E-Issue 07 –– AUH
Winter 2023-24

January 29th, 2024



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in Abu Dhabi/Dubai
  3. Cover Interview: Shaikha Al Ketbi on Darawan
  4. Rapport: Public Art in the Gulf and a Case Study of Manar Abu Dhabi
  5. Hashel Al Lamki’s Survey Exhibition Maqam Reflects on a Decade of Practice in Abu Dhabi
  6. “You Can’t Stand on a Movement”: Michelangelo Pistoletto Interviews Benton Interviewing Pistoletto

E-07++
Winter/Spring 2024



About ––

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Interviews ––

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Open Call ––

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Newsletter ––




Chronological Archive ––

    Selected Archive

Artist Interview November 18th, 2016
AUH Raed Yassin in Abu Dhabi

Editorial March 1st, 2018
AUH Abu Dhabi Is The New Calabasas

Exhibition Listing May 22nd, 2018
DXB Christopher Benton: If We Don't Reclaim Our History, The Sand Will

Artist Interview June 15th, 2018
TYO An Interview with BIEN, a Rising Japanese Artist

Artist Interview July 17th, 2018
TYO Rintaro Fuse on Selfies and Cave Painting

Artist Interview August 28th, 2018
BER Slavs and Tatars: “Pulling a Thread to Undo The Sweater”

Artist Interview September 1st, 2018
NYC Shirin Neshat In Conversation with Sophie Arni and Ev Zverev

Artist Interview September 1st, 2018
PAR Hottest Spices: Michèle Lamy

E-Issue 01 –– AUH/DXB
Summer 2020

August 1st, 2020



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in the UAE
  3. Pop(Corn): Hashel Al Lamki
  4. Tailoring in Abu Dhabi
  5. Rapport: Dubai
  6. Michael Rakowitz From the Diaspora


E-01++
Fall/Winter 2020-21


Artist Interview August 23rd, 2020
LHR/MCT Hanan Sultan Rhymes Frankincense with Minimalism


Artist Interview August 24th, 2020
DXB Augustine Paredes Taking Up Space

Artist Interview August 26th, 2020
AUH Sarah Almehairi Initiates Conversations

Market Interview August 28th, 2020
AUH/DXB 101 Pioneers Ethical and Curious Art Collecting


Exhibition September 1st, 2020
DXB Alserkal Arts Foundation Presents Mohamed Melehi


Market Interview September 4th, 2020
DXB Meet Tamila Kochkarova Behind ‘No Boys Allowed’


Artist Interview September 7th, 2020
DXB Taaboogah Infuses Comedy Into Khaleeji Menswear

Artist Interview September 10th, 2020
LHR/CAI Alaa Hindia’s Jewelry Revives Egyptian Nostalgia

Curator Interview September 14th, 2020
UAE Tawahadna Introduces MENA Artists to a Global Community

Exhibition Review September 24th, 2020
MIA a_part Gives Artists 36 Hours to React


Artist Interview September 27th, 2020
AUH BAIT 15 Welcomes New Member Zuhoor Al Sayegh

Market Interview October 14th, 2021
DXB Thaely Kicks Off Sustainable Sneakers


Exhibition Review October 19th, 2020
DXB Do You See Me How I See You?


Exhibition October 22nd, 2020
TYO James Jarvis Presents Latest Collages at 3110NZ


Exhibition Review October 22nd, 2020
AUH Ogamdo: Crossing a Cultural Highway between Korea and the UAE


Book Review October 28th, 2020
DAM Investigating the Catalogues of the National Museum of Damascus


Exhibition Review November 13th, 2020
DXB
Kanye Says Listen to the Kids: Youth Takeover at Jameel Arts Centre


Exhibition Review November 16th, 2021
DXB Melehi’s Waves Complicate Waving Goodbye


Exhibition Review November 19th, 2020
DXB Spotlight on Dubai Design Week 2020


Exhibition Review November 21st, 2020
DXB 101 Strikes Again with Second Sale at Alserkal Avenue


Exhibition Review
November 23rd, 2020


AUH SEAF Cohort 7 at Warehouse 421


Exhibition Review December 9th, 2020
SHJ Sharjah Art Foundation Jets Ahead on the Flying Saucer


Curator Interview January 25th, 2021
DXB Sa Tahanan Collective Redefines Home for Filipino Artists


Exhibition Review February 21st, 2021
GRV MIA Anywhere Hosts First Virtual Exhibition of Female Chechen Artists  

🎙️GAD Talk Series –– Season 1 2020


November 1st, 2020
1. What is Global Art Daily? 2015 to Now

November 16th, 2020
2. Where is Global Art Daily? An Open Coversation on Migration as Art Practitioners


November 29th, 2020
3. When the Youth Takes Over: Reflecting on the 2020 Jameel Arts Centre Youth Takeover

December 20th, 2020
4. Young Curators in Tokyo: The Making of The 5th Floor

January 27th, 2021
5. How To Create Digital Networks in The Art World?

E-Issue 02 –– NYC
Spring 2021

February 21st, 2021



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in NYC
  3. Pop(Corn): Zeid Jaouni
  4. You Can Take The Girl Out Of The City
  5. Rapport: NYC
  6. Kindergarten Records Discuss The Future of Electronic Music
  7. Sole DXB Brings NY Hip-Hop To Abu Dhabi
  8. Wei Han Finds ‘Home’ In New York
  9. Vikram Divecha: Encounters and Negotiations

E-02++
Spring/Summer 2021

Exhibition Review March 3rd, 2021
DXB There’s a Hurricane at the Foundry


Exhibition Review March 7th, 2021
AUH Re-viewing Contrasts: Hyphenated Spaces at Warehouse421


Curator Interview March 21st, 2021
DXB Permeability and Regional Nodes: Sohrab Hura on Curating Growing Like a Tree at Ishara Art Foundation


Exhibition March 28th, 2021
DXB Alserkal Art Week Top Picks


Exhibition Review April 1st, 2021
DXB A ‘Menu Poem’ and All That Follows


Exhibition Review April 5th, 2021
DXB A Riot Towards Landscapes


Exhibition April 16th, 2021
RUH Noor Riyadh Shines Light on Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Art Strategy


Artist Interview April 26th, 2021
CTU/AUH/YYZ Sabrina Zhao: Between Abu Dhabi, Sichuan, and Toronto


Exhibition Review April 27th, 2021
TYO BIEN Opens Two Solo Exhibitions in Island Japan and Parcel


Artist Interview April 28th, 2021
DXB Ana Escobar: Objects Revisited


Exhibition May 9th, 2021
LDN Fulfilment Services Ltd. Questions Techno-Capitalism on Billboards in London


Artist Interview May 11th, 2021
BAH Mihrab: Mysticism, Devotion, and Geo-Identity


Curator Interview May 20th, 2021
DXB There Is A You In The Cloud You Can’t Delete: A Review of “Age of You” at Jameel Arts Centre

Market Interview May 26th, 2021
TYO Startbahn, Japan’s Leading Art Blockchain Company, Builds a New Art Infrastructure for the Digital Age

Exhibition June 11th, 2021
TYO “Mimicry of Hollows” Opens at The 5th Floor


Exhibiton Review June 20th, 2021
AUH “Total Landscaping”at Warehouse 421


Artist Interview June 30th, 2021
OSA Rintaro Fuse Curates “Silent Category” at Creative Center Osaka


Exhibition Review August 9th, 2021
DXB “After The Beep”: A Review and Some Reflections

E-Issue 03 ––TYO
Fall 2021

October 1st, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in TYO
  3. Pop(Corn): Nimyu
  4. Ahmad The Japanese: Bady Dalloul on Japan and Belonging
  5. Rapport: Tokyo
  6. Alexandre Taalba Redefines Virtuality at The 5th Floor
  7. Imagining Distant Ecologies in Hypersonic Tokyo: A Review of “Floating Between the Tropical and Glacial Zones”
  8. Ruba Al-Sweel Curates “Garden of e-arthly Delights” at SUMAC Space
  9. Salwa Mikdadi Reflects on the Opening of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Arab Center for the Study of Art

E-03++
Fall/Winter 2021-22


Market Interview October 6th, 2021
RUH HH Prince Fahad Al Saud Discusses Saudi Arabia’s Artistic Renaissance


Exhibition October 7th, 2021
RUH Misk Art Institute’s Annual Flagship Exhibition Explores the Universality of Identity


Curator Interview October 15th, 2021
IST “Once Upon a Time Inconceivable”: A Review and a Conversation


Exhibition Review October 16th, 2021
AUH Woman as a Noun, and a Practice: “As We Gaze Upon Her” at Warehouse421



Exhibition Review February 11th, 2022

Artist Interview February 26th, 2022
TYO Akira Takayama on McDonald’s Radio University, Heterotopia, and Wagner Project


Artist Interview March 10th, 2022
DXB Prepare The Ingredients and Let The Rest Flow: Miramar and Zaid’s “Pure Data” Premieres at Satellite for Quoz Arts Fest 2022


Exhibition March 11th, 2022
DXB Must-See Exhibitions in Dubai - Art Week Edition 2022


Exhibition Review March 14th, 2022
DXB Art Dubai Digital, An Alternative Art World?

E-Issue 04 –– IST
Spring 2022

March 15th, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in IST
  3. Pop(Corn): Refik Anadol
  4. Rapport: Istanbul
  5. Independent Spaces in Istanbul: Sarp Özer on Operating AVTO

E-04++
Spring/Summer 2022


Curator Interview March 21st, 2022

Market Interview March 28th, 2022
DXB Dubai's Postmodern Architecture: Constructing the Future with 3dr Models


Exhibition April 23rd, 2022
HK Startbahn Presents “Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality”, an NFT Pop-Up at K11 Art Mall


Exhibition May 6th, 2022
IST
Istanbul’s 5533 Presents Nazlı Khoshkhabar’s “Around and Round”


Artist Interview May 13th, 2022
DXB
“We Are Witnessing History”: Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian On Their Retrospective Exhibition at NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery

Artist Interview June 13th, 2022
DXB “Geometry is Everywhere”: An Interview and Walking Tour of Order of Magnitude, Jitish Kallat’s Solo Exhibition at Dubai’s Ishara Art Foundation


Exhibition June 21st, 2022
DXB Art Jameel Joins The World Weather Network in a Groundbreaking Response to Global Climate Crisis

Exhibition June 27th, 2022
UAE
What’s On in the UAE: Our Top Summer Picks

Curator Interview July 9th, 2022
IST Creating an Artist Books Library in Istanbul: Aslı Özdoyuran on BAS

E-Issue 05 –– VCE
Fall 2022

September 5th, 2022



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in VCE
  3. Pop(Corn): UAE National Pavilion
  4. Rapport: Venice
  5. Zeitgeist of our Time: Füsun Onur for the Turkish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale
  6. GAD’s Top Picks: National Pavilions
  7. Strangers to the Museum Wall: Kehinde Wiley’s Venice Exhibition Speaks of Violence and Portraiture
  8. Questioning Everyday Life: Alluvium by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian at OGR Torino in Venice

E-05++
Fall/Winter 2022-23


Market Interview June 28th, 2022
HK
How Pearl Lam Built Her Gallery Between China and Europe


Exhibition November 11th, 2022
TYO
“Atami Blues” Brings Together UAE-Based and Japanese Artists in HOTEL ACAO ANNEX


Exhibition December 2nd, 2022
TYO Wetland Lab Proposes Sustainable Cement Alternative in Tokyo

Artist Interview December 9th, 2022
DXB Navjot Altaf Unpacks Eco-Feminism and Post-Pandemic Reality at Ishara Art Foundation

Artist Interview January 8th, 2023
TYO Shu Yonezawa and the Art of Animation

Artist Interview January 19th, 2023
NYC Reflecting on Her Southwestern Chinese Bai Roots, Peishan Huang Captures Human Traces on Objects and Spaces

Exhibition Review February 9th, 2023
DXB Augustine Paredes Builds His Paradise Home at Gulf Photo Plus

Artist Interview February 22nd, 2023
DXB Persia Beheshti Shares Thoughts on Virtual Worlds and the State of Video Art in Dubai Ahead of Her Screening at Bayt Al Mamzar

E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJ
Spring 2023

April 12th, 2023



  1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in the UAE
  3. Pop(Corn): Jumairy
  4. Rapport: Art Dubai 2023
  5. Highlights from Sharjah Biennial 15
  6. Is Time Just an Illusion? A Review of "Notations on Time" at Ishara Art Foundation
  7. Saif Mhaisen and His Community at Bayt AlMamzar









DXB Christopher Joshua Benton to Debut Mubeen, City as Archive at The Third Line Shop in Collaboration with Global Art Daily

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8. Questioning Everyday Life: Alluvium by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian at OGR Torino in Venice


By NiccolòAcram Cappelletto

Published on September 5th, 2022  

       A door to the East, Venice. A door to the West, Abu Dhabi. The first has always been a familiar place to me, while the second became my “home” for the past five years. On the occasion of the 59th International Art Exhibition - Venice Biennale, I am experiencing these two worlds meeting each other for the first time. For this reason, I chose to review the exhibition Alluvium curated by Samuele Piazza for OGR Torino at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, featuring Ramin Haerizadeh (b. 1975, Tehran), Rokni Haerizadeh (b. 1978, Tehran) and Hesam Rahmanian (b. 1980, Knoxville). The Iranian trio of artists has been living in Dubai for thirteen years and recently have been interviewed by GAD’s Editor-in-chief, Sophie Arni, on their first institutional retrospective exhibition, Parthenogenesis, at the NYUAD Art Gallery closed on June 12th, 2022.

Alluvium represents the third collaboration with OGR Torino, a contemporary art exhibition space, as well as an international hub dedicated to culture, innovation and start-ups in the city of Turin. After the prize awarded to the trio at the 2017 edition of the international art fair Artissima and the 2018 exhibition at OGR, Forgive me distant waters for bringing flowers home, Alluvium brings together again the artists with the Italian foundation in an encounter that invites visitors to “make their own way through the landscape created by the structures, entering a happening of molecules and negotiating their presence inside the constellation of works” - courtesy of the exhibition wall text.

1. Installation view, Alluvium, OGR Torino, 2022. Photo by author.


The exhibition includes a series of artworks also present in Parthenogenesis. It features painted terracotta plates inserted in iron sculptures, produced by local craftsmen in Dubai, where the artists reside. In fact, the painted plates present images from all over the world divided into wide topics from current events in metallic structures. The plates follow the same idea as the ones present in Parthenogenesis and represent a ‘rewriting of the images coming from the news’ from all over the world and spanning themes and tones. Particular attention is given to the pandemic with references to COVID-19 coverage but also climate change, animal abuse, heritage, technology, politics, culture, migration movements, and wars, among many others. The theme of the everyday is recurrent: everyday objects, such as plates, everyday news, such as the images used, everyday materials, such as the iron structures, and so on. Yet, each plate tells a unique interpretation of the event. In that act of focusing, the news stops being “one of the many” in the constant flow of mainstream media, but rather they request my attention as a viewer and consumer of those images.

The theme of the everyday is recurrent: everyday objects, such as plates, everyday news, such as the images used, everyday materials, such as the iron structures, and so on.



The exhibition in the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto is a white-walled room with neon lights running across its contours. The artists are able to imbue stratifications of meanings as much as they accumulate stratifications of media and techniques. The iron structures are shaped according to choreographies thought for the Venetian space and passed to the craftsman. Then, the trio inserts the plates painted over real images mixing realities and fictions. If the images from the news are already representations, painting above them makes the process of seeing those images more evident. In the plates, contemporary everyday news is edited, reworked, corrected, obscured, and highlighted through the paint. The press release cites the tradition of Persian miniatures to make a reference to the artists’ Persian heritage and the ability to show virtuosity in such a small flat surface through images. The visitor can spend time connecting to the news that is most relevant to them, or focus on the artists’ paintings, and in any case, there are a myriad of other possibilities available for the plates’ interpretation. The variety of the plates is stunning: some have captions, others are painted in the back, some reference other plates, others are just slightly painted.


The news stops being “one of the many” in the constant flow of mainstream media, but rather they request my attention as a viewer and consumer of those images.



The Venice exhibition is very different in terms of scale and purposes compared to the Abu Dhabi one but it was interesting to notice the differences that space can do to an artwork. In Venice, during daylight, the space is very bright, which slightly overwhelms the iron structures and make the plates appear as scattered clay dots. The presence of two busts belonging to the building of the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto may distract the viewer from the plates. Nevertheless, paying attention to the artworks greatly rewards the visitor, who needs to move and look at the plates with their own set of dance gestures to grasp the iron structures.


2. Installation view, Alluvium, OGR Torino. Installation view. Andrea Rossetti for OGR Torino.


The Venice exhibition is very different in terms of scale and purposes compared to the Abu Dhabi one but it was interesting to notice the differences that space can do to an artwork. 



For the purpose of this review, I want to mention some plates that were particularly fascinating to me. The first is a simple gray painted plate with the words: ‘Fog is no sign, no message just a passing cloud.’ It reminded me of the first time that I saw the fog in Abu Dhabi and how familiar it felt with the fog that I have at home. Before moving to the UAE, I had no idea that there was fog there too, and for me, that was a surprise that made me feel a connection between the old home and the new one. It was interesting to notice this plate among the many others from the exhibition because of its opacity, not only of the paint but also of the meaning compared to the density of all of the other plates, some of which are critiquing something or showcasing a personal intention. The ‘passing cloud’ has no higher message than being itself.

3. Individual plates, Alluvium, OGR Torino, 2022. Photo by author.


A powerful group of plates is dedicated to the theme of war depicting scenes of bombing and destroyed cities. As Judith Butler reflects in her 2010 Frames of War, a life becomes ‘grievable’ only when it is recognised as such, and the media have a fundamental role in determining this recognition (Butler, 2010). The shock value of images in the news has always been one of the main components of media to raise attention but it also caused habituation, and addiction, to pictures of violence. In the plates, painting over the images of destruction conceals the reality represented and at the same time highlights their dramatic element. It makes the viewer not ignore the picture but rather activates it, renewing its meanings. A similar technique is used in a piece that depicts images of immigrants from the Middle East at the Belarus-Poland border, in which the people become mythical creatures of fantasy with animal traits. The interpretations of these artistic gestures are open and left to the viewer but serve to construct counter-narratives of these images. The visitor is asked to pay attention again to the images and is not able to just scroll them away or ignore them from a screen.


I felt privileged in the Venetian space to be part of the exhibition by looking at the different plates with the awareness of what I saw in Abu Dhabi, would the opposite have happened?



The artists also make use of irony to treat some of the difficult topics of the plates. The images of a tiger outside a window car in Dubai and a hippo taking a stroll in the streets of South Africa are in contrast with another plate dedicated to a mouse engineered to have the same condition of autism as Jake, a 16 years old boy (more about this story). The “funny” comparison is another way to build a network among the plates and read events that may be far in space, yet they actually belong to the same constellation of relations between human and non-human actors. In this case, the relationship between humans and animals is thus questioned: to which extent can humans control other species? Should a tiger live in the urban frenzy of Dubai? Are hippos just common pedestrians in South Africa? Is it ethical to engineer a mouse with autism?

If contemporary art has the goal to ask questions, the Alluvium of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian is able to disturb the quotidian qualities of life, making the visitor pause and reflect on the narratives portrayed. The news accumulates narratives, or rather fragments of reality and history, that deposit is like the Alluvium. The exhibition puts on display what can be done with these sediments and how those narratives can turn into something else, something other. As the trio describes in the GAD interview: “our work is about historical witnessing, with images that are documented and collected from the media over time. We work together in a Field of Negotiation: either as a trio or with other collaborators, we draw different positions, and allow for multiple angles of thoughts into one surface in order to debate.” These angles take shape in their practice mixing media and techniques but also players and actors in the production, from craftsmen and dancers to the audience themselves. Yet, how can this active participation fulfill in the exhibition space? I felt privileged in the Venetian space to be part of the exhibition by looking at the different plates with the awareness of what I saw in Abu Dhabi, would the opposite have happened? I doubt it would as Alluvium only partially addresses the aspects of the artworks presented, especially on the production side rather than the narrative one. Nevertheless, it represents a snippet into the artists’ practice and for the careful visitors, the plates become mines of meanings and themes to arrange and play with.


If contemporary art has the goal to ask questions, the Alluvium of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian is able to disturb the quotidian qualities of life, making the visitor pause and reflect on the narratives portrayed.



The artists’ quest for looking into news media and artistic media results in an encounter among practices. From the blacksmith Mohammaed Rahis Mollah, who produced the iron structures, to the inspiration from dance for their shape, the trio mixes and matches arts in that process of meaning stratification and sedimentation that is part of the concept of Alluvium. The process is documented in a video in the exhibition that showcases the creation of the sculptures based on dance movements replicated into iron. In Parthenogenesis, the relationship between the structures and dance resulted in a performance by dancer Kiori Kawai, who choreographed a piece based on a sculpture in the Abu Dhabi exhibition, which then inspired a new artwork by the artists. Continuous evolution in flux is at the base of these pieces.

Experiencing both exhibitions was enlightening for me in the practice of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian. I immediately considered one as an appendix to the other and generally mirroring events. Parthenogenesis offers a comprehensive survey of the trio’s practice, while Alluvium showcases only a fragment that may not be enough to contextualize the artworks as representative of marginalized narratives. If in the artistic environment of the UAE, the trio is renowned and the audience is probably more accustomed to some of the themes and techniques used, in Venice the references were not always clear enough to offer a lens to be understandable. From the press release of Alluvium, Venice is mentioned to be ‘a natural bridge towards the Middle East,’ but is the evocative power of a city enough to build actual bridges? The selective attention of the media impacts the audience’s exposure to certain news, and thus worlds. In a very Westernized, or rather North Atlantic, context such as Italy and its visitors,  Alluvium can attempt to create a dialogue among geographies that may live in different times by being in the same space. Through the global reach of the news represented, the audience can easily find relatable to their experience; yet, the risk is to put any kind of current events on the same priority without deepening what I am looking at when I visit the exhibition. As a visitor I am tempted to believe that I know what I am looking at, i.e. everyday news. Yet, what Alluvium successfully accomplishes is that every layer of medium used, from the news to the artistic media, constructs a new version of the events, and hence a new reality on top of other realities.


Parthenogenesis offers a comprehensive survey of the trio’s practice, while Alluvium showcases only a fragment that may not be enough to contextualize the artworks as representative of marginalized narratives.



This aspect of the trio’s practice is much more clear in the larger and richer Parthenogenesis at the NYUAD Art Gallery, which displays a retrospective of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian’s practices. Here, I want to highlight how the single piece becomes part of the installation of the exhibition. The curatorial practice is a significant part of the artistic one, and they can hardly be rescinded. The huge floor painting in Parthenogenesis brings to the large scale similar techniques to the terracotta plates and offers an imaginary of subjects that with time became recurrent in the trio’s artistic path. Another series of artworks present in the Abu Dhabi exhibition are paintings dedicated to migrants towards Europe that become creatures of fantasy with recurring motifs dear to the artists (such as animal heads, geometrical patterns, and mythical creatures). The similarity in the motif used with the painted plates in Venice showcases how these people are commonly dehumanized already from the news images. Painting over those photographs frees these people from their being static and passive players in a narrative in which they do not belong.

4. Installation view, Parthenogenesis, NYUAD Art Gallery. Courtesy of NYUAD Art Gallery.

In Alluvium, I like to believe that it is part of the artists’ intention to make the visitors perform movements instead of having the gaze as the main way to access the artworks. In the act of “dancing,” one of the themes of the series, the body becomes active and generates meaning that enriches the sole visual interpretation. This aspect could be highlighted to make the visitors more aware of the shape of the iron structures and their artistic value. Walking inside both Alluvium and Parthenogenesis made me a more careful reader of the events and spaces around me. In a time so heavy with moments that are defined as “historical” (not only pandemic, wars, and climate disasters but also scientific and artistic advancements), Alluvium becomes the site for under–, or over–, represented narratives to thrive and shapeshift.


In a time so heavy with moments that are defined as “historical”, Alluvium becomes the site for under-, or over-, represented narratives to thrive and shapeshift.



I would like to conclude the review on a personal note. I usually avoid calling Abu Dhabi or Venice home; yet, they represent two familiar places. I consider them as temporary gravity centers, eyes of storms, in which I have been pulled and pushed. Visiting both exhibitions Alluvium and Parthenogenesis was a privilege as an aspiring cultural professional and probably my analysis is more personal than professional. However, I am coming to the realization that emotional attachment is a powerful tool for constructing narratives that may or may not bring a change when needed. The plates in Alluvium or the paintings in Parthenogenesis are beautiful art objects that convey political messages with many different sources of inspiration, starting from the personal life of the artists. The message of ‘we are witnessing history’ belongs to everyone and it is an encouragement to look beyond the events as they are proposed to our eyes. Paying attention to those events is already the first step to becoming actors in history, as the art of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian showed me that it is possible to do.



Alluvium by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian, curated by Samuele Piazza, is on view until November 27th, 2022, at Complesso dell’Ospedaletto – Barbaria de le Tole, 6691 Venice. 

Visit OGR Torino’s website to learn more about the exhibition.

NiccolòAcram Cappelletto is an Editor at Global Art Daily. After completing his B.A. in Art History with specialisations in Political Science and Heritage Studies at NYU Abu Dhabi, he was conducting research on the connections between heritage and contemporary art in the context of postcolonial Italy as a Postgraduate Research Fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi, based in Treviso and Abu Dhabi. Niccolò previously worked as a gallery and curatorial assistant with galleries in Venice, Paris, and Abu Dhabi. Interested in decolonial and demodernising practices, he believes in the need to translate into an accessible practice the heavy theoretical frameworks of the present.

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