Warehouse421 Announces Fall 2022 Program,
A Season for Regrounding an autumn 2022 event from Abu Dhabi’s in-house arts and design center.
Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi’s home-grown arts and design center, announces its fall 2022 program, A Season for Regrounding, which features two major exhibitions and an extensive public program focusing on creative and communal approaches to reconnecting with the environment.
The program, running from September 21 until December 25, will include the second iteration of the exhibition On Foraging:
Food Knowledge and Environmental Imaginaries in The UAE’s Landscape, which was first presented at the United
Arab Emirates Pavilion in Expo 2020. The group presentation opens to a wider public inside the gallery spaces at Warehouse421 this fall, featuring new commissions and research on food security in the UAE.
The fall 2022 program will also see the opening of ‘Let me tell you something’, the first institutional solo exhibition for UAE-based artist Mohamed Khalid. Resulting from Warehouse421’s Artistic Development Exhibition Program, the exhibition features seven new commissioned works produced this year.
The fall 2022 program features more than 35 talks, workshops, symposia and special events that are a mindful exploration of creative and communal approaches to thinking about climate action. One of the most extensive and robust public engagement programs presented by Warehouse421 yet, the season highlights alternative ways of existing within our natural ecosystem that challenge anthropomorphic viewpoints, bringing back direct, bodily and tangible engagement with traditional sources of wisdom.
Highlights from the program include offerings that respond to themes addressed in the On Foraging exhibition, such as
How to Sit Under A Tree, a meditative workshop led by artist Nahla Tabbaa that explores Mina Zayed’s resilient ecosystem; a nature and food focused edition of Warehouse421’s Culture Bus; and a foodrelated lecture performance by artists Moza Al Matrooshi and Tabbaa. Other exciting and notable events include trips to farms across Abu Dhabi; photowalks in ecological sites such as Jubail Mangrove Park and Wathba Fossil Dunes; a father-daughter tour of Mina Zayed’s food markets; and a collaborative sustainability workshop that
invites participants to create a site-specific, large scale installation made from waste collected from the beach. The season will also include an outdoor market, Playing with Nature, that brings together locally-based artists, artisans, educators, and creatives to showcase a range of sustainably made products. The market will run across two days and will include activities and workshops, as well as live music performances, that children and families can enjoy.
The season was developed by Warehouse421 and includes the participation of partner organizations such as Services for Educational Development, Research and Awareness for Inclusion (SEDRA); Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR), The Institute of Emerging Art, 100/100: Hundred Best Arabic Posters, Gulf Photo Plus and others.
“It seems more pertinent than ever for cultural institutions to continue the conversation around climate change and the environment. This season at Warehouse421, we’ve decided to extend it beyond our exhibition space and into our public programming, engaging audiences of all ages and backgrounds to consider the importance of how our ecologies and immediate natural environment influences our culture, traditions and overall ways of life,” says Faisal Al Hassan, Head of Warehouse421. “Collaboration is at the core of what we do at Warehouse421. We are delighted to bring together local and regional organizations, researchers, collectives, and artists to present a program that pushes this necessary conversation forward through thoughtful and accessible community engagement.”
The public program presents 35+ talks, workshops and special events that explore creative and communal approaches to reconnecting with the environment