Alserkal announces the 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest, the region’s biggest annual arts and culture festival – where art, performance, live music, and food meet
QUOZ ARTS FEST
Organised by Alserkal
24 & 25 January 2020
Al Quoz
Free and open to the public
Dubai, UAE — The creative industrial neighbourhood of Al Quoz will celebrate the 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest on 24 and 25 January 2020. Organised by Alserkal, the two-day annual festival of arts and culture is led by more than 60 thinkers and makers from the music, art, design, and performance realms in the UAE and beyond. The festival is free and open to the public, and takes place across Al Quoz.
Quoz Arts Fest showcases the breadth and depth of creativity across the arts that can be found in Al Quoz, with a two-day celebration of art exhibitions, live music, contemporary dance performances, food trucks, outdoor art installations, film screenings, and educational seminars, among other interactive activities for a wide range of audiences.
The 8th edition of Quoz Arts Fest is the biggest yet, with the 60+ creative homegrown concepts in Alserkal Avenue activating, alongside events and exhibitions by their neighbours across Al Quoz. Quoz Arts Fest 2020 explores the theme ‘In Search Of…’, with special programmes including a free concert by Jordanian-Palestinian shamstep band 47Soul; the exhibition FOOD: Bigger than the plate, held in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and much more.
Regional band 47Soul will take the stage in The Yard, Alserkal Avenue, on Friday 24 January. The Jordanian-Palestinian band combines traditional dabke music with electronic beats, and is best-known for creating the Shamstep, a combination of mijwiz (a levantine folk musical style) and dubstep.
FOOD: Bigger than the plate will open on 24 January in Warehouse 46 in Alserkal Avenue. The experiential exhibition invites visitors to participate, taste, and debate, as it explores current experiments at every stage of the food system – from compost to table. This iteration of the exhibition, previously staged at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, presents a quirky approach to experiencing food, and understanding how the collective choices we make can lead to a more sustainable food future.
Other highlights from Quoz Arts Fest 2020’s regional programme include:
- Ansaf, a contemporary dance performance by Sima Dance Company, choreographed by acclaimed Palestinian choreographer Alaa Krimed, which explores questions and concepts facing the Arab World. The performance will take place on 24 January;
- The Reel Palestine Film Festival, which returns for its sixth edition, in collaboration with Cinema Akil, the GCC’s first arthouse cinema whose flagship home is presented in partnership with Alserkal Avenue;
- A Photo Walk of Al Quoz and a cyanotype workshop by Gulf Photo Plus;
- A number of workshops at The Courtyard, including the Courtyard Playhouse improv plays, a live drawing performance with Ali Razavi, and an Art of Zero Waste workshop with Yasmin Sinai;
- Africa & the other 54 countries: Focus on South Africa, an exhibition of art, culture, and cuisine from South Africa by African contemporary art gallery Akka Project;
- The Short+Sweet Theatre festival at The Junction, the world’s largest 10-minute play festival;
- A children’s walking tour of art galleries by thejamjar, encouraging them to discover art as a form of expression;
- A variety of children’s workshops focusing on art and creative writing by Wisdom Warehouse.
-ENDS-
Press enquiries:
Rania Habib
+97150 100 1105
About Quoz Arts Fest
Organised by Alserkal, Quoz Arts Fest is an annual celebration of art and culture that has been held since 2012. The festival takes place in Alserkal Avenue and across the surrounding Al Quoz, and celebrates the thinkers and makers from this creative neighbourhood. Free and open to the public, Quoz Arts Fest includes activities for all ages, including exhibitions, art installations, talks, workshops, performances, music, and more.
About Alserkal
Founded by Emirati businessman and patron, Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, in 2007, Alserkal is a socially responsible cultural enterprise, which is deeply engaged with the arts locally, regionally and internationally. Through Alserkal Avenue, its renowned cultural district of contemporary art galleries, non-profit organisations and homegrown businesses, Alserkal has cultivated a creative economy in Dubai, supporting cultural production and spearheading disruptive business models, including the OMA-designed Concrete, a state-of-the-art exhibitions and alternative space. In addition, Alserkal supports public art commissions, residencies, research grants and educational programmes through its non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation.
About Alserkal Avenue
Established in 2008 by Alserkal, Alserkal Avenue is a renowned cultural district of contemporary art galleries, non-profit organisations and homegrown businesses in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai. Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant community of visual and performing arts organisations, designers, and artisanal spaces that have become an essential platform for the development of the creative industries in the United Arab Emirates. As one of the region’s foremost platforms for contemporary art, Alserkal Avenue provides cultural experiences for local, regional and international audiences. Alserkal Avenue features Concrete, a multi-disciplinary space conceptualised and programmed by Alserkal.
Concrete was inaugurated in 2017 as the first building in the UAE to be completed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), founded by Rem Koolhaas, and is an adaptable venue whose ability to metamorphose to bring creative visions to life makes it suitable for international, museum-grade exhibitions as well as events across art, design, fashion and the performing arts. Concrete was shortlisted for the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.