Alserkal Lates

Alserkal Lates takes place in the middle of Alserkal Art Week, so there should be more than two dozen exhibitions in Avenue galleries open till 10pm (half of them taking the opportunity to open on the night) – with the chance to see art but also to chat with curators, artists and artsworld movers ‘n’ shakers. There will be scheduled artist- and curator-led tours of some of the exhibitions, too, which is always going to be interesting.

Also opening is This is Not Your Grave, a new commission by Dima Srouji that marks the return of Alserkal’s programme of public art commissions for 2024. This edition is curated by the American art historian and gallery curator Zoé Whitley under the umbrella title ‘Walk With Me’; apparently she was particularly struck by Alserkal Avenue’s accessibility and cultural and experiential offerings for audiences on foot rather than by car; the 2024-25 commissions will be “ambitious new works whose expressive modes make concepts physically palpable, immediately relatable and widely accessible. Dima Srouji will lead a guided tour of This is Not Your Grave at 11.30am on 28 February.

Whitley has also curated the Majlis Talks programme, running from 4pm under the umbrella title Let the beauty we love be what we do. She’s taking part in one of the sessions with Dima Srouji; there’s also Mandy El-Sayegh in conversation with Sara Raza, Abbas Akhavan, Salima Hashmi, and Graciela Magnoni. The event will conclude with a lecture performance by Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser.