Mind the Gap, the latest exhibition at Tashkeel, features artworks by UAE-based creatives from various fields who responded to an open call by the Dubai-based art organisation. This year, Tashkeel invited Jack Thomas Taylor to be the first guest curator of their annual open call, giving the young UAE-based British curator the responsibility of developing the theme, leading the selection panel and guiding the selected artists to develop their concepts.
“This show explores the idea of perceiving everyday gaps or divisions as opportunities, and not problems, through a creative lens. We invited not just artists but everybody living in the UAE to observe, question, interrogate and illuminate the gaps in our everyday life, and the opportunities they provide. The response was overwhelming and the 25 concepts we have selected are by artists, poets, architects, technologists, performers, filmmakers, engineers and even a chocolate company. The artworks visualise the intervals between technology and craft, old and young, past and future, mind and matter. The show thus surveys a landscape of different voids in the context of the UAE by bringing together a diverse and multi-generational group of people with the aim of repositioning gaps as openings that intertwine and complement each other,” Taylor says.
The artists have highlighted issues that are relevant to the UAE but also have a global resonance. Their creations range from Amer Aldour’s literal representation of the poetics of a visual gap as the light visible between patterns created with acrylic pieces in a light box; to Mays Albeik’s ‘I overlook like the balcony of a house’, where she has brought the outdoors inside by having a balcony constructed inside the gallery to represent ‘minding the gap’ in our environment.
Katie Venner-Woodbridge has embroidered the maps of Satwa, Dubai Marina and Jumeirah areas of Dubai onto three cotton and wire mesh panels. Layered over each other in front of a window, the panels reflect the gaps and overlaps between different strata of society in a multicultural community.
Rachael Kewley’s ceramic sculpture of a bunch of bananas parodies the strict European legislation regarding the quality of bananas allowed into the EU region. The work playfully raises serious questions about the rules regarding acceptance or rejection of immigrants, highlighting the gap in social diversity that is created by systems that seek to unify and conform.
In Amal Al Gurg’s screen prints, titled Amalgamate, the Arabic letters, alef and thal, representing women and men, come together to form beautiful calligraphic patterns that symbolise harmonious co-mingling in a society where the gender gap is prominent; whereas Carles Llonch Molina zooms in on the gap in architecture. His photographs of the modest, structures built to provide shade and shelter to construction workers in the UAE, highlight the sharp contrast between these ephemeral constructs and the country’s grand architectural landscape.
A photograph of an abandoned petrol station by Jalal Jamal Bin Thaneya comments on the gaps created by consumerism, the role of petroleum in modern society and the impact of our exploitation of this finite resource on the ecosystem; and Aisha Al Blooshi has tried to bridge the gap between traditional and modern times through an installation of papier-mache figures representing past and present lifestyles.
Trickle by Romy Ravindran is simply a stack of steel plates topped by fragile porcelain plates that speaks about the inequality of wealth distribution in our world and the delicate balance of hierarchies in society. The work’s title refers to the trickle-down theory of tax cuts for the rich leading to job opportunities for the poor, spurring economic growth.
Tom Baggaley has used vegetables that were grown in an area behind his house in an urban farming project that brought together people of different ages and nationalities in his neighbourhood to share their knowledge, and effort. His installation, composed of several dried, painted and decorated squashes suspended together refers to social and environmental gaps in society.
The exhibition extends outside the gallery space with interesting installations at the entrance and the backyard of Tashkeel. These include a flag designed by Shamma Buhazza, and manhole covers created by Salem Al Mansouri. Incorporating elements from three different flags representing Buhazza’s Emirati, Somalian and British origins, the flag questions our perception of personal and cultural identity. On the other hand, the manhole covers, inscribed with the words ‘Status Supply’ and ‘Department of Expectations’ visualise the gaps in our understanding of both physical and intangible infrastructure systems.
The Upcycling Art Collaborative has looked at the cultural gap in the UAE, where expatriates from around the world live together but do not really mix. To bridge this ‘melting pot gap’, they have wrapped recycled fabrics from around the world onto the columns of the arcades at the front and back of Tashkeel. The colourful fabrics have been linked together with ropes and yarn, and visitors are invited to add found objects such as pasta, chillies and bells onto this evolving installation.
Other artists featured in the show include Rami Alotaibi, Taqwa Alnaqbi, Afra Al Dhaheri, Ayman Zedani, Johnny Farrow, Mobius Design Studio, Nasir Nasrallah, Noush Anand, Najoom Alghanem, Omran Alowais and Owais Husain.
Taylor has also included a space where visitors can browse through the artists’ research materials, documentation of their creative process and his own curatorial notes for the exhibition. Also on display here is a limited edition chocolate developed by Mirzam. The crunchy chocolate made by traditional methods with cocoa beans ground by hand explores the gap between craft and processed food technology. The Dubai-based chocolatier has also collaborated with Tashkeel to present its well-known chocolates in special wrappers printed with artworks featured in the show.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of workshops that are designed to bridge gaps in arts education in the region, and between the art world and the community. The programme includes workshops on classical oil painting by Judy Shinnick; traditional hand embroidery techniques and fabric manipulations by Katie Venner-Woodbridge, traditional methods of craft chocolate making by Mirzam, and creating collages with found materials by Tamsin Wildy. It also includes a series of intimate dinner sessions, featuring guest speakers and a small group of guests from different fields and age groups.
The curator has further shared his thought process and value system for putting the exhibition together through a manifesto written for visitors. In a personal touch, he has also numbered by hand, each copy of the exhibition guide.
“The idea behind this show was to not only host an exhibition but also to select and organise an arts programme, to diagnose a need in the community and to seek out new and unusual settings for people to meet and work. I wanted to see how a curator’s approach can be changed to ensure exhibitions have more meaning, an increased impact, and bridge bigger gaps. So, we have transformed the gallery into a research laboratory of thoughts, feelings and expressions that is accessible to all audiences, inviting everyone to contemplate the gaps to enhance the historical, social and cultural fabric of the UAE,” Taylor says.
Mind the Gap will run at Tashkeel in Nad al Sheba until April 6.
