The first off-site edition of ACAW's signature forum in Dubai
January 25–26, 2019
Curated by ACAW Director Leeza Ahmady
Presented in collaboration with Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE
Friday, January 25 & Saturday, January 26, 10am–6pm
Limited registration now open exclusively for arts professionals
Join over 300 international and MENASA-region arts professionals for an energetically charged, theatrically imbued, and uplifting two-day experience at FIELD MEETING Take 6: Thinking Collections. The first off-site iteration of Asia Contemporary Art Week’s (ACAW) acclaimed annual forum, FIELD MEETING in Dubai, UAE, stages 35+ newly-commissioned performances, lecture-performances, talks, and a string of pop-ups by today’s outstanding artists, curators, and creative minds.
Held at the crossroads of one of Asia’s most developed cultural destinations, Dubai, and in collaboration with the region’s foremost art and culture neighbourhood, Alserkal Avenue, this iteration of FIELD MEETING addresses the lack of artistic and institutional collaboration between various regions of Asia—particularly the wide gap that has prevailed for centuries between Eastern and Western regions of the continent. Emulating the experience of a studio visit on a large, communal scale, the forum links MENASA professionals and institutions directly with a group of diverse practitioners whose efforts complicate categorical notions of Asia—many of whom are presenting for the very first time in the Middle East.
Each edition of FIELD MEETING rethinks exhibition-making as a journey of ideas through a collective unpacking of one quintessential term in the contemporary art world lexicon. This year, FIELD MEETING presenters underscore how a collection delves into the depths of human nature to ask: “What are we collecting?”, “Why are we collecting?” and “Who is collecting?” Most urgently, the forum questions the ideas, apparatuses, and visions of countless collections and if they correlate with our true purpose as human beings. How are our minds being colonized by the “information age” to serve the insatiable desires of a capitalist market system? Indeed, our attachment to consumption and the accumulation of objects are increasingly endangering the planet, which contains a countless array of animal and plant species that together, with other great elements in the universe, make up a truly boundless collection of energy, otherwise known as the cosmos.
Stories of community, ancestry, heritage, migration, geography, religion, and gender expand upon modes of being in juxtaposition to virtual reality, DNA technology, psychoanalysis, and the culture of war. Through these personal investigations, FIELD MEETING Take 6 explores the act of collecting beyond the limitations of an art market lens to reclaim “collections” as the living energy of people: their research, processes, and meaningful activities.
Advanced registration is required for arts professionals. To register, click here.
For bios and synopsis of presenters and the full curatorial narrative, click here.
Presenting artists & arts professionals
Amina Ahmed (New York & Tehran), Khadim Ali (Sydney & Kabul), Stephanie Bailey (Hong Kong), Burçak Bingöl (Istanbul), Bingyi (Beijing), Heman Chong (Singapore), Nikhil Chopra (Goa), Lara Day & Pi Li (Hong Kong), Natasha Degen & Sandra Skurvida (New York), Rana Dehghan (Tehran), Alexis Destoop (Sydney & Brussels), Arahmaiani Feisal (Yogyakarta & Tibet), Yuan Gao (Shanghai), Nadira Husain (Berlin), Hasanul Isyraf Idris (Kuala Lumpur), Ranbir Kaleka (New Delhi), David Libertson (New York), River Lin (Paris & Taipei), ST Luk (New York & Tokyo), Umber Majeed (New York & Lahore), Bahman Mohammadi (Tehran), Francesca Recchia (Kabul), Bassem Saad & Edwin Nasr (Beirut), Sam Samiee (Tehran), Moe Satt (Yangon), Ali Shayesteh (Hamadan), Zolaykha Sherzad (Kabul & New York), Vladislav Sludskiy & Olga Veselova (Almaty), Haiyang Wang (Beijing), Wong Kit Yi & Ali Wong (Hong Kong & New York), Chongbin Zheng (San Francisco & Shanghai)
Presenting institutions & ACAW consortium partners
New York-based: Asia Society Museum, ArteEast, ArtAsiaPacific, Asia Art Archive in America, Japan Society, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Queens Museum, Reversible Destiny Foundation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, SVA MA Curatorial Practice, Twelve Gates Arts (Philadelphia), Wald & Kim Foundation, +91 Foundation, Christie’s, DAG, DOOSAN Gallery, Eli Klein Gallery, Mana Contemporary, Owen James Gallery, Ronin Gallery, Roya Khadjavi Projects, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Tina Kim Gallery, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, Ulterior Gallery
Asia-based: Alserkal Avenue (Dubai), British Council (London), Capsule Shanghai (Shanghai), Clark House Initiative (Mumbai), Dastan Gallery (Tehran), Eurasian Cultural Alliance (Almaty), Health Elite Club (Hong Kong), Hivos (The Hague), INK Studio (Beijing), M+ (Hong Kong), Mah Art Gallery (Tehran), National Culture and Arts Foundation of Taiwan (Taipei), PSM Gallery (Berlin), Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur), Turquoise Mountain (Kabul), Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi), Zarif Design (Kabul & New York)
FIELD MEETING Take 6 full schedule:
Alserkal Avenue (Concrete Space & Warehouse 46 & 47)
Friday, January 25
9:30am Check-in / 10am Doors Open
Morning Notes
10am Vilma Jurkute: welcome remarks
10:10am Leeza Ahmady: opening thoughts
10:25am Ranbir Kaleka: performative talk
10:40am Heman Chong: talk
11:10am Nikhil Chopra: performance
12:00pm Discussion
Afternoon Notes
1:30pm Umber Majeed: lecture performance
1:45pm Alexis Destoop: lecture performance
2:05pm Bassem Saad & Edwin Nasr: lecture performance
2:25pm Khadim Ali: talk
2:40pm Moe Satt: performance
2:50pm Discussion
Evening Notes
3:45pm Sam Samiee: talk
4:05pm Burçak Bingöl: talk
4:20pm Chongbin Zheng: talk
4:35pm ST Luk on Arakawa & Madeline Gins: screening
4:55pm Arahmaiani Feisal: performative reading
5:05pm Discussion
5:45pm Walkthrough tour of pop-ups - Warehouse 46 & 47
6:30pm End of Day 1
Saturday, January 26
9:30am Check-in / 10am Doors open
Morning Notes
10am Leeza Ahmady: opening notes
10:10am Francesca Recchia: talk
10:25am Lara Day: curatorial note
10:40am Pop-up notes I: walkthrough tour with artists - Warehouse 46
Amina Ahmed, Maryam Ghoreishi, Nadira Husain, Ali Shayesteh, Zolaykha Sherzad, Vlad Sludskiy & Olga Veselova
11:10am Moe Satt: performance
11:30am Discussion
Afternoon Notes
1:15pm Natasha Degen & Sandra Skurvida: curatorial note
1:30pm Pi Li: curatorial note
1:45pm Wong Kit Yi & Ali Wong: lecture performance
2:05pm River Lin: performance
2:45pm Discussion
Evening Notes
3:30pm Pop-up notes II: walkthrough tour with artists - Warehouse 47
Rana Dehghan, Hasanul Isyraf idris, Haiyang Wang, Bingyi, Bahman Mohammadi, Enrico Polato
4:00pm Discussion
5:00pm Stephanie Bailey: final reflections
5:20pm Leeza Ahmady: last remarks
5:30pm Arahmaiani Feisal: closing performance
6pm End of Day 2
