Culture
24 August 2021
The Alserkal Ecology Reader | Three Lectures on Architecture and Landscape in the Gulf
Civil Architecture
Share
The Alserkal Ecology Reader is a compilation of three lectures held in 2018 and 2019 in relation to Civil Architecture’s summer residency at Alserkal Arts Foundation.
The lectures are centered around architecture's relationship to ecology, landscape and life in the Gulf. Civil Architecture invited interlocutors from the region and abroad to discuss larger trends in the discipline and their connection to the context of Dubai.
“We Have Never Been Urban” invited Pierre Bélanger and Ahmed Makia to discuss the idea of land and our relationship to territory. “Wishful Tropics” featured MILLIØNS and Common Accounts for a discussion on the aspirational qualities of climate control, and forming architectural environments. “Verdant Sculpture” with Luis Callejas and Faysal Tabbarah was a discussion on the nature of objects in the landscape and the blurring of boundaries between the ecological and architectural.
These three lectures form a summary of on-going issues in the
discipline and are intended to be a loose primer for architects
of the Gulf.
We Have Never Been Urban
Wishful Tropics
Verdant Sculpture
Biographies
Civil Architecture is a cultural practice preoccupied with the making of buildings and books about them. The work of Civil asks what it means to produce architecture in a decidedly un-civil time, presenting a new civic character for a global condition. Since its founding by Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Karimi, the practice has attracted a strong following for their provocative works and their offer of an alternate future for a nascent Middle East.
Pierre Bélanger is a landscape
architect and urban planner with the Landscape Infrastructure
Lab who has published several
books including “Landscape as
Infrastructure”, “Ecologies of Power”,
“Going Live”, “Risk Ecologies”, “Wet Matter”, “Extraction Empire” Collaborative public works
projects include the Zakim Bridge
Underpass Skatepark in Boston
for the Massachusetts Department
of Conservation (US), the Ontario
Food Terminal in Toronto for the Ministry of Agriculture and
Transportation (Canada), YVR
International Airport Expansion
for the Greater Vancouver Airport Authority (Canada), the
Disaster Evacuation Park System
in the Artibonite Valley for the
Department of Civil Protection
(Haiti), and the 2016 Canadian
Pavilion at the 2016 Venice
Architecture Biennale (Italy).
MILLIØNS is a Los Angeles-based experimental design practice, founded by John May and Zeina Koreitem. MILLIØNS conceives of architecture as a speculative medium for exploring the central categories of contemporary life: technology, politics, energy, media, and information. Their approach insists on an expansive parallel project of technical, historical and cultural analysis, which surrounds and informs their work. MILLIØNS’ work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including a commissioned furniture set by Friedman Benda Gallery NYC and Chamber, shows at La Triennale Di Milano, Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, The Architecture + Design Museum of Los Angeles, Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles, the Museum of The City of New York, the MIT Keller Architecture Gallery, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, among others.
Ahmad Makia is a geographer from Dubai. He writes about wet matters, Gulf landscapes, and sex, particularly tormented expressions of masculinity. He also makes books.
Luis Callejas is an associate professor at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. He is an architect, founding partner and former director of Paisajes Emergentes and founder and director of lcla office. Having obtained diverse recognition in multiple public space design competitions, Luis Callejas was awarded with the Architectural League of New York Prize for Young Architects in 2013 and selected as one of the world’s ten best young practices by the Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation in 2010. Callejas was nominated again for the award in 2012 and 2014. In 2016 Callejas was one of the three finalists for the Rolex mentor and protege award.
Common Accounts, founded by Igor Bragado and Miles Gertler at Princeton University in 2015, is a design practice which operates between Madrid, Toronto, and Seoul. Their work Three Ordinary Funerals: Home for the Virtual Afterlife was exhibited at the 2017 Seoul International Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism and Going Fluid: The Cosmetic Protocols of Gangnam at the Third Istanbul Design Biennial in 2016. Bragado and Gertler have lectured in Beijing, Toronto, Istanbul, Dubai, Seoul, Ithaca and New York, and recent work has appeared at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles, in Uncube Magazine, Frame Magazine, Artsy, and Dezeen. They have taught at Cornell University , University of Toronto , University of Waterloo and The Cooper Union, their work has been acquired by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea.
Faysal Tabbarah is Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah, and co-founder of the architecture and design studio Architecture + Other Things (A+OT). Tabbarah’s teaching, research and practice interrogates the relationships between environmental and architectural imaginaries to develop alternative building solutions that are rooted in their surrounding material and cultural environments. Tabbarah works with computational tools, emergent technologies, materials research as well as historical archives.
expression
Enjoy Your Freedom Outside
Uma Bista points her lens at the patriarchy while searching for identity, gender equality and freedom from cultural confinement.
culture
From Peace to Protest
Tavish Gunasena, a fine art and documentary photographer has built up a body of work from around his paradise island, but found himself in the middle of the frenzy, capturing the rage and bravery of his people. We chart his journey from peace to protest in this photo essay.
culture
Homecoming | A Space For You
“One never begins in a pure space, but rather on a surface saturated with images and unexpressed thoughts.” - Seloua Luste Boulbina
culture
In Her Country
A series of portraits attempting to examine the relationship between a woman and her practice
culture
Spoons Out of Water
What is sacred to the dining table is reduced to its form and colour in this photo series by Sondos Azzam
expression
Abandoned: When a Crisis Allows Nature Back In
Series of photographs documenting the impacts of continual human manipulation of the UAE's natural landscapes
culture
Roaming
How our urban environment shapes nature and our individual activities within these spaces
expression
Precarious Existence
The Magnum Foundation commissioned these images of Dubai residents hit hardest by the pandemic
culture
An Outlook on Change
Featuring: Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez (curator, educator, writer), Lara Rudar (artist, filmmaker, environmental advocate), Philip Mawn Maughan (writer, editor, co-founder, black almanac).
culture
Hybrid senses - Slow Art Tour
The sound trail is from Asma Belhamar’s slow tour that took place in Custot Gallery and Green Art Gallery. The slow tour sheds light on different ways of preserving art by activating senses. The tour focuses on observational methods using tools such as art and design principals to achieve a collective experience.
culture
Burning Issues
Episode 02 of Cultures in Conversation programmed by Alserkal: Preludes & Postscripts
opinion
Humanising Cities
Featuring: Vilma Jurkute (Executive Director, Alserkal), Charles Landry (author and international authority on urban change), Rupali Gupte & Prasad Shetty (co-founders Bard Studio, founding members School of Environment and Architecture), and Hamed Bukhamseen (Co-founder, Civil Architecture). PART OF CULTURES IN CONVERSATION: PRELUDES & POSTSCRIPTS. The brand new series with Alserkal and powered by afikra. Cultures in Conversation is commissioned by Expo2020 Dubai and programmed by Alserkal
culture
A Force To Reckon With: Manal Aldowayan
A conversation with one of Saudi Arabia's most significant artists about her evolving methodologies, the shifting significance of her work, and the thought behind her practice
culture
Architecture Meets Nature: While We Wait
A conversation with award-winning designers Yousef and Elias Anastas about their latest installation piece, While We Wait.
culture
Alserkal Avenue | The First Decade (Part 2)
A conversation with the creative visionaries and cultural entrepreneurs who have partnered with Alserkal Avenue over the past decade.
culture
Alserkal Avenue | The First Decade (Part 1)
A conversation with the creative visionaries and cultural entrepreneurs who have partnered with Alserkal Avenue over the past decade.
culture
Turning The Spotlight On UAE-Based Emerging Artists
A conversation with UAE Unlimited Executive Director Shobha Shamdsani
culture
Humanity as Refuge II
A conversation with Fabric(ated) Fractures curator Diana Campbell Betancourt and participating artists
culture
Humanity as Refuge I
A conversation with Fabric(ated) Fractures curator Diana Campbell Betancourt and participating artists
culture
Hassan Hajjaj: Carte Blanche
Fari Bradley in conversation with Hassan Hajjaj prior to his show at Paris’s Maison Européenne de la Photographie
culture
Soothing the Soothsayers
A conversation with arts writer Kevin Jones, curator of the Foretold Now summer programme
opinion
What is the role of the artist in society?
In the context of shifting definitions surrounding the role that the artist plays in nation building and place-making, Stephen Hobbs (Director of Johannesburg’s The Trinity Session) and Laila Binbrek (Coordinating Director of the National Pavilion UAE la Biennale di Venezia) unpack insights that reflect on current trends and possible futures.
expression
When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor
expression
A closer look with Azza Al Qubaisi
A closer look at Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi's multi-layered works titled 'Between the Dune Lines', which effortlessly captures the mysteries, shapes, patterns and textures of the desert landscape; as well as cultural memories, stories and motifs from the past. Using materials inspired by the deep roots of her heritage, Azza invites the observer to develop a sensory intimacy with her works and her journeys. 'Between the Dune Lines' is on display at Leila Heller Gallery until 15 December 2022. #artintothenight
expression
A closer look with Nathaniel Rackowe
Nathaniel Rackowe's practice spans public art, installation, sculpture, contemporary dance and painting, investigating form and materiality through his observations of light and its effect on our experiences of urban spaces. In his exhibition titled 'Fractured Landscapes', Rackowe considers the notion of light as a reflector - artificial and natural; exploring how light bounces across objects to guide our sensation of space, material and colour. 'Fractured Landscapes' is on view at Lawrie Shabibi until 4 November 2022. #artintothenight
expression
A closer look with Kais Salman
Kais Salman's 'Fables in the Unknown' represents a wide expanse of powerful vivid emotions and sentiments. Charges of positive and negative thoughts, feelings, and energy are projected onto the canvas, unfolding compositions through light and finding meaning in the dark. With a sharp focus on sarcasm, the dark humour reflected in his body of work is meant to enlighten reality and envision a better place. 'Fables in the Unknown' is on show at Ayyam Gallery until 1 November 2022. #artintothenight
expression
A closer look with Sarah Almehairi
In 'When the Ground Was', Sarah Almehairi takes us along for a walk. Concrete floor sculptures and works on paper and canvas become visual pathfinders, each a portal to another story. Sometimes architectural, other times cartographic, together, they toy with the notion of scale and perception. And then, somewhere, Sarah's body of work appears as a prompt - a starting point for many things - a poem, a guide, an invitation, but most significantly, a process of unlearning, where she gently nudges viewers to deconstruct things they believed to be true, sensitising them to connect with their environment in new, distinct ways. 'When the Ground Was' is on show in Carbon 12 until 1 November 2022. #artintothenight
culture
Imploded, burned, turned to ash
Multiple screenings of recorded drawing and sound performance throughout Refugee Week from 20-26 June 2022
culture
Sneak peak of An Outlook on Change
Episode 03 - Cultures Conversation Preludes and Postscripts: The brand new series with Alserkal and powered by afikra.
culture
Concrete Closed Sessions | Nujoom Alghanem
In this third iteration of Concrete Closed Sessions, Nujoom Alghanem performs her poem "I Found My Way to You", which was part of her artistic intervention at our second Cultures in Conversation event "Never Be Lost: Learn to Read the Stars" for space week at Expo 2020
culture
JAFR. The Alchemy of Signs by Nja Mahdaoui | Elmarsa Gallery
Artist Nja Mahdaoui speaks about JAFR. The Alchemy of Signs, his third solo exhibition at Elmarsa Gallery during Alserkal Art Week in March 2022
culture
Sneak peak of Burning Issues
Cultures Conversation Preludes and Postscripts: The brand new series with Alserkal and powered by afikra.
culture
Vikram Divecha's "El dorado"
Artist Vikram Divecha speaks about his solo exhibition on show at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde during Alserkal Art Week in March 2022
culture
Cultures in Conversation | Openness and the Path to Prosperity
An intimate and engaging conversation between two of the UAE’s leading champions of cultural and public diplomacy, hosted by the UAE Pavilion.
expression
A Poem, A Garden
Watch Augustine Paredes' performance during the December Jubilee celebrations
expression
The Alphabetics of the Barista Part II
Watch Moza Almatrooshi's performance at Le Guepard, Alserkal Avenue
opinion
Sneak peak of Humanising Cities
Cultures Conversation Preludes and Postscripts: The brand new series with Alserkal and powered by afikra.
culture
Cultures in Conversation | What Makes a City: Dimensions of Culture and Possibility of Community
Exploring the ties that bind urban communities
expression
Alserkal Insider | Nightjar Coffee Roasters with Leon Surynt
We went to Nightjar for coffee but found Leon.
culture
Cultures in Conversation | Never Be Lost: Learn to Read the Stars
The cultural imagination of the celestial and how important systems of knowledge have been passed down through literature, memory, and oral narratives, continuing to hold meaning as we imagine space futures.
culture
Cultures in Conversation | Climate change in the classroom, living room, street and beyond
We live at the epicentre of an ecological catastrophe with unimaginable consequences.
expression
Concrete Closed Sessions: Danabelle Gutierrez and Charlie119
Filipino poet Danabelle Gutierrez collaborates with all-sibling band Charlie119 on an improvisational performance of poetry.
culture
Safina Radio Project: Venice
From 6-8 May 2015, Alserkal created an itinerant space on the waterways of Venice
culture
"Under": A Video Documentation
Under is Hale Tenger’s first major public work in Dubai commissioned by Alserkal, guest curated by Mari Spirito of Protocinema
culture
While We Wait
An immersive installation by Bethlehem-based architects about the cultural claim over nature in Palestine
culture
Adapt to Survive: Notes from the Future
Curator Dr. Cliff Lauson and artist Youmna Chlala discuss the need of adaptation for survival
culture
Noria: Circulation Of People In Systems
Investigating how societies influence and mould us through systems of social politics, particularly in South Korea
culture
When the Band Comes Marching In
A work by Block Universe, supported by Alserkal, questions the power structures of the Venice Biennale
culture
Echo Holdings x Synthanatos
This edition of Echo Holdings, artist Isaac Sullivan’s context-shifting series of hybrid live sets and collaborative lecture performances, features vocals by independent researcher Dana Dawud and takes up a machinic sense of the psychoanalytic death drive. Here, an uncanny ambiguity between recorded and live speech, and a seemingly infinite field of images within images, produces an ecstatic blurring of presence and asynchrony as we negotiate a sonic palette alternately sparkling and ragged.
culture
Dayanita Singh in Conversation
Dayanita Singh discusses her body of work with curator Nada Raza
culture
Research Rooms
UAE based researchers make their home at the Foundation studios for the summer.
expression
Alserkal Spotlight: Radical Contemporary Podcast
This Sustainability Spotlight mini-series is in collaboration with Alserkal Avenue and hosted by Radical Contemporary founder Nour Hassan.
expression
The Greening Story
In reimagining the Avenue’s public spaces, we wanted not only to reinstate the primacy of vanished plants as a necessary gesture of horticultural de-colonisation, but also to humanise our spaces of congregation as a sincere act of hospitality.
culture
Nahil Bishara’s Jerusalem
culture
Abu Fadi
Life provided him with an abundance of reasons to surrender, but he never backed down.
culture
Fathi Ghabin: A Self-Portrait of the Working-Class
A self-taught artist, Ghabin prefers the intimacy of painting with his fingers over the intermediary of a brush. He paints for eight hours every day from the comfort of his humble home, surrounded by the play, laughter, and shouts of his 8 children.
culture
On This Land
culture
The Age of Multi-Crises
expression
Radical Podcast x Alserkal Avenue Mini Series
The series of 6 episodes spotlights risk-taking entrepreneurs from the Alserkal Avenue community, sharing the stories of founders from multidisciplinary backgrounds.
culture
Rewilding the Kitchen
Take a closer look at the experiments and stories that inspired the final culmination of the eight week long culinary programme.
Haroon Mirza: Deciphering Nuance
Haroon Mirza had sifted through many iterations of defining his practice before he came to notice that his true medium is electricity.
expression
From the Archive | Spring 2023 Residency
A Feral Commons
The inaugural cycle of the Global Co-commission project, A Feral Commons, is underway and Alserkal Avenue is one of three cultural districts participating under the theme of climate change.
The Global Co-Commission
The Global Co-commission project, spearheaded by Alserkal Advisory, in collaboration with the Global Cultural Districts Network, unites three cultural districts across three continents: Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, Kingston Creative in Kingston, Jamaica, and Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a collective response to the global climate crisis.
opinion
What We're Listening To
What arts and cultural podcasts do the Alserkal team listen to, we hear you ask? Wonder no more!
expression
Cultures in Conversation by Alserkal Advisory
Reflections on Cultures in Conversation, a programme Commissioned by Expo2020 and programmed by Alserkal Advisory that consisted of ten theme weeks of events and interventions that challenge the typical ‘talks’ format.
culture
Indie Publishers III Women Powered Platforms
Part III of our series on indie publishers focuses on women-run labels whose focus is peer learning and community growth.
expression
Making History: A Study of Archives
Historic archives feed our identity and origin stories. But who builds them?
expression
Adverse Poetries
Despite a painful upbringing in foster care, poet Lemn Sissay espouses hope, power and light in his writing.
culture
Letter from Hollywood: How RRR Redefined Global Pop
We chart the global and cultural impact of Telugu film ‘RRR’ in a post-pandemic, streaming world.
expression
An Orchestration of Magic
From Booker and Nobel winners to feminism, filmmaking and poetry, an author’s diary from the 16th Jaipur Literature Festival.
Beyond the Measure of Time
Sheba Chhachhi and Mariah Lookman discuss time, activism and the digital age.
expression
The Tree School Chronicles
A day-by-day written response to the four Tree school sessions from Monday 27 February - Thursday 2 March, 2023.
expression
The Street Came First
Three photographers capture life and work in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa
culture
The Myth about Maths
World-renowned mathematician and author Marcus du Sautoy talks to Perspectives about how maths can help us hack life, understand AI better, and solve the riddles of the universe.
culture
Ink, Paper, Alchemy II
In an era of digital publishing, working with ink, paper, and print is a daunting art form that requires pluck, business acumen, resilience and constant funding. Small-to-medium publishers often face rising odds in curating, creating and distributing beautifully produced works of text, photography and illustration on paper. The results, however, are often breathtaking, made all the more desirable by small print runs, lack of reprints, or modest distribution channels. With a number of small publishers still holding steady against digital publishing’s onslaught in South West Asia, Africa and South Asia, Saira Ansari goes in search of the remaining alchemists of print.
opinion
Turn On, Tune In
Six virtuosic albums on vinyl that capture the evolution of recorded music through the ages.
expression
Saint Levant: Home-maker
Palestinian, French and Serbian rapper Saint Levant seeks home in his lyrics and music.
culture
What did we gain at COP27?
Beyond its talking shop reputation, what were our key takeaways for the region at the latest climate summit?
expression
Fahd Burki and Ala Ebtekar Take to the Skies
Three public installations question daily rituals and time.
culture
Arab Cinema in One Week
Our critic takes a journey through Arab Cinema Week with Rabih El-Khoury.
culture
Mud, Minarets, and Meaningless Events | A research convening
What is multidisciplinary research in the arts? Why is it important to support projects that are imaginative and experimental, and how might they engage with a wider public?
culture
Voice Notes from Venice
A journal of sights and sounds from the 59th International Art Exhibition
culture
The Poetics of Partition
In a trilogy of animated films entitled Lost Migrations, a refugee crossing South Asia’s lines of 1947, transforms into a weightless paper plane.
culture
A Reality Check for Indian Love
Mansi Choksi’s Newlyweds explores the challenges of forbidden love for India’s youth.
opinion
Resistance is futile: how I learned to appreciate the e-scooter
Perspective by Troy Pieper on how he learned to appreciate the e-scooter
culture
The Technological Body
This third and final installment of the curatorial narrative linking corporeal depictions by young GCC-based artists will consider how technology expands, projects and amplifies the artist’s body. Mediation becomes a means of re-materializing the body and the negative spaces it inhabits in virtual space. Through distortions, duplications, glitches, and the act of voicing the machinic, the body moves beyond digital circuitry—deconstructed into a language of gestures, and forms.
culture
A Tour through A Supplementary Country Called Cinema
A reflection on A Supplementary Country Called Cinema, a film programme that was a prelude to the exhibition A Slightly Curving Place, curated by Nida Ghouse and programmed by Alserkal Arts Foundation
culture
Rewilding the Kitchen | Joori Wa Loomi by Moza AlMatrooshi
Curator and artist Nahla Al Tabbaa converses with conceptual artist, writer, and chef Moza AlMatrooshi
opinion
On Tolerance
Tolerance in the UAE is largely owed to the country’s multiculturalism. A national virtue, it is also synonymous with the UAE’s founder, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
culture
Layer upon Layer
A dive into the layers behind "Wamda : A Glimpse", UAE Unlimited's retrospective exhibition showcasing the works of UAE-based artists during Alserkal Art Week
culture
A Walk through ICD Brookfield
A deeper insight into the exhibition Hair Mapping Body; Body Mapping Land at ICD Brookfield Place
culture
Earth to Humans
Rania Habib takes us through the presence of the Earth and Sustainability at this year's Quoz Arts Fest
culture
Overheard at WCCE
Read some of the questions explored in the World Conference on Creative Economy
opinion
Why I Don’t Blame Institutions Anymore
An argument for how to find optimism in place of frustration in the local cultural institutional landscape
expression
Open Studios: Still Lives
Explore the studios of Alserkal Arts Foundation's three artists-in-residence
culture
An Incomplete History of Cinema, Part 3
For the final part of this series, we look at the past decade, the current state of cinema exhibition and the ongoing mission of filling the gaps in UAE’s cinema heritage
culture
Hair Mapping Body; Body Mapping Land
Hair Mapping Body; Body Mapping Land, an exhibition at ICD Brookfield Place from 10 November to 19 December 2021, Programmed by Alserkal Advisory
expression
Cultures in Conversation Blog
Reflections on Cultures in Conversation, a programme Commissioned by Expo2020 and programmed by Alserkal that consists of ten theme weeks of events and interventions that challenge the typical ‘talks’ format.
culture
Rewilding the Kitchen | Mastic Fizz by Salma Serry
Curator and artist Nahla Al Tabbaa converses with filmmaker and interdisciplinary foodways researcher Salma Serry about Mastic and its connections to UAE's history
style
Who Owns Yoga?
The warrior poses and sun salutations practiced in yoga studios around the world aren’t mentioned in any ancient yoga text. If that disconnect is a direct result of colonial influences, should we feel anxious about the authenticity of our modern yoga practices?
expression
The Tower by Wilf Speller
Compiled entirely out of footage appropriated from luxury real estate advertisements
culture
The Suffering Body
Part two of a curatorial narrative around the absent, suffering and technological body in contemporary works by GCC-based artists
expression
August Observations
Personal archives are fraught sites filled with memories and stories that drag us into the past. How does a writer respond to a letter he receives years after it is written? The result is an exploration of the gaps and elisions laid bare by forgotten memories and unspoken sentiments.
culture
Rewilding the Kitchen | Recipe No. 1 | Barri by Namliyeh
Curator and artist Nahla Al Tabbaa savours unlearning traditional food narratives with ethnobotanists Namliyeh
culture
On Emirati Women
An insight into the practices of Emirati women challenging notions within their professional fields
culture
The Alserkal Ecology Reader | Three Lectures on Architecture and Landscape in the Gulf
The Alserkal Ecology Reader is a compilation of three lectures held in 2018 and 2019 in relation to Civil Architecture’s residency at Alserkal Arts Foundation. These three lectures form a summary of on-going issues in the discipline and are intended to be a loose primer for architects in the Gulf.
expression
Three Conversation Pieces III
As India continues to find its bearings amidst COVID tumult, Aveek Sen explores how his own conversations have become at once more vital, yet oddly unfamiliar
culture
An Incomplete History of UAE Cinemas, Part 2
In Part 2 of her Incomplete History, Mezaina explores the rise of the multiplex model, film festivals, and the creation of alternative viewing spaces in the 2000s.
opinion
Design as a Wrapper
Designer and educator Zena Adhami explores the dangers of assumptions when designing for communities
expression
Three Conversation Pieces II
As India continues to find its bearings amidst COVID tumult, Aveek Sen explores how his own conversations have become at once more vital, yet oddly unfamiliar
opinion
Engaging Audiences
Muscat-based artist Majeda Alhinai considers how viewers become part of artworks
expression
Three Conversation Pieces I
As India continues to find its bearings amidst COVID tumult, Aveek Sen explores how his own conversations have become at once more vital, yet oddly unfamiliar
culture
Ways of Seeing
Palestinian artist Samia Halaby's approach to painting reveals her precise complex process, astute peripheral sensibilities, and why abstraction is the only movement left unexploited.
expression
An Introductory Curriculum for Reparations
An informational response by our community on the Black Lives Matter Movement
culture
The Africa Connection
As the global art world shines a light on Africa, Rebecca Anne Proctor writes on the growing dialogue between the Middle East and Africa
culture
Chaos, Love, and Enigmas
Malaysian artist Hasanul Isyraf Idris tackles his homeland’s multiculturalism through densely populated compositions that engage episodic memory, manifested by mythological through to Sci-Fi imagery
culture
Q&A: Hale Tenger And Mari Spirito
'Under' is Hale Tenger's first major commission in almost a decade, on view at The Yard in 2018
culture
Re-Examining The Role Of The Museum In Society
The 2017 CiMAM Annual Conference brought together museum professionals from around the world to re-evaluate the public functions of museums.
culture
Living Under The Net
Hale Tenger's 'Under' asks us what beliefs we accept without question and what our potential could be without such self-imposed restrictions.
culture
Slippery Modernism
A review of Building Bauhaus, Jean-Paul Najar Foundation’s tribute to the German art school’s centenary – with a regional twist.
culture
A Modern History
Nancy Lorenz’s exhibition 'Silver Moon' at Leila Heller Gallery presents a complex craft-meets-contemporary body of work that references Japanese tradition and Abstract Expressionism
culture
Is This Tomorrow?
Whitechapel Gallery curator Lydia Yee explores the works of five pairings of artists and architects
culture
The Making of a Ruin
A public art commission by the artist collective METASITU welcomed visitors to a post-apocalyptic ruin
culture
Hydrogen Helium
A sound installation first realised in a residency at Alserkal Arts Foundation
culture
The Fabric of Fractures
Exploring ‘sensitive spaces' that challenge ideas of nation, state, and territory
culture
Fabric(ated) Fractures
A collaboration with Samdani Art Foundation, challenging ideas of nation, state, and territory
culture
How Will We Return?
Dialogues between cultural practitioners & scholars from the Alserkal Arts Foundation network
culture
Collaborative Co-existence
A six-week series screenings, workshops, performances, and exhibitions around the theme of maintenance
culture
Mohamed Melehi And The Casablanca Art School Archives
Works by major figure in postcolonial Moroccan art showcased at Concrete
opinion
Will the Fashion Industry Ever Truly Be Sustainable?
Founder of clothing brand One and Four speaks about sustainable practices
expression
A Letter
Micro-fiction by Amrita Shergar to inaugurate alserkal.online's new showcase for creative writing
culture
Connecting Cultures Through Contemporary Art
Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi shares her thoughts on curating the second edition of the Lahore Biennale
culture
One-on-One with Nabila Abdel Nabi
A conversation with Nabila Abdel Nabi, Tate Modern's first MENA curator
culture
Mystical Warriors
The works in Reza Derakshani’s latest show at Leila Heller Gallery reveal the mystical connections between the artist’s time in Russia, and the forgotten tales and symbolism of his Iranian heritage
culture
Is This Tomorrow? Art vs Architecture
Architecture and arts writers experience the show from their own perspectives
style
At the Confluence of Art and Industry
Architect, designer, and writer Edwin Heathcote reflects on Concrete’s significance
culture
Poetry In Motion
Nujoom Al Ghanem fuses poetry and filmmaking for 'Passages', a reflection on the universal experience of displacement and alienation. The Emirati poet and director speaks to Melissa Gronlund about her solo presentation for the National Pavilion UAE at the 58th Venice Biennale
opinion
The Lighthouse Podcast x Vilma Jurkute
Alserkal's Executive Director Vilma Jurkute sat down with Hashem Montasser, creator of The Lighthouse Podcast, to share her experience in developing Alserkal Avenue as the leading arts & culture district in the region.
culture
Cape Town: A New Capital for Art
The eighth edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair took place in February against an uneasy socio-economic backdrop — concluding in solid sales, and a newfound zeal for multiculturalism.
culture
METASITU in conversation with Ghada Yaiche
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.