Alserkal Art Week

This year’s Alserkal Art Week runs from Monday 20 November to Sunday 26 November at Alserkal Avenue. It’s been refocussed at short notice on Gaza and related issues, in particular with a major exhibition in Concrete. The full programme is here, but we’ve picked out some highlights; most events are free but many require preregistration because space will be limited.

20 Nov 5pm to 10pm Alserkal Lates

There are more than 15 new gallery exhibitions across the Avenue staying open into the evening, along a couple of guest galleries which will be open for the week – Gazelli Art House in warehouse 45, Iris Projects in warehouse46. (We have these listed individually by exhibition name in the Agenda.) The residents of the Fall 2023 cycle at Alserkal Arts Foundation will also be hosting open studios, and the retail and F&B outlets will be open late, too. Alserkal Lates is always a pleasure.

20-26 Nov 10am to midnight On This Land

A “triangulated response” by the Palestinian Museum, Barjeel Art Foundation, and Alserkal Arts Foundation, this exhibition actually opens at 6pm on the evening before; it brings together the digital archive of The Palestinian Museum and works from the Barjeel Art Foundation’s collection with the aim of “harnessing the power of spontaneous collaboration not only to protect what is being silenced, but to generate a triangulated and amplified response … [the exhibition] opens an unexpected window onto Gaza to prompt a collective imagination of a possible future through the prism of a past made manifest.”. There are guided tours of the exhibition at 3.30pm every day.

20 Nov 5pm 6pm 7pm | 25 Nov 7.30pm 8.30pm | 26 Nov 6pm 7pm Slow art walks

Reflective gallery tours that last about an hour; a really successful way to see the galleries – interesting, informative, unstressy.

20 Nov 9-10pm Farha

Directed by Darin J. Sallam, this coming-of-age film was based on a true story of a 14-year-old girl caught up in the events of the nabka. Screens in The Yard courtesy of Cinema Akil.

20 and 26 Nov 7pm RHYME: Sima Dance Company

A 30-minute performance described as “a theatrical laboratory” and choreographed by Sima’s artistic director Alaa Krimed, RHYME shows Arab and Eastern culture heritage through an artistic lens. Music, narration and movement “translates its melodic and experimental character in a dynamic performance”.

22 Nov 7.30-9pm Gaza Mon Amour

Directed by Arab & Tarzan Nasser, this film was Palestine’s official submission to the Oscars in 2019; based on a true story, it’s a charming, reflective film about 60-year-old Gazan fisherman Issa and his secret love for the dressmaker Siham. Screens in The Yard courtesy of Cinema Akil.

23 Nov 4pm to 6.30pm Majlis Talks

Titled Fierce Grace, curated by Mari Spirito of Protocinema, these five 30-minute sessions will see conversations with curator Duygu Demir, artist Stéphanie Saadé, artist Marianne Fahmy, and author Kaya Genc. Topics range from attention to the overlooked details of life (like the skin cells left on our phone’s touch screen), to unlearning social conditioning, futurism on rising seas, invisibility as a means of survival, and interconnecting across geographies.

25 Nov 8pm-9.10pm Foragers

Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, Jumana Manna’s film uses fiction, documentary and archival footage to depict the dramas around the traditional practice of foraging for wild edible plants, deploying wry humour and a meditative pace to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. Screens in The Yard, courtesy of Cinema Akil.

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