THURSDAY MARCH 16, 2017 OFFSITE EVENTS – ABU DHABI, DUBAI, UAE 10:30–3pm Exhibition Tour: NYUAD Art Gallery, Warehouse 421 and Manarat Al Saadiyat NYUAD Art Gallery Exhibition: But We Cannot See Them: Tracing a UAE Underground, 1988- 2008 The UAE has, and has had, many creative communities, both apparent and unknown. But We Cannot See Them focuses on one such formation of artists, sometimes called ‘the 5’, a number that in fact varied widely in the decades framing the 1990s. These artists were at a core intersection of artists, writers, and filmmakers based in the UAE who identified with a ‘new culture’ of encouraging radical, formal and conceptual experimentation. This exhibition runs in tandem with a book of interviews with these artists. Curated by Maya Allison with Bana Kattan, in collaboration with Alaa Edris and featuring artists Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Abdullah Al Saadi, Mohammed Kazem, Hussain Sharif, Vivek Vilasini, Jos Clevers, and Ebtisam Abdulaziz. Warehouse 421 Exhibition: Bayn: the in-between U.A.E. Unlimited is a satellite platform founded and supported by art patron His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. The platform is managed by Executive Director, Shobha Pia Shamdsani, and supports emerging Emirati and UAE-based artists. The third exhibition by U.A.E. Unlimited features the works of eight emerging visual and sound artists, curated by Munira Al Sayegh and mentored by guest artist Manal Al Dowayan, whose practice encompasses a diverse range of media including black and white photography, sculpture, video, sound, neon and large-scale participatory installations. Manarat Al Saadiyat Exhibition: The Creative Act: Performance• Process• Presence The second exhibition of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection brings together artists of different nationalities and generations who have emphasized performance, process and human presence in their practice, offering a transcultural perspective on those defining aspects of contemporary art. Featured artists include Rasheed Araeen, Mohammed Kazem, Shiraga Kazuo, Tanaka Atsuko, Niki de Saint Phalle, Günther Uecker and Anish Kapoor. Curated by Valerie Hillings, Ph.D., Curator and Manager, Curatorial Affairs, Abu Dhabi Project; Sasha Kalter-Wasserman, Assistant Curator, Abu Dhabi Project; with Sarah Dwider, Curatorial Assistant, Abu Dhabi Project, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; and Maisa Al Qassimi, Head of Programmes - Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, with Munira Al Sayegh, Programmes Officer - Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. Location: Various locations around Abu Dhabi 10am–1pm Artist Studio Visits: Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, & Hesam Rahmanian and eL Seed Ramin Haerizadeh (born 1975, Tehran, Iran), Rokni Haerizadeh (born 1978, Tehran, Iran) and Hesam Rahmanian (born 1980, Knoxville, USA) have lived and worked together in Dubai since 2009. Their first collaborative exhibition I Put It There You Name It (2012) recreated the delirious atmosphere of their Dubai home in a gallery context through painted floors, assemblage, and unique collaboratively created objects. The trio has shown at the Kunsthalle Zurich, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, and in December presented their first solo museum show in the US at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. The French/Tunisian eL Seed’s intricate calligraphic compositions call not only on the words and their meaning but also on their movement, which ultimately lures the viewer into a different state of mind. Working primarily with subjects that seem contradictory, his art reflects the reality of mankind and the world we live in today. eL Seed installs his work in public spaces, galleries and institutions on every continent. From the streets of Paris or New York, to the favelas of Rio Di Janeiro or the slums of Cape Town, his contemporary approach aims to bring people, culture and generations together. Location: Various locations around Dubai 11am–3pm Guided Tours of Galleries Guided tours of the galleries participating in Art Dubai 2017 include: 1x1 Gallery, Ayyam Gallery, Carbon 12, Elmarsa, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Green Art Gallery, Lawrie Shabibi, Leila Heller Gallery, Custot Gallery and The Third Line in Alserkal Avenue plus Meem Gallery in Al Quoz. Location: Al Quoz and Alserkal Avenue, Dubai ONSITE EVENTS AT ART DUBAI 2:30–7pm Talk: Global Art Forum 11 Trading Places will explore the relationship between the economy of goods and ideas that constantly shape who and where we are. The Global Art Forum is presented by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and supported by Dubai Design District (d3). Access: Open to all Location: Fort Island, Madinat Jumeirah 3–4pm Artist Talk: Jitish Kallat, Here After Here Catherine David, Deputy Director, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Murtaza Vali, Sharjah-Brooklyn based historian, curator and renowned artist Jitish Kallat discuss Here After Here, a mid-career survey of Kallat’s work at National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. Curated by Catherine David, the exhibition brings together over 100 works across a time- frame of 25 years revealing the artist’s continual engagement with ideas of time, sustenance, recursion and historical recall, and his recurrent deliberations on the cosmopolis and the distant cosmos. This conversation will center around the exhibition and two accompanying monographs, and how they collectively explore the many processes, themes and ideas that reappear throughout his artistic practice. Location: Art Dubai Modern Lounge, Mina A’Salam 4–4:30pm Tour: Art Dubai Modern led by Kristine Khouri of the Art Dubai Modern curatorial committee Location: Meet at entrance of Art Dubai Modern Lounge, Mina A’Salam 4pm (1 hour) Performance: Lana Fahmi, What Modernity? What Modernity? [working title] performs dance pieces and phrases that engage with Art Dubai Modern’s exhibited artworks in relation with the history of performative arts in the Arab world. Lana Fahmi approaches and takes advantage of the gallery hall to defeat the traditional setting and protocol of the theatrical space and duration when the audience sits down and lights are turned off for an agreed time. Location: Meet at the entrance to Art Dubai Modern, Mina A'Salam 4–5pm The Abraaj Terrace Talks: Collecting: From a Private Passion to the Public Domain Collector Mohammed Afkhami has created a remarkable collection of modern and contemporary Iranian art in just over a decade, with the collection having evolved from a passion for the aesthetics to the realization that Iran’s greatest contribution to the world has been its rich cultural heritage. In conversation with Venetia Porter, Curator, Islamic and Contemporary Middle East Art at the British Museum and introduced by Henry Kim, Director at the Aga Khan Museum. Access: Prior RSVP required Location: Water Terrace of the Abraaj Group Lounge, Madinat Jumeirah 4–5pm Book Launch: Rashid Rana Catalogue This new Rashid Rana catalogue is produced to accompany the artist’s first show in Dubai. Rana’s unique career – while he first came to prominence in South Asia before gaining wider, international exposure after the millennium – has made a significant contribution of an entirely new kind of art from Pakistan. Presenting an impressive diversity within his practice, the publication looks at how Rana complicates and realigns such divided notions as figuration and abstraction, manipulation and reality, but also succeeds in knocking the world off its axis and transcending both traditional and technological means of communication. Location: Leila Heller Gallery, Booth A8, Hall 1, Madinat Jumeirah 4:30–5pm Tour: The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2017 Ongoing curator and artist led tours by Guest Curator Omar Berrada, winning artist Rana Begum and shortlisted artists Doa Aly, Sara Abu Abdallah and Raha Raissnia. Location: Meet outside the entrance of the Abraaj Group Art Prize exhibition, Madinat Jumeirah 4:30–5:30pm Artists Talk: Bayn, with Munirah Al Sayegh Bayn: the in-between, seeks to describe, question, and expand on the threshold found amid a starting point and its end introducing a sense of ceremony when looking at change. Throughout this exhibition the state of in-between is highlighted as equally important to both the definitive beginning (the history of the United Arab Emirates) and its end goal, (the future). Leading up to the exhibition, the artists in this exhibition alongside the curator would meet once a week to read a text relevant to the theme. This participatory talk presented by U.A.E. Unlimited will invite the audience to read, and discuss a text on liminality, alongside some of the artists and the curator, Munirah Al Sayegh. Location: Julius Baer Lounge, Fort Island, Madinat Jumeirah 4:30–5:30pm King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture: Saudi Artists Open-Call Announcement King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture is pleased to collaborate with Art Dubai to announce the launch of the first Saudi Artist open call. This will be an opportunity for Saudi artists to have a unique platform to showcase their commissioned art installations at Art Dubai 2018, and the winning art work will become part of King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture permanent Art collection in Saudi Arabia. Access: RSVP for this event is essential. RSVP closes March 12. Location: Art Dubai Modern Lounge, Mina A’Salam, Dubai 5–5:30pm Tour: Art Dubai Commissions Led by curator Yasmina Reggad with artists commissioned to create site-specific performances. Artists include: Manuel Pelmuş, Lana Fahmi, Eglė Budvytytė, Iván Argote and Pauline Bastard. Part of Art Dubai's not-for-profit projects programming. Location: Meet at the Art Dubai Projects Booth, Joharah Foyer, Madinat Jumeirah 5–6pm The Abraaj Terrace Talks: Louvre Abu Dhabi Louvre Abu Dhabi Director Manuel Rabate, and Cultural Advisor, UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs Dr. Zaki Nusseibeh discuss the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s opening, and what it means for the UAE and the wider region. The talk will also touch on the architecture of the Jean Nouvel- designed building, key highlights from the collection and how the museum will facilitate the cultivation of an art-appreciating society.