Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalities

Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalities featured 12 artists from the Middle East and South Asia who explore the impact of conflict, urbanization and the climate crisis on their environments and the ways in which humankind can better care for the planet.

Hailing from countries as diverse as the UAE, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the artists use multimedia, installation, photography, drawing and painting, to explore ways to live in harmony with the planet by reconnecting with past cultural histories, remembering extinct plant species, and imagining alternative ways for humankind to attune to nature.

Leading Iranian-born artist Abbas Akhavan’s Study for a Monument presents bronze cast reproductions of flora native to modern-day Iraq whose environment has been decimated by decades of political and ecological turmoil. Jordanian photographer Nadia Bseiso explores the impact of water scarcity in villages along Jordan’s border with Israel, while in Disappearing Land, Egyptian artist Marianne Fahmy imagines a future map of the Nile Delta river basin, which scientists predict will face severe flooding.

As curator Maya El Khalil writes, “In the process, they (the artists) find different temporalities, rhythms, frequencies and stories of possibility in the movement of seeds, changing riverbeds and botanical archives.”

The exhibition was organized in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF).