What to see at Alserkal Lates as galleries night returns to Dubai's Al Quoz

The event's programming includes more than 10 new exhibitions and the unveiling of public artworks

Visitors admire work at an arts festival in Alserkal Avenue. Photo: Alserkal Avenue

Alserkal’s new season of shows begins on September 22 with Alserkal Lates. The evening’s programming includes more than 10 exhibition openings, as well as a new presentation from Alserkal Arts Foundation titled Homecoming, which features public artistic interventions across Alserkal Avenue in Al Quoz.

Curated by Janine Gaelle Dieudji, exhibitions director at The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Homecoming features works by British artist Lakwena Maciver, who makes colourful painted meditations; American artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed, known for her text-based installations; and Augustine Paredes, a Filipino artist in the UAE who primarily works in photography.

This season’s Alserkal Lates also marks the opening of Volte Art Projects, the latest art gallery to join Alserkal Avenue. Its exhibition, Nature’s Time: Sublime Converge, is a group show that explores time, nature and technology, examining the relationship between memory and the future. A combination of immersive art and architectural pieces are in the show, including Wim Delvoye’s monumental steel work Tower and Ranbir Kaleka’s surrealist projections on painted canvas titled The Wind of Heaven is that which blows between a Horse’s Ears.

Another new arrival in the arts hub is Jossa by Alserkal, formerly the exhibition space of the Jean-Paul Najar Foundation, which closed its doors in 2020 after relocating to Europe. Named after the space’s designer, Mario Jossa, whose designs drew from the Bauhaus movement and who was brought on by the Jean-Paul Najar Foundation, Jossa by Alserkal will be inaugurated with a solo show by Hashel Al Lamki, titled Pulse.

Among the new shows to see is Sri Lankan artist Muhanned Cader's first solo exhibition with Grey Noise. On view at until Monday, November 1, the show includes 12 new paintings called Nightspaces 2019-2021 that explore the subject of darkness.

At Gulf Photo Plus, photography, sculpture and video works by five artists consider the concept of territory in Bangladesh. Titled Undefined Territory, the show looks at how places, identity and knowledge are created within the country’s contemporary society, and features works by Munem Wasif, Shumon Ahmed and Marzia Farhana.

From 4pm to 9pm, Cristiana de Marchi will present a textile-based performance wherein she will move and disappear under a cloak of knitted fabric the size of the smallest prison cell. The work, titled The Echo of the Void, contemplates ideas of confinement, suffocation and oppression. The performance will take place at 1x1 Art Gallery and will be documented through photo and video. A corresponding exhibition will open on the same day.

Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde will showcase Manal AlDowayan’s Eternal Return of the Same, which reflects on the role of women in contemporary Saudi Arabian society and is the result of a year-long personal introspection and investigation by the artist.

At Leila Heller Gallery, two new shows will also open to visitors – Enchanted Garden By Ana D’Castro and a retrospective by Mia Fonssagrives Solow, which traces the artist’s sculptural practice, from her maquette forms to her more abstract pieces in bronze, fibreglass and carved wood.

Other galleries, including Custot Gallery Dubai and Zawyeh, will also present new shows: Nick Brandt: The Day May Break and Metaphor, a solo show by Saher Nassar, respectively, while a solo show by Syrian artist Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik will go on view at Ayyam Gallery.

Alserkal Lates will take place on Wednesday, September 22, at Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. More information is available at alserkal.online