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With the return of the outdoor season in Dubai, Alserkal Art Week is also making a comeback this November.
From November 17 to 25, 2024, art and culture enthusiasts can immerse themselves in a number of thought-provoking exhibitions, installations, pop-ups, art nights, screenings, and workshops, all hosted within the vibrant creative community of Alserkal Avenue.
This time around, the popular art week is paying tribute to the simple, fleeting, yet revolutionary act of presence. In this time of displacement, with life’s paths often rerouted, the act of simply being somewhere, alive, surviving, and existing becomes precious and rare.
The theme of this year’s Alserkal Art Week “Acts of Presence” highlights and honours this, deepening our awareness and encouraging visitors to slow down, observe and rethink their perceptions.
Below, GRAZIA breaks down the full schedule and some of the must-see exhibitions during this Alserkal Art Week.
Made Present: Biographies of Artworks Defying the Ongoing Nakba
Curated by Faris Shomali and Zaina Zarour, this year highlights Made Present: Biographies of Artworks Defying the Ongoing Nakba.
This research-driven exhibition charts the survival journeys of over ten Palestinian artworks, using a constellation of pieces, archival material, and field notes. It foregrounds the extensive history of artists who have gone to great lengths to ensure their works remain visible. The history of Palestinian art is often marked by loss, destruction, fragmentation, and colonial plunder.
This exhibition offers an alternative historiography, inviting you to stand with narratives that defy erasure at the very source of this art: Palestinian identity.
Walk With Me
Returning for a second iteration, Walk With Me invites visitors on a journey through four site-specific public art commissions curated by Zoé Whitley and presented by Alserkal Arts Foundation. The initiative encourages visitors to slow down, explore the artworks scattered around the Avenue, and make their own discoveries, fostering cultural encounters that can leave lasting impressions.
The four artists featured are Dima Srouji, Asma Belhamar, Abbas Akhavan, and Vikram Divecha, all exploring themes of fragility, resilience, and public memory, drawing from diverse architectural references.
Majlis Talks
This edition of Majlis Talks is entitled Acts of Presence: Stories of Africa’s Creative Leaders.
Curated by Charlotte Ashamu, the series features four discussions and performances from alternative voices in Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire, challenging complacency and celebrating presence in all its forms.
The programme includes a performance by Kwame-Akoto Bamfo, a reflection by multi-disciplinary artist Thania Petersen on her latest work, which transforms Cape Town’s minibus taxis into moving galleries, and a showcase by textile artist Johanna Bramble.
Slow Art Walks
A reflective journey through exhibitions, public art, and hidden corners of the Avenue, inviting you into critical conversations about what often remains unseen.
There are two walks, both on 23 November: one at 4pm with writer/curator Yalda Bidshahri, and another at 5pm with Priyanka Mehra of the Ishara Art Foundation.
Domestic Departures: (Im)mobility, Loss, and Resilience
In an uncertain world, this exhibition presents compelling, multidisciplinary projects that tackle themes of permanence and belonging, urging us to rethink how we relate to our lives and landscapes in the face of slow ecocide and disruptive political violence.
The multidisciplinary practitioners involved – Khalda El Jack, Zainab Gaafar, Lubnah Ansari, Natasha Maru, Rhea Shah, and Maitha Al Suwaidi – present projects that engage with these issues through experimental cartography, immersive installations, and independent zines, sparking conversations about (im)mobilities, loss, and resilience.
Open Studios
The Alserkal Arts Foundation will open the studios of its autumn residents, offering visitors the chance to engage with their artistic practices.
Featured artists include Beirut-based sound artist Jad Saliba, Congolese writer and visual artist Sinzo Aanza, Mizoram’s academic researcher and mixed-media artist Thlana Bazik, and Mumbai-based filmmaker Pallavi Paul.
