Monira Al Qadiri’s (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) practice is a deep dive into petrol-cultures and their possible futures, gender performance, and aesthetics of sadness in the Middle East. Through a major body of work that incorporates various media, including video, sculpture, and performance, she investigates the transformation of the coastal economy in Kuwait and the Gulf region brought by the oil industry, and the change it brought upon socioeconomic relations and local lives. Featuring a comprehensive presentation of her practice, the show intends to explore how we interact with history, personal or otherwise, through the vehicle of art. How should we ponder our relationship with nature and natural materials from afar, where extraction and production can’t be seen or heard? How can art encode and unpack social energy embedded in the course of a critical transition? This exhibition is curated by UCCA Curator Luan Shixuan.

About the Artist

Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) is a Kuwaiti artist educated in Japan and now living and working in Berlin. Her multifaceted practice spans sculpture, installation, film, and performance. Her major solo exhibitions include “Monira Al Qadiri: Holy Quarter" (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 2022); “Monira Al Qadiri: Refined Vision” (Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, 2022); “Holy Quarter” (Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2020); “Empire Dye” (Kunstverein Göttingen, 2019); “RESERVOIR BITS (Circl Pavilion, Amsterdam, 2018); “The Craft” (Sursock Museum, Beirut, 2017); “The Craft” (Gasworks, London, 2017); “Attempts to Read the World Differently” (Stroom Den Haag, the Hague, 2017); “Muhawwil” (Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, 2014). Select group exhibitions include “Our World is Burning” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2020); “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars” (MoMA PS1, New York, 2019-20); the Future Generation Art Prize (Kiev, 2019); “Antikino” Berlinale Forum Expanded (Berlin, 2019); Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane, 2018); Lulea Biennial (Sweden, 2018); Athens Biennial (Athens, 2018); and “Crude” (Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, 2018). In 2022, Al Qadiri was featured in the Venice Biennale’s central exhibition “The Milk of Dreams.”