Culture
1 January 1970
Deliberate Pauses / وقفات متروية
Curated by Faysal Tabbarah
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Deliberate Pauses
وقفات متروية
By Shaikha Al Mazrou
Curated by Faysal Tabbarah
Presented in collaboration with Alserkal Arts Foundation and Dubai Culture & Arts Authority
Alserkal Arts Foundation, in partnership with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, presents Deliberate Pauses, the largest site-specific art intervention in Dubai, created by Shaikha Almazrou. Known for her sculptural investigations of materiality and form, Almazrou’s latest work is set against the striking landscape of Leem Lake in Hatta, marking a significant moment for public art in the region.
Deliberate Pauses consists of five reflective red metallic sculptures, strategically placed along Hatta’s scenic hiking trails. These gleaming cylindrical forms—whether standing tall or lying still—are embedded seamlessly within the rugged Hajar Mountains. The sculptures serve as both beacons and portals, encouraging visitors to pause, reflect, and connect with the natural environment surrounding them.
Curated by architect and academic Faysal Tabbarah, the installation integrates bold aesthetic impact with a deep respect for the environment. By inviting hikers to engage with the overlooked narratives of Hatta—embedded in its rocky terrains, cultural artifacts, and oral histories—Deliberate Pauses fosters a dialogue between the past and present.
وقفات متروية
شيخة المزروع
يدعوكم هذا العمل الفني الذي يحمل بصمات الفنانة شيخة المزروع إلى التوقف وتأمل في مشاهد "بحيرة ليم" في حتا، وهي لوحة طبيعية تمتزج فيها درجات الأحمر والأصفر والبني، وبمحض الصدفة، عند التوقف، تنفتح أمامكم مسارات المناظر الطبيعية لتتجولوا فيها. ستجدون خمس مساحات رقيقة حمراء موزعة عبر مسارات "بحيرة ليم"، حيث تتفاعل كل واحدة منها مع ألوان المناظر الطبيعية وملمسها وأشكالها بطريقتها الخاصة.
توقفوا، تجولوا، وتأملوا دورنا كأوصياء على أهمية هذه المناظر الطبيعية ثقافيًا وتاريخيًا.
بتنسيق القبم الفني فيصل طبارة
بتكليف من: هيئة الثقافة والفنون في دبي "دبي للثقافة" ومؤسسة السركال للفنون
Biographies
Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, UAE) received her MFA in 2014 at the Chelsea College of Fine Art, University of the Arts, London where she was awarded the prestigious MFA Student Prize. Prior to that she studied at the College of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah where she later was a sculpture lecturer. Currently she is a Visiting Assistant Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi. Al Mazrou’s practice is anchored in the history of art, borrowing formally from minimalism and intellectually from conceptual art. Influenced by artists from the Modernist and Bauhaus Movements - such as Paul Klee, Carle Andre and Wassily Kandinsky - Al Mazrou uses the formal aspects of minimalism to engage with a current fascination with materiality in art. In her practice she combines and evolves ideas from contemporary artistic movements similarly preoccupied with formal and material elements, from colour theory to geometric abstraction. Often in her works she combines mass-produced materials - such as electronic waste or construction materials - with colour and form, experimenting with these resources to create abstract geometric arrangements. Fascinated by notions of physical space, her sculptures and installations materialise as simple gestures that emphasise the representation of tension, weight and space.
Born in Aleppo, Faysal Tabbarah is an Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Architecture at the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), and co-founder of the experimental architecture and design studio, Architecture + Other Things (A+OT), which is based in Sharjah. He is also the curator for the National Pavilion United Arab Emirates exhibition in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition 2023, La Biennale di Venezia. Tabbarah’s work, across teaching, research, and practice explores the relationships between regional environmental and architectural imaginaries, or how people bring their natural surroundings to bear on how they understand and shape their world, to develop alternative building practices that are rooted in their surrounding material and cultural environments. To achieve this, Tabbarah’s work moves between computational tools, emergent technologies, materials research, and historical archives.
A special thanks to Marhaba team for their support:
Project Manager: Sabu Damodaran
Structural Engineer: Abdul Majeed
Civil Engineer: Narayanan Sabu
Electrical Engineer: Santosh Kumar
Architect: Siddharth Balasubramanian
Fabrication Team: Shibu Kumara Pillai (Site Supervisor), Pandiyan Chinnarasu (Fabricator Supervisor), Krishna Chaudhary (Fabricator), Mohammad Nabi Alam (Fabricator), Collins Enow (Fabricator), Hasanul Haque Sadil (Fabricator), Faruk Alam (Welder), Faruk Alam (Welder), Mohammad Noman (Welder)
MEP Team: Kannadasan Karuppan (MEP Supervisor), Ganesh Vijayathevan (Electrician), Ramapandi Muniyandi (Electrician)
Civil Team: Kumar Shanmugavel (Civil Supervisor), Boominathan Muniyandi (Steel Fixer), Venkatesan Pichapillai (Mason),
Painters: Satheesh Rajappa, Mohd Ameen Imteyaz
Drivers: Muthupandi Arumugam, Muhammad Sajit
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Artist collective in discussion with an architect on urban and ruin
expression
Drone Go Chasing Waterfalls
Thoughts on Stephanie Comilang’s film Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come to Me, Paradise)
culture
An Incomplete History of UAE Cinemas, Part 1
In Part 1, Dubai-based writer Mezaina examines independent cinemas pre-multiplex days
culture
The Overseas Filipino Artist
Fresh insights on Filipino artists in Dubai through the lens of Sa Tahanan Collective founder
culture
An Artistic Meditation
On Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim’s practice, about the mind, its subconscious and space.