Visual Literacy | COVID-19 in Mainstream Media
The Visual Literacy program is the brainchild of Kevin Jones AKA Juniper Mind and aims to challenge our faith in images. I led a four-week module on COVID-19 in October that surveyed visual media coverage locally and internationally. With a critical lens, we analyzed photographs, illustrations and infographics - even internet memes - questioning the tropes, stereotypes and political motivations behind dominant messaging. The program aims to arm participants with the skills needed to question what we are seeing, and what we are not seeing, in the global media landscape.
Quoz Arts Fest 2020 | Alserkal
As the Programmes Manager for Alserkal, I was responsible for the planning, budgeting, and executing of the region’s largest arts and culture festival. Exploring the theme ‘In Search Of…’, the eighth edition of Quoz Arts Fest was massive in scale with multiple contemporary art exhibitions, live music, performances, food, outdoor installations, and film screenings. Highlights included a headlining concert by Jordanian-Palestinian band 47Soul, the exhibition New National Dish: UAE in collaboration with Victoria & Albert Museum, and a performance series curated by Block Universe. The festival welcomed over 38,000 visitors over two active days. More here.
November in Alserkal Avenue
The month of November in Dubai is significantly shaped by both art and design, influenced by the Abu Dhabi Art fair and Dubai Design Week, which overlap in the creative district of Alserkal Avenue. A month of exhibitions, talks, performances, workshops, and design interventions into the public realm bring audiences from within and beyond art and design sectors. Particular highlights from my project list included a talk with the Iraqi grandfather of photography, Latif Al Ani, in conversation with contemporary Iraqi/Canadian photographer Tamara Abdul Hadi, and a design intervention titled Absolem by Saudi architects Bricklab which transformed the pedestrian entrance of the Avenue.
Game Changer | Aura Dance Theatre Co.
Visiting from Lithuania, Aura is an international dance theatre company led by choreographer Birutė Letukaitė, who has been awarded a number of awards including twice winning the Golden Stage Cross. Performed in Alserkal Avenue's the multidisciplinary exhibitions venue Concrete, Game Changer reflects upon societal restrains, the spirit of freedom, and the desire to break out of a system. Dancers cope with the limited possibilities of movement, restricted by their costumes created by Dutch installation artist Guda Koster. While leading the Alserkal Cultural Development team, we delivered two full-house performances in January, 2020.
Artist Take Overs
Beginning with the official season opener for Alserkal Avenue in September 2020 which saw over 10,000 visitors, I oversaw the execution of two artist take overs comissioned by Alserkal which transformed the public realm of the cultural district. Beginning with an open call, each artist proposed an intervention into the public sphere with an aim to alter the visitor experience and challenge contemporary norms. Artist Nathaniel Rackowe created massive light based installations as well as collaborating with choreographer Angela Woodhouse to bring to contemporary dance performances to the Avenue. Later in the season artist Sara Naim built 15 sound based installations throughout the neighbourhood which allowed visitors to communicate and ask strangers poignant and curious, existential questions.
Talks and Symposia
As programmes manager I have organized a variety of engaging conversations - some in small intimate settings, while others in larger, auditorium or symposium style and scale. I have collaborated with organizations like the Goethe Institut and the Tate Research Centre, galleries and foundations including Ishara Art Foundation, Grey Noise, Isabelle van den Eyde gallery, Lawrie Shabibi, and The Third Line as well as independent collectives like the Joy of Urdu and Qissa-go. I have had the pleasure of introducing audiences to thought leaders, professors, and specialists in fields of contemporary art, photography, architecture, performance, design and beyond.
Summer Programme
With the aim to offer an enriched, rigorous and academic-focused series of programmes for the summer in Alserkal Avenue, I collaborated with independent writer Kevin Jones, founder of Juniper Mind, to bring to life a multidisciplinary series of programmes. 672 participants in total attended programmes which included lectures, debates, live music performances, spoken word, workshops, a film screening, and a reading group. The theme of the programme Foretold Now explored our obsession with forecasting and examines our drive to predict. Listen here to Kevin speak about the programme.
GPP Slidefest
Having now run for over 10 years, GPP Slidefest events champion the art of story telling through photography. Each iteration brings audiences together for short, live presentations by photographers sharing everything from photojournalism and documentary style work, to personal projects, portraiture, short film and more. Each event is curated to provide audiences with a variety of perspectives, meaning the evening will lend itself to a wide audience of spectators, all of whom will take something from the evening. During my time with Gulf Photo Plus I organized 15+ Slidefest events.
GPP Talks
As part of my role as curator and gallery manager at Gulf Photo Plus, I organized a number of talks, tours and panel discussions with artists, educators, photojournalists, and documentary photographers as part of the year long programme. Featured speakers and organizations included the Rawiya collective, Majority World, Everyday Middle East, David Burnett, Alia Ali, Mathew Dols, Laura El-Tantawy, Aida Muluneh, Osborne Macharia, and Gregory Heisler to name a few.
Full image caption details available here.