421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi’s independent platform dedicated to supporting emerging creative practices, presents its Summer 2024 Program: Compositions. Running from July 8 until September 26, this season features the continuation of two major exhibitions, and over 10 workshops and special events that are dedicated to fostering a space for writers in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
The Summer 2024 program promises a series of writers’ groups, workshops, film screenings, panel discussions, and special events surrounding the written word. To the writers who haven’t written for themselves, the creatives too busy with their nine-to-fives to focus on their five-to-nines, those needing to channel their emotions from heart to pen to paper, and anyone dealing with imposter syndrome or feelings of being out of place—Compositions is a response to the growing need for a space for writers of all kinds. This season’s program was conceived based on the feedback from previous participants in our writers’ soirees, where the need for a space that offers communal support, critique, and feedback among writers in Abu Dhabi was recognized.
The current Spring 2024 exhibitions, On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate Show and Mona Ayyash: The Clock Doesn’t Care, will continue into the summer season and be on view until August 25.
“This season’s public program at 421 Arts Campus, titled Compositions, was created based on feedback and conversations we had with artists and the wider community about the need for more institutional support for text-based practices. Through ongoing dialogue with UAE-based writers and artists, we’ve identified a significant need for greater support for writing as both a craft and a medium. Much of what we offer stems from our commitment to listening to what artists want and need, ensuring that our initiatives truly resonate with and support the community we serve.” said Faisal Al Hassan, Director of 421 Arts Campus. “We’re excited to welcome writers from across the UAE to 421 this summer to share their work and push the boundaries of their practice.”
The Summer 2024 program will see the release of Madness of the Anthropocene: Thinking with an Image, a publication edited by Lina Ramadan and published by 421 Arts Campus and Kaph. Based on the 1976 Crystal Manifesto by the Crystalist School in Khartoum, Sudan, the publication presents artistic interventions and essays by early-career and emerging artists and researchers from the MENASA region and beyond, including Asmaa Al Issa, Sophia Al Maria, Moza Almatrooshi, Ritika Biswas, Fatma & Reem Al Sehlawi, Nour Shantout, and Rojda Tugrul. These contributors use image-making and text to explore ecological change, reflecting on contemporary artistic tendencies and engaging with notions like land knowledge, environmental degradation, madness, and apocalypse(s). Lina Ramadan was a participant of the 2023 iteration of the Curatorial Development Program. The book will be available for purchase soon. For more information, visit 421.online.
Additionally, this season will see the release of Season Three of ‘A Future in the Folds of the Past’, a podcast inviting listeners on a journey exploring critical issues through the lens of contemporary art and culture. ‘A Future in the Folds of the Past’ is the only Arabic-language podcast dedicated to contemporary visual arts in a documentary format. Season three focuses on the role of art institutions, artists, and cultural practitioners in addressing the climate crisis. Highlighting the impacts of climate change on communities across the SWANA region, particularly vulnerable groups, season three emphasizes the role of art in fostering dialogue around the climate crisis.
A detailed schedule of the Summer 2024 program is outlined below:
Continuing Exhibitions
Mona Ayyash: The Clock Doesn’t Care
Part of the Artistic Development Program
Gallery 1
On view until August 25, 2024
In her first solo exhibition, The Clock Doesn’t Care, Mona Ayyash presents a collaborative video piece with a group of actors, dancers, and performance artists, focusing on small body movements. The work is a study of repetitive non-functional movements, without purpose or productivity. It questions the tension between passing time and wasting time.
This project grew from the artist’s earlier participation in the Homebound Residency Program in 2020, where she produced a video work titled Folding Bellies in collaboration with five participants from the UAE art community.
Ayyash is participating in the 2024 cycle of the 421 Artistic Development Program, mentored by Jolaine Frizzell. The Artist Development Program is a capacity-building program that gives UAE-based artists the opportunity to develop a major body of work that culminates in a solo exhibition.
On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate Show
Showcase of artworks from the New York University Abu Dhabi Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media
Gallery 2
On view until August 25, 2024
On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate Show presents the work of graduate students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).
Marking the third year of collaboration and an expanded partnership between 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD, the exhibition showcases the research and experimentation of the 2024 MFA cohort who visualize questions and ideas in expansive ways that provide valuable insights into our contemporary global condition. On a Timeline features projects by Sara Alahbabi, Ciel Arbour-Boehme, Zara Mahmood, Fatima Al Romaithi, and Farah Soltani. The exhibition features explorations through drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and mixed media.
Summer 2024 Program
July 8 to September 9, 2024
Children’s Workshop
Summer Club
Dates: July 8-12, July 15-19The 421 Summer Club is designed for children ages 6 to 10. We invite budding artists of all skill sets and interests to join us on an unforgettable journey of self-expression and imaginative discovery. In this edition, we will travel around the MENASA region, enjoy beachy crafts, and celebrate summer birthdays!
Writing Circle
Pencil In: A Writers’ Group
Dates: July 25, August 8, August 22, September 11
Pencil In is a writers’ group created to provide a supportive environment for writers to write alone, together! We at 421 love the idea of body-doubling (working near or around someone to help stay focused and engaged) when we are working, writing, and creating. In this series, we invite you to join us in a series of writing sessions that includes peer reviews and active conversations, a space to share new works, tools to enhance your skills as writers, or just to write alone with little to no interruptions or judgments. Each session will be mentored by an artist or writer from the community. At the end of the season, the writers’ contributions will be compiled into a chapbook or zine that will be available at the 421 Reading Room for future aspiring writers to find.
Workshop
Khayal with Early Starters
Date: July 28 and September 21
Join us for an all-new Khayal Series with Early Starters this summer where we explore more about the themes of our season’s program, ‘Compositions’. This session is suitable for families with children 6 and over. Parents and guardians are welcome to join the session and support their little ones.
Workshop
Writing Manifestos
Date: August 1
What does a manifesto look like? In contemporary history, artists have often utilized manifestos as tools for articulating their beliefs, challenging norms, and advocating for change. Manifestos become a form of artistic declaration, a means of expressing personal philosophies, aesthetics, and visions for the world.
As part of the closing reception for our Spring Exhibitions, Sarah Alahbabi—whose work is featured in our current exhibition, ‘On a Timeline: 2024 MFA Graduate Show’—will take participants through her research on manifestos across the years.
Workshop
Performance Co/Lab
Date: August 11 and August 25 – Open House: September 21
This summer also marks one year since we initiated our community-driven Performance Co/Lab series, a movement workshop that invites performing artists, creatives, and curious individuals looking to explore performance exercises.
Performance Co/Lab is an open invitation to individuals looking to explore movement practices. Through a sustained program, participants will explore performance exercises such as contact improvisation, breath work, acting warm-ups, games, and techniques. Each session will introduce new and unique exercises throughout the duration of the Performance Co/Lab program. Performance Co/Lab is a gathering facilitated by the community for the community.
Film Screening
Uncharted Paths: DocuShorts in Focus
Dates: August 15
Uncharted Paths is an evening of screenings that celebrate short docu-films from the region. Taking place indoors, the film program presents works by artists taking part in the Arab Film Studios program. The documentaries are directed by filmmakers exploring creative and artistic expression through personal and collective histories.
The evening will conclude with a panel discussion that will unite all directors alongside Waleed Al Madani, a documentary filmmaker and editing instructor at Arab Film Studio under the Creative Media Authority, and Aiham Al Subaihi, a filmmaker, actor, and current full-time acting teacher at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy.
Workshop
Watching and Waiting: A Writing Workshop
Date: August 25
In Mona Ayyash’s solo exhibition, ‘The Clock Doesn’t Care,’ she probes the tension between passing time and wasting time by studying repetitive, non-functional movements devoid of purpose or productivity. Boredom, the passage of time, slowness, repetition, and mundanity are addressed in this body of work.
As part of the closing reception for her exhibition, Mona leads a creative writing workshop that mirrors the themes presented in this exhibition. During the session, she encourages attendees to observe, contemplate, and write as performers engage in a fictional narrative that questions fleeting thoughts and the notion of wasting time, waiting, and doing nothing. Similar to live drawing, participants engage in group discussions and collective creative writing while observing people.
