Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial is now open to the public at the NYUAD Art Gallery. Running until December 8, the exhibition features 21 artists, architects, designers, and collectives from the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. It captures key moments in the GCC’s cultural scene over the past five years since 2019.
The exhibition is co-curated by Executive Director of the NYUAD Art Gallery Maya Allison and Art Gallery Curator and Research Assistant Professor Duygu Demir. Allison and Demir developed a curatorial framework in dialogue with researchers and practitioners from the region, four of whom served as “curatorial interlocutors” on the exhibition: Abdullah Al Mutairi, Aseel AlYaqoub, Ali Ismael Karimi, and Ayman Zedani. Between the Tides offers a unique opportunity to explore contemporary visual production in the Gulf region, presenting a wide range of practices and themes that resonate today, such as societal shifts, ecological challenges, urban development, and heritage, among others.
Allison commented: “In the past decade, we have witnessed a proliferation of arts initiatives across the GCC that have transformed the cultural landscape. During that time, in collaboration with curators from within the region, the NYUAD Art Gallery has played an ongoing role in highlighting and documenting the region’s art history and contemporary developments. Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial formalizes our commitment to continue this work now and in the future. As we celebrate and reflect on the Gallery’s 10th anniversary this fall, our hope is that this quinquennial will become a regular feature in the decades to come, capturing snapshots of the region’s dynamic creative practices.”
Featured in the exhibition are works by Alia Ahmad, Abdulrahim Alkendi, Mohammad AlFaraj, Noor Al-Fayez, Afra Al Dhaheri, Mohamed Almubarak, Sophia Al Maria, Mariam M. Alnoaimi, Christopher Joshua Benton, Sarah Brahim, Vikram Divecha, Faissal El-Malak, Hazem Harb, Aziz Motawa, Mohammad Sharaf, Shaima Al Tamimi, Ayman Zedani, and Bu Yousuf, as well as collaborative work, including 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.
Press release from NYUAD Art Gallery
Image: Afra Al Dhaheri. Collective Exhaustion. 2023. Installation view at the NYUAD Art Gallery, 2024. Mixed media (aluminum, cotton fabric, wood, cotton ropes, LED), light, sound. 338 x 52 x 880 cm. Photography by Altamash Urooj. Image courtesy of the artist and Green Art Gallery, Dubai
