Art Week highlights: openings, commission, open studios, guest projects, talks

Art Week at Alserkal Avenue returns from March 18–23, 2019 with a world-class line-up of exhibitions and programming. The region’s leading contemporary art galleries and non-profit institutions present over 20 new exhibitions, with nine galleries participating in Art Dubai.

Rhodiola, a transmission by Athens-based artist collective 3 137, opens on March 18 during Art Week. Alserkal’s 19th artist commission will unravel over six weeks through radio shows, performances, screenings, and community activities exploring ideas of maintenance in everyday life.

Fabric(ated) Fractures, a collaboration between the Samdani Art Foundation and Alserkal, will be on view during Art Week, running until March 23. The group exhibition presents the works of 15 Bangladeshi, South Asian, and Southeast Asian artists, and is curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, Samdani Art Foundation artistic director and Dhaka Art Summit chief curator. Tours of Fabric(ated) Fractures will take place daily at 10:30AM.

Alserkal will welcome a number of guest projects during Art Week, with highlights including Moataz Nasr’s Sun Boat, Michelle Poonawalla’s immersive Introspection, Atassi Foundation for Art & Culture’s exhibition of pioneering Syrian female artists, Personal Revolutions, Mohamed Monaiseer’s Taxidermy Dreams, the Fully Booked art book fair, the Sanctuaries series by Selections magazine, and sound artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s open studio. 

Galleries Day: March 18, 10am–10pm
Collectors and enthusiasts are invited to explore the exhibitions, open studios, and commission across the Avenue.

Alserkal Residency Open Studios: March 18, 11am–8pm
Alserkal Residency’s Spring Cycle 2019 residents Mahan Moalemi, METASITU (Liva Dudereva and Eduardo Cassina), and Željka Blakšić open the doors to their studios and present their work. Visitors are welcome to speak with residents about their public programmes for Alserkal Residency, their ongoing practices, and their research in Dubai.

Majlis Talks
The Majlis Talks series continues this year, presenting panels with artists and curators from the region and beyond:
–Artist talk: Johan Creten in conversation with Rebecca Anne Proctor, March 18, 3:30pm
–Artist talk: Soraya Sharghi in conversation with Nadine Khalil, March 18, 4:15pm
–Book launch & talk: Jitish Kallat in conversation with Nada Raza, Shumon Basar, and Catherine David, March 18, 5pm
–Talk: “Storytelling Through Mediums and Compulsive Exploration,” Mohamed Monaiseer in conversation with Sarah Rifky. March 20, 3pm
–Talk: “Collecting in the Digital Age,” presented by Artsy. March 20, 3:45pm
–Talk: “The Spark is You,” Ziba Ardalan. March 21, 11am
–Talk: “Meta Moments in the Evolution of the Art Fair and Biennial,” moderated by Paco Barragan. Presented by Zayed University Urban Satellite Space. March 21, 3pm
–Artist talk: Moataz Nasr on his current body of work. March 21, 3:45pm

Exhibitions
The contemporary art galleries within Alserkal Avenue will open their latest exhibitions on March 18.

1×1 Art Gallery
Group exhibition

Ayyam Gallery
Sadik Alfraji: The River that was in the South

Carbon 12
Bernhard Buhmann: The Chaser, the Ambusher and the Fickle

Concrete
Group exhibition: Fabric(ated) Fractures

Custot Gallery Dubai
Group exhibition

Elmarsa Gallery
Baya Mahieddine

Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde
Hassan Sharif: Blue

Green Art Gallery
Kamrooz Aram

Grey Noise
Stéphanie Saadé: The Encounter of the First and Last Particles of Dust

Gulf Photo Plus
Hussain AlMoosawi: Facade to Facade

Ishara Art Foundation
Shilpa Gupta and Zarina: Altered Inheritances: Home is a Foreign Place

Lawrie Shabibi
Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim: The Space Between the Eyelid and the Eyeball
Group exhibition: Materialise

Leila Heller Gallery
Johan Creten: True Love
Soraya Sharghi: Out of Realm

Salsali Private Museum
Philip Mueller: TIBE NOW: Free Drinks, Boots and Tickets to the Apocalypse

Showcase Gallery
Heitham Adjina: Architecture of Being

SVENM
Sonia Brewin: The Permanent

The Third Line
Rana Begum: Perception and Reflection

Zayed University Urban Satellite Space
Shamma Al Amri

Press enquiries: Rania Habib, rania [​at​] alserkalavenue.ae / T +971 50 100 1105