Quipu Alphabet, 2021
Ropes and metal structure
320 x 220 cm
Courtesy of the Artist
The artwork Quipu, or Khipu, is a writing system dating back to the Inca period, which consists of coloured knotted strings. It is believed that Quipu later gave rise to the Arabic Quipu, a writing system consisting of 28 strings representing the Arabic alphabet, with knots on upper, middle, and lower levels.
Al Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain
StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream, 2021
Motion Flapboard, 35 mins
237 × 13 × 24 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Continua
The artwork consists of two suspended split-flap boards which display poetic phrases centered on loss, power and truth. Rather than announcing expected departure or arrival times, Gupta disrupts the boards’ original function so they enter an uneasy dialogue with one another, inviting the viewer to enter into their deliberations.
Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain
Song of the Ground, 2017
Mechanical installation with borderland river stones
31x14x13 in | 80x36x18 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Continua
Song of the Ground consists of stones collected by the artist around the Teesta River at the India-Bangladesh borders, where everyday movement of goods and people persist despite border fencing. The stones come clapping together in a rhythm, as if subversively applauding transgression, having been witness to the force of nature in motion.
Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain
100 Hand drawn Maps of India, 2007-08
Table, fan and a book
106 x 61 x 122 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Continua
Highlighting the futility of political divisions, Gupta’s works often juxtapose ideas of empirical measurement used to construct borderlines against ground reality. In 100 Hand Drawn Maps of My Country, the artist asked people to draw a map of their country. The work throws into question how political borders are created, imagined, and learned.
Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain
Bodies in Alliance, 2021
LED bulbs and mixed media on wooden and metal structure
843 x 537 cm
Courtesy of Marinella Senatore and Mazzoleni, London, Torino
Bodies in Alliance, 2021, is a large-scale metal and LED-light installation where textual and iconographic elements belonging to the artist’s cultural background - such as southern Italy’s traditional “luminarie” - create a portal to a collective dimension. The quote by American philosopher Judith Butler underlines the importance of social assemblies and the key role of the body in political and revolutionary acts. The work was showcased at Park Platz, a participatory project organised by the Berlinische Galerie where contemporary artists and architects have combined art with interactive events. From May to September 2021, this temporary pavilion transformed the museum’s car park into a large urban forum, in which performances, debates, video projections, and workshops put the surrounding environment in direct dialogue with urban society.
Manarat Al Saadiyat
Patterns of Absence (Bb36D10) - Desert Beacon, 2022
painted steel, mechanical system
360 x 262 x 407 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isa, Mumbai
Patterns of Absence (Bb36D10) - Desert Beacon is a brand-new commission responding to the light, space, and contemplative potency of the desert. This new work has been born out of the artist's optic series the Patterns of Absence, which explores the mathematics of interference and the human perception of light. In this series, Shawcross has created works that are akin to stained glass windows, which are activated by the sun. Composed of two slowly counter-rotating discs, each one is peppered with over a hundred thousand holes all carefully arranged across their surface, the combination of which filter the dappled rays of the sun through constantly shifting, dynamic patterns.
Al Ain Oasis, Al Ain
Artists
Abdullah Al Saadi
Artist
Abdullah Al Saadi
Artist
Conrad Shawcross
Artist
Conrad Shawcross
Artist
Marinella Senatore
Artist
Marinella Senatore
Artist
Shilpa Gupta
Artist
Shilpa Gupta
Artist