ArtDayME: Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh features ten works by Abdullah Al Saadi and offers a reflection on his decades-long artistic practice.

 Expanding on the work initially presented in the UAE National Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia in 2024, the exhibition is designed to show the prolific artist’s work in the UAE, giving the local arts community and the wider audiences across the country the opportunity to encounter Al Saadi’s practice more intimately. 

In his practice, Al Saadi embodies a wanderer, chronicler, cartographer, poet, decipherer,  memory carrier, and storyteller. This exhibition includes works that were produced on his journeys in the wilderness, and invites viewers to explore his creative process in relation to the practices of Arab poets from centuries ago. 

The exhibition is an invitation to enter Abdullah Al Saadi’s singular world and to wander among its unique and rich features. This is a journey where visitors move along a path, discovering both the displayed artworks and hidden art pieces in metal chests. In a re-enactment of the artist’s ritual with visitors in his studio, the concealed works are revealed by performers, who are constantly present in the space. They interact with visitors, telling them stories and giving them clues about the artist’s journeys and the collective memory that Al Saadi summons into the present, and meticulously preserves for the future.

The exhibition continues until May 4, 2025.

Images courtesy of 421 Arts Campus - Photography by Ismail Noor - Seeing Things