Dubai: It didn’t matter if you were an art aficionado, an aspirant or just someone out for the evening. Alserkal Avenue was clearly the place to be last Sunday, the commencement of the Art Week packing a punch to an even otherwise busy weekend.
By 5pm, the happening cultural district in Al Quoz was a sea of people, each with their own penchant and purpose. Coffee-sipping creatives Peter Moyle from the UK and Adrian An, a Korean from Australia, catching up on all things art, advertising – and bitcoins; Egyptian couple Youssef and Inas making the most of the pleasant weather with their poodle Milo; long-lost friends Judith Aidoo, Dubai-based Jim Holden and his wife reconnecting after nearly 40 years; Chinese teacher Hazel and her Italian friend Michele tuned in to the Majlis Talks – the sheer diversity of the people you bumped into was striking.
Well, Alserkal Avenue is quite literally a cultural melting pot.
It’s hard to imagine that only a few years ago, the place was everything that Al Quoz was identified with, non-descript sheds and warehouses defining the industrial zone. But in less than two decades, it has transformed into a vibrant canvas, its colour and character making it a go-to destination.
In fact, the sharp contrast is aptly captured by some public art commissions on display.
Curated by Zoe Whitley, one of them dwells on the past of Al Quoz itself, as artist Abbas Akhavan uses materials from Alserkal’s long-term storage for stockpiles; another by Vikram Divecha focuses on migration.
Alserkal Art Foundation Director Nada Raza described it as an ode to Dubai. “Divecha actually collaborated with workers to construct improvised roof structures of bamboo, rope and billboard traps which often find their way to reuse as shelter. Flipped and standing on their sides, the vertical cluster evokes a cityscape of aspiration and desire, the tent-poles of the global appeal of Gulf cities,” she said.
Merging with the warehouse walls is also an installation of balconies by Asma Belhamar who pays homage to Dubai’s architectural history, specifically the balconies reminiscent of apartments where communities converged, creating an optical illusion that challenges traditional perceptions of space and architecture.
The triumph of survival resonates everywhere. A research exhibition (Made Present) by Faris Shomali and Zaina Zarour for example offers an alternative portrayal of the history of Palestine’s art, defying attempts at erasure. As they explained, it involved foregrounding the extensive history of artists who went to great lengths, sometimes risking their own lives, to ensure their works remained present.
As a war survivor and immigrant, Dubai-based Iraqi artist Vian Sora, who is also showcasing her House of Pearls at the Art Week, said, “We live a collective trauma, but war is acute in that either it ends or it remains with you continuously…The survival mode does not switch off and those are the images and their forms added and stripped away on my canvas.
"What remains I hope to project the sanguine within imagery of detritus overwritten with cuneiform, scripts and calligraphy, reflecting penetrations of light, thus life illuminates to begin again.”
The expressions of art and the learnings from them are limitless.
For regular visitors like Karen Yazbeck and Yasmeen Sewilam, rare exhibits are like additional treats.
As they waited in line to watch the Dubai Future Foundation’s multisensory experience ‘Our Futures’, Yazbeck said, “We come to Alserkal Avenue every other week. There’s always something unique happening and you get to see some authentic stuff.”
“There’s nowhere else like this,” added Sewilam.
Korean adman An echoed her words. “I like hanging out here because it is stimulating.”
His friend Moyle and he have lived and travelled all over the world (London, New York, Sydney, Paris, Bangkok and Riyadh), but they vouched for the unique vibe at Alserkal.
With over 90 curated, homegrown creative businesses, the avenue features 15 art galleries and dynamic spaces for film, theatre, performance, literature, music, food, education, and even wellness. So there’s something for everyone who walks in.
For Emirati businessman and avenue founder Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, the hustle and bustle in the lanes of the avenue are an growing testament to the creative community he helped foster.
First timer artists and designers like Franco Perrotti are all praise. The Italian, monumental allegorical pigeon sculpted from stainless steel and birch wood is being much talked about, said he was keen to have a presence at the avenue’s Art Week this time. “It’s a great place to showcase my work symbolising the complex dynamics between humans and their environment,” he said.
Even at Charlotte Ashamu’s Majlis Talks, a multi-disciplinary artist wowed listeners perched on bean bags with her work that has she claimed has transformed Cape Town’s minibus taxis into moving galleries,making art more accessible.
“Where in the world will you get to see and imbibe so much,” asked Sheetal, an Indian university student.
Nothing perhaps could sum up the Alserkal experience better than the tributes paid by a group of collectors from Europe. “It is simply amazing, something we don’t find anywhere else. We just love Dubai with its bright sun and blue skies. It is so full of joy,” said one of them from San Marino, as she dis the rounds of the galleries.
