Warehouse421, the home-grown arts and design center dedicated to showcasing and nurturing creative production across the region announced last Saturday, October 16 the launch of several projects and partnerships with national and international art and academic institutions, including Al Serkal Arts Foundation and NYUAD, this winter, in addition to the names of the grant recipients of its Artistic Development Exhibition Program and Curatorial Development Program.

The announcement was made during the opening of two new exhibitions: “As We Gaze Upon Her”, curated by Banat Collective, which explores the notion of womanhood in the WANASA region. “So Different, So Appealing”, curated by Murtaza Vali, explores the aesthetics and rituals of real estate in the age of neoliberalism. The exhibitions will run until January 23, 2022.

“As we reopen our doors to our friends, partners, and community, we are looking at a fantastic lineup of exhibitions and projects that reaffirm our commitment to supporting emerging talent from the UAE and the region. We are excited to see what the 6 multidisciplinary artists and Grantees of our Artistic Research Program will do next. Also, we look forward to seeing our newly-established collaborations bearing fruit in the years to come as we strongly believe in the impact of strong and effective partnerships on bolstering the creative ecosystem in the region,” said Faisal Al Hassan, Head of Warehouse421.

The grant supports practice-based research investigating new social questions through interdisciplinary methodologies through disciplines including but not limited to visual art and curations, design and technology, literary arts, culinary arts, music, theater, and performance.

The grant targets topics that investigate the intersections of these disciplines with social and cultural issues, such as communal and public spaces, languages and linguistics, transportation and mobility systems, urbanity and its social and cultural fabric, economics and migration, and art institutions and ecosystems.

The Artistic Research Grant aims to support a rigorous inquiry and in-depth artistic research across multiple disciplines by focusing on the arts and pushing for more substantial engagement between creative practitioners and their communities across the region.

This year’s grant recipients are Camilla Singh, an interdisciplinary artist, curator of contemporary art, writer, and educator with 15 years of experience in the field; Moza Al Matrooshi, a conceptual artist and writer whose practice operates within the study of erased mythology of the Arabian Peninsula and correlating these myths with the structures that are upheld by the present regional political climate; Sahil Naik, a sculptor who investigates the evidentiary potential of architecture and landscapes and its capacity to bear witness to time and incident; Vikram Divecha, whose practice shifts between public art, site-specific interventions, installation, film, painting, drawing, photography and text; and Vishal Kumaraswamy, an artist and filmmaker and founder of the international artist collective “Now You Have Authority.”

By taking a collaborative approach to hosting and curating exhibitions, Warehouse421 also partnered with the Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR) to work with curators within the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Through the Curatorial Development Program, Warehouse421 is looking at curators to propose a group exhibition and publication on “Future Perfect: Catastrophe and the Contemporary”— a perspective of the future had we in the past (our present) did not think, act, and create in the here and now of contemporary catastrophe.

Mona Al-Jadir, an Iraqi-Canadian architectural designer who grew up in Abu Dhabi, was selected to participate in a structured program from August 2021 until February 2022 with specific deliverables, including a weekly colloquium/workshop of reading, discussion, and presentation with invited and selected philosophers, historians, artists, curators, critics, and creative writers working on the theme.

Additionally, Warehouse421 announced a research program, set to begin in November 2021, in collaboration with Alserkal Arts Foundation. The program questions frameworks of performance and performativity in the region.

Warehouse421 also partnered with New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) to host two exhibitions for the university’s first student cohort of Master of Fine Arts (MFA) upon their entry in May 2022 and their graduation in May 2023. As a locale for emerging artists to learn, experiment, and exhibit, Warehouse421 will also support early-mid-career creative practitioners enrolled in the MFA program at NYUAD in developing their projects and strengthening institutional relationships between Warehouse421 and NYUAD for future collaborations.