September 21–December 25, 2022
A Season for Regrounding, the fall 2022 program from Abu Dhabi’s in-house arts and design center Warehouse421, will feature two significant exhibitions and a comprehensive public program that will be centered on local food security and ecologies. On October 9, 2022, Mohamed Khalid: Let me tell you something and On Foraging: Food Knowledge and Environmental Imaginaries in the UAE’s Landscape will debut on the show.
A Season for Regrounding presents a varied schedule of talks, seminars, and special events that are an intentional examination of individual and group methods for re-engaging with the natural world. The season highlights different ways of existing within our natural ecosystem that contradict anthropomorphic viewpoints, bringing back direct, bodily, and tangible engagement with conventional sources of wisdom. It is one of the most comprehensive and robust public engagement programs presented by Warehouse421 to date.
On Foraging: Food Knowledge and Environmental Imaginaries in the UAE’s Landscape
October 9 to December 25, 2022
Gallery 2
On Foraging is a group installation that was first displayed in the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 and investigates what it means to constantly look for nourishing and nourishment, for both the individual and the collective, in seemingly parched areas. The exhibition examines the lengthy and complex history of a setting that has for years provided for its own people in a rich diversity of ways, especially in light of the emerging global difficulties and issues surrounding climate change. On Foraging reveals the work that goes into uncovering the landscape through a convergence of personal and collective narratives, and in the end calls for historical food knowledge to be brought forward, re-examined, and rediscovered. It does this by presenting reserves of cultural and agricultural knowledge that have been passed down through generations and that continue today.
With newly commissioned works, additional research, and a second edition of the show’s eponymous publication that incorporates these changes, this second iteration of the exhibition expands on this crucial conversation. Curated by Dima Srouji, Faysal Tabbarah, and Meitha Almazrooei, the exhibition features works of 14 UAE-based and regional artists including: Ammar Al Attar, Abdullah Al Saadi, Auguste Nomeikaite, Nujoom Al Ghanem, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Moza Almatrooshi, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Nahla Tabbaa, Vikram Divecha, Paola Sakr, Reem Falaknaz, Eileen Vazquez, Zaina Khayyat and Abir Mnasria.
Mohamed Khalid: Let me tell you something
October 9 to December 25, 2022
Gallery 1
The Warehouse421 Artistic Development Exhibition Program, a capacity-building initiative that supports the professional and artistic development of early to mid-career creative practitioners, has produced Let me tell you something, the first institutional solo exhibition for UAE-based artist Mohamed Khalid. The exhibition, which was put together in collaboration with The Institute of Emerging Art, explores the interconnectedness of the artist’s subjects and their fractious relationship to people. It also probes the materiality of everyday objects and coaxes out their metaphoric possibilities. Let me tell you something examines the search for connection by examining the systems that come together to form communication, from handwriting to technological algorithms to scraps of paper, all drawn from actual instances of missed communication. The exhibition includes seven new works created this year.
The exhibition text features a foreword by art and culture writer Melissa Gronlund titled A Letter Always Arrives.
Mohamed Khalid is an alumnus of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF) and Campus Art Dubai 7.0, with previous group shows exhibited at Art Dubai, Warehouse421, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Fall 2022 Program: A Season for Regrounding
September 21 to December 25, 2022
Notable events from the program respond to themes addressed in the On Foraging exhibition such as a meditative workshop led by artist Nahla Tabbaa that explores Mina Zayed’s resilient ecosystem, and a father-daughter tour of its food markets; a food-related lecture performance by artists Moza Al Matrooshi and Tabbaa; cultural tours of farms and photowalks in ecological sites across Abu Dhabi; and a beach cleanup that invites participants to create a large scale, site-specific installation made from collected waste. The season also includes an outdoor market, Playing with Nature, that brings together locally-based artists, artisans, and creatives to showcase a range of sustainably made products.
Warehouse421
Mina Zayed, Street Samrayr
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
