Warehouse421 Spring 2022 Program  Features Major Exhibitions ‘Language is Migrant’, ‘Out of Range’, and ‘The Weft in Pencil’, as well as Extensive Public Program

 

Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi’s home-grown arts and design center dedicated to showcasing and nurturing creative production across the region, announces its spring 2022 program this year offering a series of workshops, talks, performances, and cultural tours as it celebrates the month of Ramadan. In addition to presenting the seventh edition of Colomboscope festival, Language is Migrant, and Ammar Al Attar’s first solo exhibition, Out of Range,  Warehouse421’s gallery spaces will inaugurate two new exhibitions including the first solo exhibition of  Jill Magi’s The Weft in Pencil and an NYUAD (New York University Abu Dhabi) MFA (Master of Fine Arts and Media) Exhibition.

 

 

As part of the Artist Development Exhibition Program in partnership with The Institute for Emerging Art, Jill Magi’s The Weft in Pencil  solo exhibition presents paintings and fabric works that are rooted in the grid or matrix—the intersection of warp and weft, the editorial grid of the page, the weaver’s draft notations—as a generative space.

 

Hosted at Warehouse421, NYUAD MFA Exhibition will be showcasing projects and artworks of first-year MFA students at NYUAD inaugural class of 2023.

 

For the stargazers and poetry lovers, the spring program provides the opportunity to write their own poems, go stargazing, design a date plate, create their own custom Emirati coffee cups, and tour some of the most exciting cultural locals in the UAE by bus or on foot, while enjoying the works on display at Warehouse421 exhibitions.

 

“Spring is always an exciting time for us, and our events lineup reflects the diversity of interests our community has. We are in constant conversation with friends, partners, and the larger artistic community to understand their needs and our program is a testimony to that. We will also be observing the month of Ramadan this spring, so it was only appropriate to organize engaging activities that celebrate the spirit of the month. We have something for everyone, and we are looking forward to a very successful and exciting spring season,” said Faisal Al Hassan, Head of Warehouse421.

 

Cl-u Market Series 11 celebrates the month of Ramadan with a combination of stargazing, poetry and pottery and coloring rituals against a backdrop of tantalizing live Oud and Qanoun music. 

 

Warehouse421 workshops on offer focus on a plethora of artistic interests, including poetry writing, pottery shaping, ceramic painting, kite making, and a special workshop comprising readings, arts and crafts for young children to introduce them to inspirational figures in the creative industry of the UAE.

 

Talks this season will feature Mo Reda leading in a discussion with emerging practitioners on the “ins and outs” of professional art practice, the challenges they face in developing their career, and the necessary skills they find themselves relying on as part of “The Outreach” program.

 

Warehouse421 is also offering a series of cultural tours through its Culture Bus and photo walks. Enthusiasts and art lovers will have the opportunity to enjoy trips to Al Sadeem Observatory in Abu Dhabi, a guided journey to the newly opened Museum of the Future and a walkthrough in the Jameel Arts Center and its exhibitions in Dubai, and a guided tour through Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah Art Foundation, and Maraya Arts Center in Sharjah. They can also join Abu Dhabi-based creative Sultan Al Ramahi on a guided walking tour around some of Abu Dhabi's most iconic spaces along Hamdan Street and into Madinat Zayed.

 

As part of the ongoing performance activation, This spring’s performance will be part of Language is Migrant, a collaboration between Warehouse421 and Colomboscope, curated by Anushka Rajendran and Artistic Director Natasha Ginwala.

 

Supported by Australian High Commission Sri Lanka and Warehouse421 Project Revival Fund, Ahilan Ratnamohan’s “The Tamilization of Ahilan Ratnamohan” introduces the artist’s journey, who migrated with his parents during the civil war in Sri Lanka, and never learnt Tamil during his childhood in Australia.