhibition highlights Alshaibi’s conceptual approach to photography and the layered and collapsing signs that are integral to her distinctive aesthetic. There will be a talk by Sama Alshaibi with Maymanah Farhat, moderated by Wael
Hattar at 5pm.

The Junction, Dubai’s first black-box theatre, will be previewing its space with a dress rehearsal of Noel Coward’s The Vortex at 7.30pm. 18th November will mark the opening of the space and its three-day performance. This is an independent, community production by George Anastasiades with support and production assistance provided by The Junction. Passes can be bought on the website*

Lawrie Shabibi will open A Dish For The Gods, with Farhad Ahrarnia’s, first solo exhibition in the Middle East region. Ahrarnia’s central premise is the ambivalent engagement between West and East spanning centuries or even millennia. Ahrarnia explores the aesthetic outcome of parallel sensibilities, where high modernism converges and entangles with the ancient, mythical and the exotic in order to spiritually articulate itself.

Down the street, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde will welcome South African artists Hasan and Husain Essop’s second solo exhibition with the gallery in
Dubai. Where the Essop brothers’ 2011 show served as an extension of their on going concerns with the art’s relationship with religion, often based on memories,
rituals and stereotypes, Unrest focuses on new works created in the last year as part of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art.

Green Art Gallery’s opening is entitled In Surfaces & Solids, in which Nazgol Ansarinia considers the years since Iran’s revolution, the post-1979 economic recovery, and how these dual efforts have manifested themselves in Tehran’s urban and socioeconomic fabrics.

Across the road Grey Noise presents a solo show by Caroline Aoun. Concrete Layers is composed of a series of site-specific printed works on Negative
Permajet transfer paper, as well as a large installation work in concrete, which show the artist’s continual interest in muting and or inventing objects and materials, so as to reawaken us to new possibilities of envisioning space.

Around the corner Carbon 12 presents On a Boat, Looking to Land by Gil Heitor Cortesao and Daniel Rich. Like the buildings they depict, the paintings hold in a duality the process of their own making and the allegorical intention of their own condition. If architecture can never be free from its self-imposed image, providing the signposts to where we are, then stood in front of the work of these artists we can perhaps determine that we are on disconcerting ground.

Gulf Photo Plus will welcome Dennis Dailleux, with Eygpt, a photography exhibition that will have a guided tour led by the artist at 8pm.Dailleux’s portraits celebrate the quiet corners of Cairo, the shy tenderness of a young man’s grin, the long afternoon as it slips into the night at a shisha cafe, and the compassionate embrace of a grown son encompassing his aging mother.

Salsali Private Museum will present a group show by German artists titled German Cool. Showcase gallery presents The Material Presence of the Past by Helen Teede who attempts to subvert the inextricable link between power and writing by seeing every mark on a surface as a kind of writing. FN Designs will present Until The Dreams Come by Danabelle Gutierrez and Kris Kang,
showcasing all watercolor paintings that were inspired by the book & Until The Dreams Come, along with photographs of the details with excerpts from the book illustrating that while you can view any story as a whole. Lastly, La Galerie Nationale will present designer Olivier Gagnère first exhibition in the Middle East with a collection of 80 pieces and 10 paintings and drawings, in partnership with Galerie Maeght – Paris. In honour of eL Seed opening his new artist studio space on the Avenue, the artist will be inviting visitors to preview the raw space before it is converted into his studio. Ending the night on a high note DJ MoCity, who is involved with OHM Events, will be spinning on the decks from 7pm onwards. Wild & The Moon will
also be holding a pop-up.

EDITORS NOTES:
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 500,000 sqft 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 2008 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.