About ACAW FIELD MEETING Take 6

Presented in collaboration with Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE
Friday, January 25 & Saturday, January 26, 10am–6pm

Curated by ACAW Director Leeza Ahmady

The first off-site iteration of Asia Contemporary Art Week's (ACAW) acclaimed annual forum, FIELD MEETING in Dubai, UAE, stages 35+ newly-commissioned performances, lecture-performances, talks, and a string of pop-ups by today's outstanding artists, curators, and creative minds. Over 300 international and MENASA-region arts professionals will gather for an energetically charged, theatrically imbued, and uplifting two-day experience at FIELD MEETING Take 6: Thinking Collections.

Held at the crossroads of one of Asia's most developed cultural destinations, Dubai, and in collaboration with the region's foremost art and culture neighbourhood, Alserkal Avenue, this iteration of FIELD MEETING addresses the lack of artistic and institutional collaboration between various regions of Asia—particularly the wide gap that has prevailed for centuries between Eastern and Western regions of the continent. Emulating the experience of a studio visit on a large, communal scale, the forum links MENASA professionals and institutions directly with a group of diverse practitioners whose efforts complicate categorical notions of Asia—many of whom are presenting for the very first time in the Middle East.

Each edition of FIELD MEETING rethinks exhibition-making as a journey of ideas through a collective unpacking of one quintessential term in the contemporary art world lexicon. This year, FIELD MEETING presenters underscore how a collection delves into the depths of human nature to ask: "What are we collecting?", "Why are we collecting?" and "Who is collecting?" Most urgently, the forum questions the ideas, apparatuses, and visions of countless collections and if they correlate with our true purpose as human beings. Stories of community, ancestry, heritage, migration, geography, religion, and gender expand upon modes of being in juxtaposition to virtual reality, DNA technology, psychoanalysis, and the culture of war. Through these personal investigations, FIELD MEETING Take 6 explores the act of collecting beyond the limitations of an art market lens to reclaim "collections" as the living energy of people: their research, processes, and meaningful activities.

Limited registration now open exclusively for arts professionals here.

For bios and synopsis of presenters, and a full schedule, click here.