New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery announces exhibits

CAIRO – 14 August 2017: The New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery has announced its upcoming gallery exhibitions for autumn 2017 and spring 2018, which are 'Inventing Downtown New York: Artist-Run Galleries, 1952–1965' and 'Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti.'

Its current exhibition running from March 02 until August 26, 2017 is entitled 'But We Cannot See Them: Tracing a UAE Art Community, 1988-2008,' and focuses on an artist community in the UAE and features interviews from various UAE artists, such as Hassan Sharif, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdullah Al-Saadi.

Starting on October 4, 2017, 'Inventing Downtown' is an examination of the New York art scene from the rise of Abstract expressionism in the early 1950s to the emergence of Pop Art and Minimalism by the 1960s. It boasts 200 pieces of art by over 50 artists, including names such as Yayoi Kusama and Yoko Ono. February 4 will feature a showcase for award-winning artist duo 'Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti,' who are the co-directors for the Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) organization, which is based in Beit Sahour, Palestine.

The curator for the NYUAD gallery, Bana Kattan, spoke to The National about the upcoming exhibitions; “Our spring 2018 exhibition connects our physical world (geographically and architecturally) to both historical and current events, as Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal’s works embrace such topics as modern geopolitics and the plight of refugees. It is a great honor to be co-curating this with Salwa Mikdadi."