Maraya Art Center holds Laura Metzler exhibition

CAIRO – 13 August 2017: Maraya Art Center has hosted an exhibition titled 'Collectivity Curated' by Laura Metzler from Thursday, June 15, to Saturday, August 19, to make the whole local community, not only artists, participate in the art world.

To trace the collective aspect between artists and workers in art field, Collectivity is an exhibition that encourages those working in the United Arab Emirates art industries, such as production, circulation and interpretation rather than famous artists to lend the exhibition an artwork or art-related-object from their personal collection with a text explaining why they keep them and how they could inspire their thoughts and feelings because of their connections to artists and projects they have worked with.

Eighty four participants from different sectors of the art world including commercial galleries, nonprofit foundations, art fairs, universities, museums, art consultancies, art publications, framers and freelance curators and writers.

In addition, some artists have gifted their valuable paintings, sculptures, works created by their students, mementos of exhibitions and objects they bought from flea markets.

Each object is special as it has personal connections to its owner as if there are relationships within the art world showing the UAE’s diverse and dynamic art community.

“So, I only contacted people whose involvement in the industry infrastructure goes beyond being an artist or a collector to see how the people involved in the labor practices relate to artists and their work. The title, Collectivity, refers to the concept of art as a collective activity, the notion of building a collection, and the idea of individuals coming together as a group,” as mentioned by Metzler in Gulf News.

Maraya Art Center founded in 2006 is a three-storey nonprofit creative center located in Sharjah, U.A.E, that organizes art exhibitions of professional artists in the Middle East and the whole world, video archive, art library and programs including workshops prepared by Maraya team and artists.