Alserkal Art Month Brings Community Together Amidst Uncertainty

Alserkal Art Month, a dynamic five-week programme which started in late April and closes on 18 May, aims to sustain cultural production and engagement amidst the turmoil, whilst also offering a space for the public to recharge and take a break from the headlines.

“We've been undergoing this chapter of recalibration, and the intent was to respond to this situation by adapting – we look at moments of uncertainty as a form of opportunity to pioneer, to try something new,” Alserkal’s executive director Vilma Jurkute tells AD. “Even in times of uncertainty, our ambition and our commitment remain to the public … to always be an open door, to serve our public through arts and culture.”

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“People were in search of community. When we now look back at our footfall since February 28, the first weekend we had a 20 percent decline. The weekend, after our footfall increased. We went from 12,000 people average per weekend to 20,000,” she adds.

With 16 prominent galleries – including Lawrie Shabibi, Leila Heller Gallery, Zawyeh and The Third Line – who collectively represent 440 artists, Alserkal’s gallery community presents over 80 exhibitions each year. For Alserkal Art Month, a specially curated exhibition titled Déjà vu was staged at Concrete, with a commercial group exhibition created with 20 of the UAE’s leading galleries. A new public artwork by Shilpa Gupta, titled ‘Still a Sky We Hold,’ was also unveiled.

For the month-long programme, visitors were also invited to experience 16 shows, five warehouse takeovers, new public art commissions, workshops, performances and talks, spread across the five weekends. Direct support for artists and art initiatives has also been offered through grants, commissioned artworks and studio spaces.

“We also have multidisciplinary programming at the Alserkal Arts Foundation, and the fund that we've set up to allow artists in Alserkal to continue their work,” Jurkute says. “So if anyone's project was interrupted by the crisis, if there's an idea to document day-to-day of what we’re living this very moment, the fund allowed us to support these practices and research that came from our multidisciplinary practitioners who are part of our community.”

As the month draws to a close, Alserkal has a special weekend planned alongside Art Dubai (14–17 May), with new commissions presented in collaboration with the fair. ‘Moving,’ a series of moving image works, will be presented across screens at Alserkal Avenue and on site at the art fair in Madinat Jumeirah.

At Alserkal Avenue, the programme is structured in three chapters: Spirit, Body and Force, with one chapter screened each day on the Yard screens. At Art Dubai, the full programme is presented as a loop within the Cinema Majlis in the Cultural Commons. The video works include pieces by Raed Yassin, Mohammed Kazem, Huda Lutfi and Bady Dalloul, plus many more artists.

“The closing weekend is very exciting, because Art Dubai returns as ambitious as ever, and it will be hyper local, but exciting for all of us here, because the city has a real market and a real ecosystem in the arts,” Jurkute says. “The ‘Moving’ programme invites everyone after sunset, because this is the best way to experience it and to take art outside of the gallery walls into open space,” she adds. “We want to engage all those who continue to live in the city and make the city a multicultural hub. It's been a trying moment but also a privilege to be able to play this cultural role and serve the community.”