The Emirati artist’s exhibition for the UAE Pavilion in Venice, Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, showcases the journeys he has made across his country, as well as a career spanning four decades.
Canvas: Let’s start with your relationship with travel. One element of your exhibition is an installation of tin chests within which you have hidden travel journals in the form of map drawings or written words. What fascinates you about being on the road?
Abdullah Al Saadi: I’ve always dreamt of travelling the world with a bicycle, but I’ve never yet achieved that goal for different reasons. I have, however, been travelling around the UAE since 1992. I have sometimes been on a donkey, and at other times I have walked, biked or used a car. Traversing the same landscapes repeatedly – first by donkey, later by car and finally on foot – made me realise the impact of viewing the same scene through different modes of travel and moods. Each journey altered my perception, not only of the landscape, but of time itself.
Image courtesy of National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia
The tin chests are activated by a group of performers who engage with the pavilion visitors, as might a tour guide or a storytelling elder. They invite them to choose one of the chests, and then explain the wonders inside with a theatrical enthusiasm. Why did you choose this particular format of presentation?
I wanted to create a space where the audience can engage directly with the narratives behind each piece. The exhibition invites people to immerse themselves deeply in my subjective landscapes, my codes and alphabets, as they explore both the physical artworks and the stories narrated by the actors who open the metal chests containing the artworks. This format bridges personal and collective memory. The collaboration with curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh, who is also the Senior Curator and Director of the Performance Department at Sharjah Art Foundation, has been very fruitful in presenting my diversity of works made over the last 40 years.
The exhibition also includes drawings and paintings on rocks, with which you have a special relationship. How and when did this fascination start, and how do you connect your rock-collecting with your art?
It all began during my childhood, when the diverse textures and forms of the rocks in the desert and along the coastal landscapes totally captivated me. Each rock, with its unique characteristics, felt like a tangible piece of nature and history. Over time, I realised that these rocks were not only personal archives but also tools for expressing the memories and relationships with the natural landscapes that they embody. By exhibiting them, I am able to transform them into more than just physical objects. They become active participants in my narration of my journeys and experiences.
Image courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia
The UAE has seen a dramatic transformation in the last few decades, with its urban silhouette changing from a flat desert landscape to a strip of mammoth skyscrapers. How do your travels reflect this change?
If you compare my older maps with new ones, you can see the changes. All those tall buildings and highways that were not there before. The road might be the same, but travelling on a donkey or inside a car lets me discover something new each time and this leads to a different drawing or a diary entry about a place.
Looking back at your time studying in Japan in the early 1990s, are there any influences from back then that you still carry with you in your practice today?
Japan introduced me to the concept of ideographic scripts, where each symbol carries a distinct meaning. This has definitely influenced my artistic approach. But I also got to experience aspects of nature that I cannot see here in the UAE, like snow, for example, and even earthquakes. It was a very informative time for me.
This interview first appeared in Canvas 113: Common Threads
The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia runs until 24 November 2024
