About the galleries

Main Gallery

The Present: The Future of the Past

The creative process starts as an idea in the mind of an artist, a fleeting scene that sparks inspiration, or a word that stands out in a conversation. It is then deconstructed, analysed, and transformed from an intangible entity to a tangible visual or audio presentation. An artwork is not only the refined project displayed in a gallery, but rather an individual experience that went through many stages and was embraced in the artist’s studio; a world full of imagination and often defies physics and reality.

The Present: The Future of the Past conveys parts of the artists’ journeys and partially blurs the lines between their creative process and the end results, bridging the distance between the exciting, chaotic, and intimate personal experiences in the studios, and the artworks displayed in contemporary art galleries. The exhibition focuses on the journey and the destination, as they complement and complete each other. While some works may answer questions, others investigate the connection between the artists’ sensory and intellectual states and the choice of materials, shapes, colours, and concrete or abstract visual approaches. The present, or what we see here, is nothing but the future of what was an idea in the past.

The exhibit uncovers layers of the creative process and presents fragments of the studio practices and finished works by 31 local artists who took part in the Artist in Residence programme at the Fire Station in the years 2021-2023. Featuring a wide range of intertwined concepts, the artists reflect on personal and social experiences through a variety of mediums such as paintings, sculptures, videos, sounds, and installations.

Visual Diaries

The American painter Chuck Close once said, “All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.” The process of creating art is often a deeply personal and transformative journey for artists. From the initial spark of an idea to the final touches, the creative process is filled with experimentation, discovery, and growth. This section presents the raw studio experience and provides a glimpse into the artists’ thoughts, emotions, and executions. It explores parts of the journeys behind the artworks on display. Through sketches, research notes, materials exploration, prototypes, and videos of the artists at work, these process samples offer an insight into the twists and turns that artists encounter as they work towards their final vision. Here, the artists share what was born in solitude and contributed one way or another to the realisation of their concepts.

Gallery 3

Time-Lapse

Expressing ideas and storylines through video might look simple at first glance. However, the two installations presented in this space explore more than one angle of creating video art where the time span is contained and controlled. While Aya Battiri’s Touchable Set is static, it shows parts of the process of filmmaking which include the set design, parts of the script, and the dialogue. The immersive work allows the visitors to explore a room that will appear later in the accompanying film Salam, Salam (Peace, Goodbye). The stillness and realness of the room juxtapose with the movement, colour, and sound of the next room, which reflects psychological experiences that include alienation and isolation. Wadha Al Mesalam’s multi-projection Miasma conveys a state of mind played on-loop as a way of translating abstract emotions through the process of repetition. Although both works explore different themes, they share an unfiltered interpretation of raw personal feelings encapsulated in limited screen time.

Gallery 4

Time Is Parallel

Art expression is often a means for artists to answer questions and interpret local and global topics. In this section, the participants use diverse mediums to explore social and popular norms in connection with recent and past events. Daily life encounters, the community, and the media have a major influence on provoking artists’ thoughts and inspiring them to express their emotions. From diving into natural phenomena to a collective and religious social practice to participatory art, the artists utilise painting, photography, sculpture, and installation to introduce their outlooks on universal subjects. The artworks presented in this space serve as an interactive platform, inviting the visitors to be part of the experience and to think deeper about themselves and their surroundings.