Salsali Private Museum (SPM) announces solo show by Philip Mueller as final exhibition in Alserkal Avenue
28 February 2019
SPM will relocate to Berlin in 2019
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The Salsali Private Museum (SPM) in Alserkal Avenue has announced that its next exhibition will be its final one, before it relocates the Museum to Berlin, Germany. Founded by Ramin Salsali in 2011 as a space to exhibit works from his growing collection of Middle Eastern and international artists, as well as a place for collectors to meet and to encourage the next generation of collecting, SPM has shown 18 exhibitions to date. SPM’s final exhibition, opening on 9 March 2019, will be a solo show of paintings by Austrian painter Philip Mueller, titled TIBE NOW: Free Drinks, Boots and Tickets to the Apocalypse.
SPM opened its doors in Alserkal Avenue on 11 November 2011, as the first private museum in the region dedicated to contemporary Middle Eastern and international art. In that time, SPM has held 18 exhibitions, many of them specially-commissioned for the Museum, opening with Show Off!, a group show of works by artists including Reza Derakshani, Max Scheler, Jonathan Meese, Amir Hossein Zanjani, which featured a commissioned work by Mueller, A Door to Heaven and Hell. SPM continued to put on regular group exhibitions and solo shows by artists such as Imran Qureshi, Bryan Ferry, Pantea Rahmani, and Hazem Harb, among others.
“I am humbled and proud to have contributed to the evolution of the cultural landscape in the Middle East by opening SPM in Dubai” says Salsali. “I was accompanied by many dear friends, artists, and other collectors on this journey, and I’d particularly like to thank Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal and Vilma Jurkute for their support.”
Salsali continues, “While SPM was the first private museum to open in the region, I am delighted to see the growth of other similar initiatives, such as Jean-Paul Najar Foundation, Jameel Arts Centre, and Ishara Art Foundation, among others. SPM will continue its activities in Berlin with a focus on showcasing contemporary Middle Eastern art, serving as a cultural bridge between the art scenes in the Middle East and Europe.”
“As the first private collection space to open to the public in 2011, SPM’s contribution has been invaluable for our artistic community, ecosystem, and the city of Dubai, through supporting both galleries and an emerging generation of artists, as well as offering the public a chance to engage with works in private collections,” says Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal Avenue.
SPM’s final exhibition, Mueller’s TIBE NOW: Free Drinks, Boots and Tickets to the Apocalypse, includes works from its collection, alongside new and site-specific works. Salsali has been collecting works from Mueller, who is represented by Alserkal Avenue-based gallery Carbon 12, for 10 years, and his works feature prominently in Salsali’s private collection.
Opening on 9 March 2019, the exhibition follows the journey of the artist’s practice by tracing the evolution of series including Black Flamingo Sad Boys (BFSB), Der Berg and Mütters, through to the new commissions. Less a survey of Mueller’s exploration of excess and recontextualised historical symbolism, it’s a culmination of existential crisis-laden narratives that form a purer whole.
The show will close on 31 May 2019, marking the end of the museum’s iteration in Dubai, and a new beginning for SPM, when it opens its doors to the public in Berlin. SPM will host a book launch for Mueller on 15 May 2019.
Ramin Salsali
A prolific collector, Salsali’s collection comprises over 1,000 works from 326 artists, the majority of which are from the Middle East. Salsali counts a notable number of artists from the UAE in his collection, including Zeinab Al Hashemi, Fatma Al Mazroui, Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, Afra Bin Dhaher, Lateefa Bint Maktoum, Hamad Al Falasi, Hamdan Buti Al Shamisi, Omran Al Owais, Hazem Mahdy, and Hassan Sharif. Salsali has also collected widely from the commercial art galleries based within Alserkal Avenue, counting 20 of their represented artists within his collection. Salsali has been recognised as a Patron of the Arts four times by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Exhibitions at Salsali Private Museum:
Show Off! | 11 November 2011 - 9 March 2012
Life is Too Short | 23 March - 31 July 2012
The Seismic Sanctuary by Pantea Rahmani | 10 September - 21 October 2012
Iran – RPM | 10 November – 5 December 2012
OLYMPIA by Bryan Ferry | 11 December 2012 - 28 February 2013
Reza Derakshani | 18 March - 9 July 2013
Photography by Christian Voigt | 9 September - 1 November 2013
Cinema | 11 December 2013 - 9 January 2014
Imran Qureshi | 23 January - 3 March 2014
Submission to Power by Amir Hossein Zanjani | 17 March - 17 August 2014
Hidden Consciousness by Mohammad Ehsai | 2 November 2014 - 15 January 2015
The Invisible Landscape and Concrete Futures by Hazem Harb | 1 March - 1 June 2015
German Cool | 16 November 2015 - 1 May 2016
Ramtin Zad | 11 November 2016 - 1 March 2017
++ SCULPTURE ++ | 11 March - 11 August 2017
++ PHOTO ++ | 5 November 2017 - 1 February 2018
++ VIDEO ++ | 19 March - 30 September 2018
#WETOO | 11 November 2018 – 15 February 2019
TIBE NOW: Free Drinks, Boots and Tickets to the Apocalypse by Philip Mueller | 9 March - 31 May 2019
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