Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial

Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial focuses on practices that are directly or tangentially based in the Gulf, by 21 artists and collectives from the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Rather than a comprehensive survey, this exhibition reflects on significant moments within the field of visual production from the last five years. This first iteration of the quinquennial encompasses visual arts, architecture, and design, featuring painting, video, installation, photography, and sculpture. The exhibition evolved out of the co-curators’ dialogues with artists and curators from across the region. Some of these exchanges turned into more sustained discursive engagements, in particular with four who became the exhibition’s “curatorial interlocutors”: Abdullah Al Mutairi, Aseel AlYaqoub, Ali Ismail Karimi, and Ayman Zedani.

The title of the exhibition, Between the Tides, is a nod to an understanding of time as cyclical, referring to both the regional foregrounding of lunar rhythms and to the cadence of the exhibition itself, which intends to register and re-present projects and ideas that left a mark. The reference to the ebb and flow of tidal movements also suggests a relocation of matter—such as water and sand—that can be revelatory or concealing. Be it physical or symbolic, and whether things are sequestered from view or laid bare, intertidal zones are vibrant, vulnerable, and resilient, like the thinking and making behind the projects presented here. While the practices included reflect a diverse array of interests and methodologies, the works selected allow points of convergence to emerge, such as urban transformation, ecological change, negotiations of heritage, tracing of identities and communities, spatial politics, and questions of representation.

Rather than presenting a coherent “picture” or illustrating a curatorial imposition, together, these projects attest to the diversity of cultural practices fueled by the Gulf.

This exhibition marks the tenth year of the NYUAD Art Gallery since its opening on Saadiyat Island in November of 2014. On the occasion of that anniversary, the launch of a quinquennial reinforces the university’s commitment to the long-term study, interpretation, and preservation of cultural production in the region as part of the larger mission of the university and gallery.

Featuring work by
Alia Ahmad, Afra Al Dhaheri, Sophia Al Maria, Shaima Al Tamimi, Noor Al-Fayez, Mohammad AlFaraj, Abdulrahim Alkendi, Mohamed Almubarak, Mariam M. Alnoaimi, Christopher Joshua Benton, Sarah Brahim, Vikram Divecha, Faissal El-Malak, Hazem Harb, Aziz Motawa, Mohammad Sharaf, Ayman Zedani, and Bu Yousuf; as well as collaborations by Civil Architecture (Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Ismail Karimi); Aseel AlYaqoub, Asaiel Al Saeed, Saphiya Abu Al-Maati, and Yousef Awaad Hussein; and Camille Zakharia and Ali Ismail Karimi.

Co-Curators: Maya Allison and Duygu Demir
Curatorial Interlocutors: Abdullah Al Mutairi, Aseel AlYaqoub, Ali Ismail Karimi, and Ayman Zedani. The curators would also like to thank Munira Al Sayegh, Vasıf Kortun, Aisha Al Muftah, Aisha Stoby, and Alaa Tarabzouni