Bold and uncompromising. The street art movement starts here as Inloco Gallery comes to Dubai. The latest addition to the buzzing art scene, Inloco Gallery has opened its doors at Al Khayat Avenue where art enthusiasts can immerse themselves in urban art that reflects a modern art form like no other.

Inloco Gallery launches with a bang as it introduces its first project. Everything started in December of 2022 at Mleiha Archaeological Centre in Sharjah. The language of street art is a dialogue with the local meanings and textures, as well as their transformations achieved through the artistic will and intention. Mleiha desert — a focal point of the territory’s distinctive features and a genius loci for the UAE. A group of 10 international artists explored the desert and were inspired to create an artistic project as a result of their expedition.

This resulted in the Useless Palace project, which offers a glimpse into the fascinating exploration of an abandoned space in a desert. It is a story filled with the spirit of adventure and opens up various layers, such as philosophical reflections, mind-blowing landscapes, and artistic humor, for the viewers to analyze and dissect with their imagination.

To create the site-specific projects, various locations and spots in the abandoned village in Sharjah were assigned to artists, who turned them into their own workshops for the duration of the intervention. The dialog between the audience and the environment, which is an important principle in street art, has been changed: in this uninhabited desert, the artists took the role of the audience upon themselves.

Useless Palace was created by a team of 10 international like-minded urban artists brought together by Inloco Gallery: 10.203 GROUP, Filippo Minelli, Lokher, Neda Salmanpour, and Anton Selone — each brining their unique vision to the project. The exhibition will feature canvases and sculptures made during the artistic intervention in the desert, found objects and digital works created with the assistance of AI technologies.

The creation of Useless Palace was captures by cinematographer Chromometrage, who created a short-film documentary. The film follows the artists on their fascinating journey to explore and transform the abandoned space in the desert.

The exhibition was presented on the 28th and 29th of January during QUOZ ARTS FEST in two locations. The film screenings took place in the soon-to-be gallery namely Inloco Construction Zone for the days of the festival; The Useless Palace exhibition took place at Inloco Pop- up Gallery and will continue showing until 30th of March. There, viewers witnessed the Useless Palace exhibition with stunning works of art and found objects from Mleikha.

“We have witnessed Dubai’s art scene flourishing throughout the years. With Inloco Gallery heading to the city, we are committed to fostering artistic development among the art lovers of the UAE. The art world continues to evolve and adapt and we are dedicated to supporting and promoting street artists and their visions while challenging the conventional art forms,” comments Anastasia Kopijevksy, Inloco Gallery Director.

Inloco Gallery is sincerely grateful to Mleiha Archaeological Centre for the opportunity to explore and find inspiration in the desert of Sharjah.

Useless Palace Exhibition | 28.01 – 30.03

Inloco Pop-Up Gallery
WH 12, Al Khayat Avenue, Al Quoz
Mon — Sat, 10am — 6pm

Inloco Construction Zone
WH 5, 4 19 Street, Al Khayat Avenue, Al Quoz
10am — 10pm

For more information, please email pr@inlocogallery.com or visit www.inlocogallery.com