1. Editor’s Note
  2. What’s On in SEL
  3. Pop(Corn): Chan Sook Choi
  4. Rapport: Seoul
  5. When Everything You Touch Bursts into Flames: Olivia Rode Hvass at 00.00 Gallery
  6. Embracing Multiplicities: The 2023 Korea Artist Prize Exhibition
  7. On (Be)Holding Life that Pulsates in Overlooked Places: Jahyun Park at Hapjungjigu
  8. Beauty, Transformation, and the Grotesque: Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg on their Exhibition at SongEun Art Space
  9. Presenting Ecofeminist Imaginaries: Ji Yoon Yang on Alternative Space LOOP

E-08++
Summer/Fall 2024


Exhibition September 19th, 2024
PUS In the Dark Every Light is Blinding: Busan Biennale 2024

Exhibition September 7th, 2024
SEL Quick Glances at Frieze Seoul 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

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


Exhibition Review July 16, 2024
PAR See Me With Them Hands: Reviewing Giovanni Bassan’s “Private Rooms” at Sainte Anne Gallery

Curators Interview May 14, 2024
AUH Embracing Change through an Open System: Maya Allison and Duygu Demir on “In Real Time” at NYUAD Art Gallery


🔍 Legal


2015-24 Copyright Global Art Daily. All Rights Reserved.


Mark

Raed Yassin in Abu Dhabi


By Sophie Mayuko Arni

Published on November 18, 2016

        I had the chance to sit down with Raed Yassin (b.1979, Lebanon), multi-faceted artist and emerging superstar of the Global Contemporary Art world. Yassin embodies the definition of today’s post-media artist, working as fluidly with photography, sound, and video but also embroidery and ceramics. He is also a member of PRAED, a jazz-meets-electronic and Arab pop music band. Yassin not only foresees trends but shifts them to his ease, framing his work in his native Lebanese cultural context. Based between the Middle East and Europe, Yassin is slowly and surely securing his position as an established voice in both the art world and alternative music scene. Unlike many of his peers, he retains refreshing freedom and flexibility in the subject matter he discusses, thanks to the range of media he uses and also the cross-cultural dialogues he fosters.

Yassin was in Dubai for his latest solo exhibition at the Isabelle van den Eynde gallery. I caught up with him in Abu Dhabi, where he was performing later that day at the Saadiyat Beach Club. I chose to focus this interview on one of his most famous works, Yassin Dynasty (2013). A masterpiece of trading networks culminating in a series of blue and white porcelain vases made in Jingdezhen painted with Lebanese Civil War iconography.
Raed Yassin, War of the Hotels (part of China series), 2012. Hard-paste porcelain, ink. Jingdezhen, China. Abraaj Group Art Prize Collection, Dubai. Courtesy of the artist.


Sophie Arni: Thank you for agreeing to meet for this interview. I am a huge fan.

Raed Yassin: Thank you.

S.A.: I wanted to ask you about Yassin Dynasty (2013). I remember seeing the work at the Leighton House Museum earlier in 2015. Can you tell us more about the work?

R.Y.: The first title for the work is China. Yassin Dynasty was the second series of work, produced under different porcelain masters. Both remain similar: vases produced in Jingdezhen with Lebanese Civil War iconography.

S.A.: What was your inspiration behind the piece?

R.Y.: The main inspiration comes from reclaiming the artist’s authority. I grew up in the Civil War, but I don’t want to be labeled a ‘war artist’. Instead, I wanted to transform the civil war into something decorative. I looked at how Ancient Greeks documented the wars and victories of their nation unto their pottery. They were depicted with precision, turning war into art pieces. S.A.: Ancient Greek vases? Fascinating.R.Y.: Yes, the problem is that the history of the Lebanese Civil War has too many points of view. We have not reached the point to agree on one history. So I turned to another aspect of vases and ceramics. My work is always directed in some ways to mass production and consumption. It’s a subject I deeply care about. I think of China as an industrial environment. And I thought, why not have Chinese masters paint our war history? I wanted to incorporate people who don’t know about Lebanon and our politics to paint this subject matter with an alienated distance — both culturally, and industrially.

S.A.: How was the process like to find Chinese potters? Were they ever reluctant to work with you?

R.Y.: No, it wasn’t that much of a problem. I approached a porcelain dealer in Jingdezhen who directed me to several masters. They are plenty in the old city of Jingdezhen, given that it was the Chinese capital of porcelain production for centuries. Today it remains the capital of hand-made porcelain. Factory-made porcelain is made elsewhere.

But there was an extra step to the process. After I knew I wanted vases depicting the civil war, I spent some time perfecting the iconography. I found people who had fought in key battles of the war, battles that changed Lebanon demographically. I got fighters to describe as vividly as possible their memories of the battles, the traumatic images they saw, their memories of the places, and military equipment. With these interviews in hand, I drew some compositions made of fighters and artillery — very flat sketches. I knew I wanted to dedicate one battle to each vase. The third step in the design revolved around the shape and iconography. I got a Lebanese comic artist involved. I told him to draw the scenes based on my sketches in a Persian miniature style.

S.A.: Persian miniature? How come?

R.Y.: It’s an extra step of distance. To take the war as far away as possible from its original context and into the realm of decorative arts. Persia seemed like a good addition — it is part of today’s Arab World and closer geographically to Lebanon compared to China. I also learned that Persia and China were connected historically through trading networks. The blue ink we associate with blue and white porcelain actually —

S.A.: Came from Persia. Cobalt blue.

R.Y.: Exactly.

S.A.: That’s fantastic. The layers of cultural exchanges at play in the object you created.

R.Y.: That was the intention of the project: hybridity and alienation. The fourth and final step in the design took place in Jingdezhen. With the finished war battle designs, I looked for masters who could execute them on vases.

S.A.: Were you also in charge of choosing the vases’ shapes? How did you make the decision?

R.Y.: I chose the shape on the basis of the iconography. If one battle scene was larger, I would assign it a larger shape for example. The shapes mostly came from scrolling through various Chinese porcelain books.

S.A.: How many masters did you work with?

R.Y.: 5 different masters, for a total of 7 vases. They already worked in blue and white, so I went along with the style. I chose second-degree masters since they were cheaper and also more flexible. First-degree masters are incredibly expensive and usually stick with the designs they know and have spent decades mastering.

S.A.: I’m sure there were some logistical issues in Jingdezhen. Can you share some? Out of curiosity.

R.Y.: Well, for starters, we went to Jingdezhen in December. Porcelain production slows down in the winter since you need a lot of heat and water for the functioning of the kilns. Many porcelain pieces ended up breaking in the kiln from the cold weather.

S.A.: What an incredible process and journey to creating Yassin Dynasty. Can you tell us more about choosing ‘Yassin Dynasty’ as the title for the series?

R.Y.: I was really involved in the process of studying Chinese porcelain. I quickly learned the importance of categorizing pieces by dynasty, from Tang to Yuan. I decided to create my own dynasty of vases. There is a total of 49 vases under the Yassin Dynasty, which are traded — just like a few centuries ago — around the globe by collectors and displayed in museums.

S.A.: How about the idea of commissioning? You outsourced all the technical aspects of the production of these vases, from their iconographical design to the porcelain-making. What do you have to say to people critiquing you for it?

R.Y.: I say, look at the Renaissance. From Velasquez to Da Vinci, artists had students and apprentices. Working in teams is part of art history. In today’s digital world, commissions are made online all the time.

S.A.: And what about your other work, Dropping a Yassin Dynasty Vase? The triptych is an homage to Ai Weiwei as I understand it.

R.Y.: Dropping a Yassin Dynasty Vase is a work about our relationship to consumption. I interpreted Ai Weiwei’s famous Dropping the Han Dynasty Urn and turned it around on another degree. I am dropping my own work, not a historical piece.

S.A.: Right, I see your work more aligned with the conceptual/popular culture, consumption/production dichotomies of socio-politics. Let’s go back to the porcelain and let’s talk about exoticism. Do you find your vases to be exotic? Did you, consciously or unconsciously, create exotic products?

R.Y.: No, there’s no link to exoticism. I think exoticism is a key to open up barriers, but it is not a key to understand the Other. China, as I see it, is not exotic today. It resonates more with a 21st century center of mass production. China also became a noun for porcelain. So we are not even talking about China as the distant and mysterious exotic land but as china, the porcelain.

S.A.: What about another keyword: ‘hybridity’?

R.Y.: I’m so far from purity in my work. After the constant global exposure we get every day, from the news, from the internet, we need to be hybrid. There is no other way. That’s the way I see it.

S.A.: Agreed. Finally, you’re in the UAE right now for the opening of A Feeling in Perspective, your solo show in Dubai. Can you tell us more about it? What current topics are you exploring, have you explored?

R.Y.: This body of work deals with manipulation in Egyptian cinema. I made a series of 100 polaroids and glued them together to present the audience with a path down my family’s memory lane based on scenes from famous Egyptian movies of the 1960s. I also produced a 20-minute long video karaoke, to reconstruct lost albums and personal traumas through memory. Egyptian pop culture is a unifying vehicle of identity for the whole Arab world, from Cairo’s Golden Age in the 60s. I thought I would bring it to the forefront while exploring more personal feelings and stories.


The following interview was originally published on Global Art Daily’s main website. It was conducted in downtown Abu Dhabi, as part of the author’s capstone research for NYU Abu Dhabi.

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