Co-curated by Warehouse421 and long-term collaborators Gulf Photo Plus, Architecture of Loneliness is a photography exhibition that explores the UAE’s shifting urban landscapes, and how they shape the experience of its inhabitants. The bodies of work selected examine feelings of solitude, shaped by the nation’s city planning, governance, and architecture. The images presented in the exhibition focus on abandoned spaces that once were thriving centres of activity, the development of projects at various stages, and the manifestations of the ideologies that motivate the growth and development of global cities. The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of a dedicated book cataloguing the artists’ work, together with a collection of reflective essays and two specially commissioned poems.

Through the series titled Odysseus, photographer Tarek Al-Ghoussein carries out a comprehensive artistic study of the islands off the coasts of Abu Dhabi. Al-Ghoussein aims to document and interact with found natural habitats and built environments. Choosing locations much in the same way a film director does, Al-Ghoussein moves between abstraction and the specific circumstances found in particular places. Relying on subtle interventions and non-invasive interactions, the images consider various aspects of isolation and place. He uses the body as a medium that interacts with and becomes a part of and not separate to the landscape he is photographing, thereby adding parallel narratives to the overall image.

Hundred Best Arabic Posters celebrates the diversity of visual cultures by collecting and choosing the best posters from across the Arab world through a biannual competition from the region, for the region and the rest of the world. This exhibition spreads knowledge on graphic design from the Arab region through exhibitions and specialized talks and workshops, and reveals the vibrancy of poster language that is deeply embedded in the culture of the Arab world, beyond just its visuals. Poster language, along with its urgency and loudness, looks a lot like the overwhelming intensity of our maximalist culture, both contemporarily and historically. The winning posters are rewarded with a traveling exhibition that stops in several countries within the Arab world, starting with Abu Dhabi.

Hafez Gallery will present a group show that focuses on Islamic art and includes works by Saudi and Saudi-based artists Rashed AlShashai, Sara AlAbdali, Ali Chaban, Khalid Zahid, Nojoud AlSudairi and Lulwah Al Homoud. All artists participating in this show present works about their own contemporary interpretations of the exhibition’s theme, with works in various media from calligraphy to illustration, mixed media and installation.

This is exhibition celebrates the work of students from the class of 2018 from Brighton College Abu Dhabi, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, The British School – Al Khubairat, and, The British International School Abu Dhabi. Visitor are invited to view the work of our next generation of creatives.

This exhibition represents a culmination of a year-long engagement in the Salama bin Hamdan Emerging Artists program (SEAF).  The Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation (SHF), in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, welcomes a group of emerging artists from across the UAE to participate in this unique educational program designed to encourage and foster artistic growth and development.

Cuadro Fine Art Gallery will present artworks by Camille Zakharia. While the photographic collage works carry a fluid abstract characteristic on the surface, upon close reflection, subtle patterns composed of specific signifiers and symbols begin to emerge on the surface, reflecting the artist’s itinerary journey away from his native land, and his attempt to find harmony within the boundaries of places he calls Home.

Abu Dhabi Art and Meem Gallery will present a survey of works by Palestinian art historian and artist, Kamal Boullata hosted at Warehouse421. The exhibition will be comprised of Boullata’s last three series, Addolcendo, Angelus and Bilqis. This exhibition will be the first time that these three interconnected bodies of work will be shown together, and will offer audiences a unique opportunity to view and acquire the artist’s recent oeuvre in one setting. Boullata’s paintings are created to reflect a sense of time and a feeling of light, giving the viewer a feeling of spatial ambiguity.

H.E. Omar Saif Ghobash's 'letters' to his young Muslim son in the book Letters To A Young Muslim serves as the pivot around which artists respond in this latest exhibition by ATHR, Letters: Fragments of a Memory. Artists exhibiting in the show, with their work on sale, include Abdulkareem Qasem, Ahmed Mater, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Aya Haidar, Hazem Harb, Hajra Waheed, Joseph Rodriguez, Manal Al Dowayan, Moath Alofi, Muhannad Shono, Rund Alarabi, Rayyane Tabet, Saddek Wasil and Sara Rahbar.

The opening night of the exhibition includes a performance of And Here I Am by Ahmed Tobasi at 19:00.

This exhibition is brought to you by Abu Dhabi Art and ATHR gallery.

For the first time in the UAE, the two most recent national exhibitions unveiled by the UAE at the Venice Biennale are presented through an exhibition at Warehouse421 that explores the UAE’s participation at one of the art world’s oldest institution

Transformations: The Emirati National House, curated by Dr. Yasser Elsheshtawy, the UAE’s National Exhibition from the Venice Biennale’s 15th International Architecture Exhibition in 2016;

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Positions in Play, curated by Hammad Nasar, the UAE’s National Exhibition from the Venice Biennale’s 57th International Art Exhibition in 2017.

Visitors are invited to begin their journey into these exhibitions with an introduction to the UAE’s participation in the Venice Biennale and a behind-the-scenes view into the making of a national exhibition.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia

National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia

Transformations: The Emirati National House

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Positions in Play