Monira Al Qadiri’s practice is a deep dive into petrocultures and their possible futures, gender performance, and aesthetics of sadness in the Middle East. Through a major body of work that incorporates various media, including video, sculpture, and performance, she investigates the oil-driven transformation of the coastal economy in Kuwait and the Gulf region, and the change it brought upon socioeconomic relations and local lives. Through a comprehensive presentation of her practice, the show explores how we interact with history, personal or otherwise, through the vehicle of art. How should we ponder our relationship with nature and natural resources from afar, where extraction and production can’t be seen or heard? How do we recognize and make sense of the poetry embedded in unconscious self-destruction? This exhibition is curated by UCCA curator Luan Shixuan.
Press release from UCCA Dune.
