Amin Abbas

DUBAI: The UAE’s Sharjah Art Foundation is featuring an exhibition, ‘Unsettled Objects,’ showcasing recently acquired and rarely seen works. The art show opened on March 12 and will run until June 15.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s works are showcased at the exhibition alongside other artists, who work in a variety of mediums across a broad expanse of time. They explore concepts of mapping and archaeology, of memory and selfhood, of sight and absence.

As the title suggests, their art unsettles our understanding of history by proposing that art has the potential to encourage a contoured view of a collective and inclusive society. Works on display include recent acquisitions from Yüksel Arslan, Dawoud Bey, Huma Bhabha, Huguette Caland, Lubaina Himid, Tala Madani, Lionel Wendt and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

‘Unsettled Objects’ takes the circular form of the Foundation’s newly restored architectural landmark, The Flying Saucer, in a design that evokes the experience of a revolving carousel. Occupying both indoor and outdoor space, the Flying Saucer also comes to life at night with an intervention by artist Prem Sahib on the building’s facade.

The exhibition derives its title from a recent acquisition by the late conceptual artist Lothar Baumgarten, Unsettled Objects (1968–1969), projection filmed in Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum. In the art, Baumgarten interrogates the method that museums adopt to categorize, store and present artefacts.

Curated by Omar Kholeif, SAF Director of Collections and Senior Curator, this expansive exhibition brings together the work of over 30 artists from across the globe whose art helps us consider these questions while provoking a re-imagining of the ways in which history is narrated and explored.

The art event offers an opportunity to engage with a range of works in the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, a public collection encompassing an exceptionally diverse body of more than 1,300 works across art movements from the 1920s to the present day.

This exhibition is part of Sharjah Art Foundation’s 2021 spring programme, which also features March Meeting (MM 2021): Unravelling the Present, the solo exhibitions Tarek Atoui: Cycles in 11, Zarina Bhimji: Black Pocket and Rayyane Tabet: Exquisite Corpse.

For more information, visit sharjahart.org.