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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    Mission
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    Contributors
    Contact

Interviews ––

    Selected Archive

Open Call ––

    Policy
    E-08 Seoul

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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The Labor of Art and the Art of Labor: Christopher Benton on His First Exhibition in Al Ain


By NiccolòAcram Cappelletto

Published on November 7th, 2021

        On the day of the closing of “Worked (So and So and On On and So On and So On),” Christopher Benton reflects on the exhibition that took place between August and October in Al Ain, UAE, at the Art Space in Al Jimi Mall. I had the pleasure to meet Christopher virtually as he is currently in the United States for his MS in Art, Culture, and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the support of the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. Based in the UAE, Christopher is the recipient of several awards and residencies and this exhibition is one of the final products of his Residency at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi. Recently, he has been selected to be one of the artists representing the UAE art scene at the Abu Dhabi Art fair in November. In the interview, Christopher addresses issues of labor and materiality in his art practice and discusses “Worked (So and So and On On and So On and So On),” which is his first exhibition solely dedicated to sculptural artworks. Although focused on materials, a recurrent theme in Christopher’s practice, the exhibition will “live forever in the public imagination, as the image in jpg.” Paraphrasing his words, the artworks acquire multiple lives inside and outside the exhibition space and the digital pictures will remain evidence of the artworks, even becoming artworks themselves. I found in Christopher’s views on labor, repurposing, and the value of art-work a compelling argument that imbues the artworks on display and resonates greatly with contemporary societies around the world.

1. Christopher Benton, “Worked (So and So and On and On and So On and So On),” 2021. Installation view at Art Space Al Jimi, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Courtesy of the artist.

Niccolo Acram Cappelletto: So I start with the first question, which is regarding the title of the exhibition “Worked (So and So and On On and So On and So On).” What is your relationship with “work” in general as a concept? Why this title and what do you think of the work both as the final art object, but also the labor process that goes into it?

Christopher Benton: Thank you, that's a really great question. My practice is mostly situated around questions of labor and how everyday people make their way in this neoliberal society that dominates us. Labor issues particularly come into focus in a place like the United Arab Emirates, where the majority of the citizenry are immigrants who are here for work opportunities. A lot of the global issues that you see, as a result of capitalism, really come into glaring focus through individual stories here in the Emirates. I wanted the title to directly reference labor so that people have that framework in mind when they come to visit the show. Then the subtitle of it, “So, and so and on and on and so on and so on.” I think it was more about creating an intersectional potentiality, where people thought about their own labor. I think it's easy for the middle-class not to think about working-class issues as their own. I vocalize a lot of the stories that I tell about the Emirates through the working class, but I want people who come to see this exhibition to remember that the issues of the working class are the same issues that they deal with every day.


Labor issues particularly come into focus in a place like the United Arab Emirates, where the majority of the citizenry are immigrants who are here for work opportunities.



N.A.C.: That's very interesting. Regarding your own practice, do you see it as part of that labor, like a sort of manifestation? How do you consider your own practice in the scheme of revealing what is concealed?

C.B.: If you think about the production of my work, it also tries to engage in questions of labor. This specific show for example is a series of collaborations with different craftsmen. There are a few tapestries in the show that are products of me working with different tailors. There is an upholstered wheelbarrow for which I worked with a carpenter. I gave him the freedom to design the object as he wanted. Each of the objects in this show represents a process of me working with the craftsmen. Sometimes I give them pretty strict instructions and other times I'm giving the craftsmen an opportunity to show their own creativity, and I pay them because they work with companies. I pay them, but then I also give them a personal bonus for the work. It's not like an hourly rate. In that way, they benefit beyond the framework of normal wage labor.

I think everything in this show is made with people who provide these really great everyday services mostly in areas like Satwa, in Dubai, and also craftsmen in Abu Dhabi, around Madinat Zayed and Mina Zayed. If you're familiar with those neighborhoods, you're also familiar with those types of crafts, because they represent specific places where someone might go to get their window tinted or get different things fabricated out of wood. So my work is also location-specific and speaks to the character of specific places.


2. Christopher Benton, The Man Who Tints Nissan Patrols, 2021. Wheel barrow, upholsteries. Image courtesy of the artist.

N.A.C.: What was your relationship with the different materials of the exhibition? It was your first time working with sculptures. Was there anything that surprised you in the process? Anything that fascinated you about working in this way?

C.B.: This is my debut sculpture show, but in general, I present sculpture and installation. This is just the first time where I only show sculpture because I try to work across like media and modalities. Typically there is some video, some sculpture, maybe an installation, but this is the first time where it's only physical objects in space. To answer the question about materiality, I consider myself an artist who works with found objects. I have a vast collection of artifacts and material that I have been obsessively archiving and gathering for years. You find uses for the different things you have over time. I was in a residency at the Cultural Foundation and I knew that I was moving to America for graduate school, and so I felt really compelled to use as much of the material that I had collected over the past years, to make things that were slightly larger scale. When it comes to found objects, I think I just really get inspired by things that happen with history because that history comes through in an object. If you consider the components of events that make an object come into existence, there are some really strong narrative potentialities already embedded in the object. In which case, you can let the object do the talking with minimal intervention. As I said, my work is quite representative of the neighborhoods and the places where I found the material, so all the tapestries are constructed using found swatches from an upholstery shop.


I was in a residency at the Cultural Foundation and I knew that I was moving to America for graduate school, and so I felt really compelled to use as much of the material that I had collected over the past years, to make things that were slightly larger scale.



I'm not sure if you've ever been to Mina Zayed, but as you know, they're gentrifying the neighborhood and there's this really lovely carpet and upholstery souk, which I believe is going to stay open but there's a lot of ambiguity about what will happen to these businesses. Are they going to remake the facades and keep them open? I think there is still a lot of fear among the business owners, because some of these places have existed for 30-40 years. These specific tapestries are actually made from swatches from an upholstery shop that close down. So I found all the fabric in the garbage. I found all these binders and swatches in a garbage can. What I also appreciated about the fabric was that it was a material used to make a majlis, which is sort of a communal space that traditionally had magisterial purposes: places where labor and economic issues are sometimes worked out between a sheikh and his people.

3. Christopher Benton, The New Global Economy, 2021. Discarded majlis swatches. Image courtesy of the artist.

N.A.C.: Did you just go and take those majlis swatches from the garbage?

C.B.: Yeah, so that is a question: where do found materials come from? In that specific case, basically, there are always really interesting things near those garbage cans because they get really full. There was a bunch of binders next to the garbage and when I opened it, I realized there were even more of them. It was really funny because there were shop employees looking at me like: what is that weird guy doing with garbage?

That is one of the key concepts in my work. Materials come from anywhere. It's also sometimes really fun to go to these abandoned work sites with unfinished skyscrapers. There are a lot of really interesting things there. You just have to be careful to know that, sometimes these abandoned objects can come back to life. So if I'm going through like a building, it is normally a building that's going to be knocked down so you know for a fact like these are things that are basically going to be abandoned. So a lot of times I go around businesses that are closing down or apartment complexes that are being demolished.


Materials come from anywhere.



N.A.C.: Did you ever think of the ecological aspect of reusing these sorts of waste, or leftovers?

C.B.: There's definitely an ecological component to using found objects, but for me, I'm more interested in the narratives of the material and the humbleness of such material. I'm representing it in this art context and thinking about value. Thinking about the high-end value of the object, as opposed to the humbleness and mundaneness that sometimes accompanies the material.

4. Christopher Benton, Deluxe Luxe Plus Ultra, 2021. Photo by Walter Willems. Image courtesy of the artist.

N.A.C.: The sculptures all seem different but they actually are connected aesthetically to some extent, despite their different shapes and different materials. For instance, could you talk about the works on the pedestals, Deluxe Plus Ultra, Opportunity Pavilion, and Ministry of Happiness? Is there a link among them or should they be appreciated individually?

C.B.: Opportunity Pavilion is actually a project I've been working on for years, and I feel like I finally figured out the form it is supposed to have now. I have been collecting keychains for years, and I wanted to do something with them. When I started out, it was more of a photography project and then became a sculpture, and so I'm really happy about its life-cycle. There's also the Japanese version of that work that was shown in Tokyo, which is a different kind of version of the same idea. Some works exist in many ways and oftentimes I present them with the same name. But all of those things are again going back to using found materials, and come out of this excavation process of looking at neighborhoods, looking at buildings, looking at people who may have lost their job, and thinking about the here and now. How can you share the story of these places when you don’t even know so many of the details that make them up?

The base of these sculptures is inspired by Brancusi [Constantin Brancusi, 1876-1957] shapes. Brancusi does amazing things out of marble but he does these really amazing plinths too, that hold and restage the object. For my sculptures, I wanted to recreate versions of those out of the humblest materials possible. So, the composite wood that forms the base is the cheapest one that you can get from a woodshop. It’s plastered with this very specific brand that you see all over the Emirates, on provisional street signs. The wood isn't made to last and is usually used by construction companies to make temporary street signs. So the front of the sign will say something like “Road Closed,” but on the back of it will see this cheap brand. This wood, you literally see it everywhere, but no one ever thinks about it because, again, it's something that's ephemeral. I think the slogan says something like “Golden Prestige,” which is also kind of funny when you think of the disparity between luxury and the actual object.


This wood, you literally see it everywhere, but no one ever thinks about it because, again, it's something that's ephemeral. I think the slogan says something like “Golden Prestige,” which is also kind of funny when you think of the disparity between luxury and the actual object.



There is really this attempt of getting rid of artificial hierarchies like the high and the low. You have these really cheap plinths that reference really expensive art, which is holding up these sculptures that again are also made from really humble materials. Then you put it in the context of an art gallery, which is a more bourgeois space. But then again, the specific art gallery where these works are shown is a shopping mall, which is a more democratized space. I like the idea of inspecting preconceived judgments on the difference between a high art object and a low gesture. That is perhaps one of the main intentions of this show: to make people question value systems and hierarchies relating to art and everyday materials.


5. Left: Christopher Benton, Opportunity Pavilion, 2021. Photo by Walter Willems. Right: Christopher Benton, Ministry of Happiness, 2021. Photo by Walter Willems. Botton: Left: Christopher Benton, Opportunity Pavilion, 2021. Presented in Al Ain, 2021. Images courtesy of the artist.

N.A.C.: Did the show take place at the end of your residency at the Cultural Foundation? Why did you pick that shopping mall location in Al Ain [town located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi] and what did you think about the end results?

C.B.: The Cultural Foundation, part of Abu Dhabi Culture [DCT], has an agreement with Aldar Properties, a semi-governmental Abu Dhabi real estate developer. The idea is to give artists spaces to exhibit in unused retail shopping mall locations. The initiative is called Art Space and there are art spaces in several malls all over the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This specific one is in Al Jimi mall, there is one at World Trade Center Mall and another one in Yas Mall. I had been offered a choice of different kinds of spaces, and this one stood out as the most interesting to me because I'd never shown in Al Ain before.

There are not so many art galleries in Al Ain, and so I felt like this was an even more rare opportunity to reach people who might not have seen this type of artwork before. The art circles the conceptual but also I think that it is gesturing towards inclusivity and accessibility. I received this really awesome message on Instagram from someone who had seen the show, saying something like: “This is my first time ever at an art gallery. I saw your works and I didn't quite understand it, but after looking at your Instagram, I see what you mean and I'm really grateful to experience your artworks.” That was so kind. It made me really happy.


There are not so many art galleries in Al Ain, and so I felt like this was an even more rare opportunity to reach people who might not have seen this type of artwork before.



In the art world, the restaging of the found object – the gesture of the readymade – is common and institutionalized. It's a framework. But for people who don't typically experience or know the quirky nature of how our art world works, to see works that don't prioritize virtuosic craft and that use cheaper materials, is a novelty. Sometimes I’m working with installers and they get really confused about the artwork they are putting up. What is this? And why does it look like something that I can see outside of my house? How is this considered art? Then you talk to them about it. I hope that they also realize that the everyday things around us are artful, and it’s powerful to give value to things that are not normally noticed or respected.

When you live in a culture that tells you your labor is not valuable and it gives you a monetary amount reflective of that, I think you sometimes internalize that as truth. But to see something humble that reminds you of yourself and what is around you, this is where the recognition happens. I think it reminds you of the value that you present and the pride in knowing the kind of life you live is being celebrated and showcased.

N.A.C.: Art is always an unfinished pursuit, right? It's always the goal that you work towards.

C.B.: Yes that’s true. I guess the thing I also recently realized is the importance of the audience’s reaction to the art you present. It’s the installers, it's the drivers, and all these sorts of entangled interactions and different kinds of relationships leading up to the final exhibition. Sometimes the most valuable experience you have is that one conversation with the art installer that asks you bluntly about the artwork’s meaning. Those are the things that I work for.

N.A.C.: I saw that on different occasions, for previous exhibitions for instance, you mentioned an inspiration to the Arte Povera movement. I was wondering what inspired you to that movement in particular?

C.B.: I think it's important to attach your work to a historical framework because all of us exist in our own lineage of gestures and making. I think it is imperative for you to cite your influences as an artist. I think Arte Povera was a lot more political than the work I make. They were really responding to major local issues in Italy at the time as well as an encroaching American globalism, and so that context is very different from what I work in. But I relate to how they question the dominance in the art market and how they valorized the everyday and banal.


I think it is imperative for you to cite your influences as an artist.



Some artists have this misplaced idea of the modernist idea of newness. If you think about Ezra Pound and his “make it new”, artists often want to be the first to make some sort of gesture. I think that sort of thinking is destructive and actually impossible. When we think about art history, obviously there are people who are credited with being the first to do something, but that is more based on the market accepting that something happened first to that person. But there is always a revisionist history of who really did what, so I’d rather look at the gestures of the past and contextualize that to see if it still even applies to our contemporary moment. This sort of juxtaposition is a great strategy to create emotional encounters with the work you make.

N.A.C.: I definitely see the resonance, also with the use of untypical, repurposed materials that Arte Povera was known for. There is also a history of materials that has been neglected for some time, which gets into the study of material culture. Luckily now there's a bigger focus on material culture but that's a whole another type of history and then is often harder to retrieve. This reminds me of How To Be At Rest, your previous work with repurposed chairs. When you work with those materials, you have to know their places in history and geography. I think if you don't know the history, then the meaning also doesn't come through as powerful or maybe as intense.

C.B.: I think a lot about archives and how an artist makes an archive and so I’m interested in investigating how archives work, and how you  can create an alternative archive that maybe illuminates lesser told narratives.

Most of the chairs in [How To Be At Rest] came from Satwa, maybe five kilometers away from where Dubai Design Week was taking place. I wanted the fair visitors to know about the labor of these really amazing South-Asian craftsmen. I also wanted people to question why this sort of co-called informal design is not typically a part of the conversation.  I felt really lucky to be able to share the work of others.

N.A.C.: The last question is about your upcoming commission for the “Beyond” section of Abu Dhabi Art 2021. Could you tell us more about this project and what we can expect to see?

C.B.: I’m presenting a project resulting from an alternative map, looking at the expansion of the global date industry around the turn of the 20th century. I will be charting narratives from Zanzibar, historically the last slave market to the Gulf and the Emirates, and the roles that slaves played in the production of date farming, up to Coachella Valley in California which created a rival date industry based on Orientalist fantasies of the East. There are some fascinating interwoven narratives and I’ll be presenting different kinds of artworks talking about these stories, all about labor and identity. I must say it's a big challenge to work on a show when you're not in the country, but I’m very excited to be premiering this new series of work at Abu Dhabi Art at the end of November.


“Worked (So and So and On On and So On and So On)” was held at the Art Space in Al Jimi Mall in Al Ain, UAE from August 10th to November 1st, 2021. 

Christopher Joshua Benton (b. 1988, US) is a UAE-based artist and advertising creative director working across photography, film, and installation art. Christopher works closely with communities and neighborhoods to instigate collaboration and share stories of power, labor, and hope. His practice explores how the working-class uses cultural innovation to stage resistance to postcolonial and neoliberal forces. Past work has been presented at museums and institutions across the Middle East, including Alserkal Avenue, the Fikra Graphic Design Biennial, and Jameel Arts Centre. He is currently pursuing his MS in Art, Culture, and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the generous support of the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation.

NiccolòAcram Cappelletto is an Editor at Global Art Daily and Postgraduate Research Fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi, based in Treviso and Abu Dhabi. After completing his B.A. in Art History with specialisations in Political Science and Heritage Studies, he is conducting research on the connections between heritage and contemporary art in the context of postcolonial Italy. Recently, he collaborated on the Paris Bible Project with NYUAD and the Louvre Abu Dhabi on the study of bible manuscripts from the XIII century. Niccolò 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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