Alserkal Art Week 2024: This year, explore Acts of Presence

What does existence mean to you? Discover this at Alserkal Art Week…

In great news for all the art enthusiasts, culture crawlers and fine philosophy fiends – Alserkal Art Week is back, running from November 17 to 25. This year, lose yourself  in a week-long programme featuring exhibitions at more than 15 Alserkal galleries, screenings, performances, open studios, symposia, workshops, and slow art walks, all inching a slow, deepening pace towards one thing – making collective sense of presence.

Acts of Presence

This is the theme this year – Acts of Presence – ideas of connection, togetherness, survival, perception, existence, being alive and here and a real thing, all packed into one phrase. Presence – what does it mean to you? In light of this testing time of treacherous divide, this is an important question to ponder.

The highlight of the week, the flagship exhibition of this edition is Made Present: Biographies of Artworks Defying the Ongoing Nakba, curated by Faris Shomali and Zaina Zarour. This is a research exhibition that charts the journeys of survival of over ten Palestinian artworks through archival material and field notes.

Much of Palestinian art is marked by an element of loss, destruction, fragmentation and colonial plunder, this exhibition is a breath of fresh air and offers an alternative historiography, a reality where these artworks have persevered as a testament to survival, defying all attempts at erasure.

The message is an echoing, rebellious one in the face of all ongoing attempts at erasing the very source of this art – the Palestinian identity, and a resonating symbol of the Palestinian struggle. The extensive history of artists who have gone to great lengths, sometimes risking their own lives, to ensure their works remain visible, is also a symbol of the Palestinians struggling in the present.

Walk With Me 

This series is returning for a second edition, and will take visitors on a walk through four site-specific public art commissions curated by Zoé Whitley and presented by Alserkal Arts Foundation. It’s a great way to encourage slow interaction and chance encounters with artworks across the Avenue.

This year’s exhibits will explore architecture in a new light – fragility, resilience, and public memory, drawing from a range of architectural influences.

And more…

The rest of the programme features events and exhibitions across numerous Alserkal Avenue galleries, with highlights including Navigating Through Nothing by Thaier Helal at Ayyam Gallery, Superficial Transactions by Eman Al Hashemi at Aisha Alabbar Gallery, and What We See of Things is the Things by Edgar Orlaineta at Carbon 12.

The studios of all fall residents at the Avenue will be open to visitors, providing them with the opportunity to engage with artistic practices. Featured artists include Beirut-based sound artist Jad Saliba, Congolese writer and visual artist Sinzo Aanza, Mizoram’s academic researcher and mixed-media artist Thlana Bazik, and Mumbai-based filmmaker Pallavi Paul.

Majlis Talks will feature several sessions with a variety of topics, and research project Domestic Departures: (Im)mobility, Loss, and Resilience in an Uncertain World will features conversations and research displays from six of the Alserkal Arts Foundation’s Research Grantees 2022-2024.

Find the full programme schedule on the Alserkal Avenue website.

Alserkal Art Week, Alserkal Avenue, Nov 17 to 25, @alserkalavenue 

Images: Supplied