NYUAD Art Gallery’s new exhibition Ways of Seeing features works by 26 internationally-acclaimed artists and artist collectives from the region and the world and offer insight into how to really view art.
The 3 September opening of Ways of Seeing, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, independent curators and co-founders of Art Reoriented, will mark the first collaboration for NYUAD Art Gallery with external curators.
“This remarkable exhibition brings together an incredible roster of world-class artists. The curators depart from traditional exhibition narratives and put the artworks into dialogue in a unique way that draws out how these artworks invite the viewer to see them,” remarks Maya Allison, Founding Director and Chief Curator of NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery.
The exhibition is based on John Berger’s seminal 1972 text on visual culture, Ways of Seeing, in which he shifted the emphasis of art criticism away from the professional art-expert and relocated it within the grasp of the layperson. In taking its cue from Berger’s groundbreaking argument, this exhibition invites the viewer to actively engage with the artwork, and to explore the ways by which artists assign forms and concepts that seem familiar with renewed appearances and meanings.
“This remarkable exhibition brings together an incredible roster of world-class artists".
Curator Till Fellrath invites viewers to be, “active rather than passive in the way they look at the works in this exhibition. There is no one ‘correct’ way to look at art, and our wish is that our audiences should both be aware of and embrace their individual reactions and points of view, as these are borne of unique personal experiences.”
Bringing together 26 artists and artist collectives with 41 works, the exhibition spans a variety of media from painting, sculpture, and photography to sound, film, and installation. In addition, historical artworks and objects punctuate the contemporary displays. Through these works, the curators present the various strategies that artists employ to re-configure our perception, as viewers, of the world around us.
Commenting on how this diverse offering reflects this diverse community, Maya Allison adds, “Our [NYUAD Art Gallery] academic museum takes as the core of its mission the study of art and culture as it interacts with varied audiences, such as our student audience made up of over 100 nationalities, and the UAE public that represents one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world. We, as this diverse audience, bring our own many ways of seeing to this exhibition, that, in turn, offers us a kaleidoscopic journey through ways of seeing.”
Ways of Seeing will be accompanied by a programme of events, including talks, workshops, and family-friendly activities. The exhibition is free and open the public and runs from 3 September – 17 November.
