Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia

The pavilion of the United Arab Emirates at the 60th International Venice Biennale opens with Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh. The exhibition features eight works by Al Saadi and offers a reflection on his decades-long artistic practice. Working from his studio in Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, the artist immerses himself in nature to create vivid, subjective readings of the world and his place within it. Rather than simply drawing inspiration from nature, Al Saadi forms an intimate dialogue with his environment and embraces a close, multifaceted connection with the natural landscape. This process recalls techniques of composition in classical poetry from the Arabian Peninsula, in which poets journeyed into natural settings to write their poems. Sharjah-based curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh worked closely with the artist on a new reading of his practice for the Venice exhibition, examining the shifting dynamics of collective memory.

Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia conjures the atmosphere of the artist’s studio and the rituals he practices with a set of reflections and associations that have formed over many years. The exhibition brings into focus the relationship between memory and forgetting, and between manifestation and disappearance. Visitors are invited on a journey of exploration of the works that are on display and others that are concealed in boxes and chests, awaiting discovery. The audience is offered a performed reader of the exhibition, a guide to Al Saadi’s practice that is enacted by performers who are present throughout the Biennale’s run. The performers are professional actors as well as students from the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy participating in the pavilion’s flagship Venice internship program. They share stories and respond to the audience’s interests to create individual trajectories through a web of narratives, concepts, poems, and the artist’s diaries. Each story contains several chapters and leads to another, contributing to an immersive, evolving experience of Al Saadi’s artistic practice.

The relationship between poetry and traveling has long been vital in Arab culture. The exhibition foregrounds Al Saadi’s sensory and aesthetic interpretations of the natural environment of the UAE and draws connections with the tradition of classical poetry from the Arabian Peninsula, in which poets immersed themselves in nature before beginning their compositions.

A publication, titled Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, edited by Tarek Abou El Fetouh and Rasha Salti, and published by Kaph Books, accompanies the exhibition. It is richly illustrated and structured around a chronicle of Al Saadi’s journeys in his own words. In addition to documenting the artworks, the publication expands on the exhibition’s curatorial approach and invites writers to engage with Al Saadi’s work. Contributors include Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Dr. Aisha Bilkhair, and Younes Mashish (pseudonym), who offer their readings of Al Saadi’s practice. The book is available for purchase at La Biennale di Venezia bookstores and online here.

The National Pavilion UAE collaborated with the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy (SPAA) to sponsor SPAA students to be a part of the Venice Internship Program, in which they will engage with visitors alongside professional actors. SPAA is the first Emirati-established, world-class institution that galvanizes communities, highlights local and international creative talents, and sets the standard in higher education for professional performing arts. This collaboration highlights the National Pavilion UAE’s ongoing commitment to supporting artists, curators, and scholars foregrounding UAE stories globally.

About Abdullah Al Saadi
Abdullah Al Saadi has been a central figure in the contemporary art landscape of the United Arab Emirates since the 1980s. He studied English literature at the United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, and Japanese painting at Kyoto Seika University. In his practice, Al Saadi works in the mediums of painting and drawing and also compiles extensive artist’s notebooks, collects and categorizes found objects, and devises new alphabets. An affinity with nature and the intersection between personal and cultural life inform his work, which has been exhibited extensively in the UAE and internationally. He lives and works in Khor Fakkan.

About Tarek Abou El Fetouh
Tarek Abou El Fetouh is currently Senior Curator and Director of the Performance Department at the Sharjah Art Foundation. He established visual and performance art initiatives across the Arab world, including the Meeting Points Contemporary Art Festival, which took place in different Arab cities. He has curated numerous exhibitions in the UAE, the region, and beyond, including the Public Art Program for Expo 2020 in Dubai; Rituals of Signs and Metamorphoses (2018) and Captive of Love (2017) at Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing; The Time Is Out of Joint at the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Asia Culture Center, Gwangju (2016); Lest the Two Seas Meet at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2015); and the exhibition of Home Works 6 in Beirut (2013).

For press enquiries please contact Florian Vanicatte at florian@sendreceive.eu and press@nationalpavilionuae.org.