Rays, Ripples, Residue

Rays, Ripples, Residue explores the lasting impressions, afterimages, and the material residues that have shaped exhibition-making and artistic production in the UAE over the past decade. Since 2015, the local art scene has evolved into a dynamic ecosystem, marked by the rise of artist-led initiatives, expanded institutional support, and growing international visibility through biennales, art fairs, and cultural diplomacy. This period has also witnessed deeper engagement with regional histories, identity, and decolonial narratives, reflected across both institutional and independent platforms. Framed through three curatorial perspectives, the exhibition engages with time as a central theme: Munira Al Sayegh curates a chapter that explores past reverberations while Nadine Khalil considers post-moment hauntings. Murtaza Vali presents enduring critiques of commodification and elemental presence. 

The exhibition marks the ten-year anniversary of 421 Arts Campus, offering a space for reflecting on emergent artistic practices in the UAE, their possibilities and challenges for the future. Featuring video, performance, installation, and multimedia works, the exhibition invites conversations around what it means to produce art in the UAE today from the vantage point of emerging artists, collectives, and grassroots initiatives, to the influential role of cultural institutions that have supported and platformed these practices.