DUBAI.- Dubai’s
Alserkal Advisory revealed the first of three artworks that will be made public in international locations this year as part of the Global Co-Commission project, developed by curator Tairone Bastien. Entitled A Feral Commons, this inaugural pilot project is a collaborative initiative Alserkal Advisory has spearheaded in partnership with the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN) together with Kingston Creative (Kingston, Jamaica) and Victoria Yards (Johannesburg, South Africa).
In Dubai on 20 January Muhannad Shono unveiled A Forgotten Place, a groundbreaking public artwork highlighting the resilience of feral plant ecologies in the city’s heavily developed urban and industrial landscape.
In March Camille Chedda’s Chain of Love (working title) will open in Kingston and in April Io Makandal’s Ophidian’s Promise (working title) will open in Johannesburg. The Global Co-Commission engages three cultural districts across three continents to explore the intersection of art, sustainability, and community engagement. This pioneering effort is designed to prototype and document principles for responsible public art commissioning amidst the escalating climate crisis. Through the Global Co-Commission, Alserkal Advisory pioneers a new accountable framework for future art commissioning. Collaborating with Urban Art Projects (UAP) via their tools the Artwork Ingredient List and Public Art 360, the Co-Commission contributes directly to a deeper understanding of place-based responses to the climate crisis through quantitative reporting, assessments of community impact and qualitative appraisals.
A Forgotten Place is inspired by Shono’s observations of feral plant ecologies that largely go unnoticed yet thrive in tiny verdant patches across Al Quoz - the industrial area of Dubai - which is home to Alserkal Avenue. Despite the severe and arid conditions of the industrial environment, remarkably varied plant-life can be found thriving under and around air conditioning units outside of the buildings. In an area with very little rainfall, these plants grow and flourish in unexpected places, fed by unintended lifelines of water condensate that drips from AC units operating non-stop, producing especially heavy flows of water in the hottest summer months.
These nature and machine inter-dependencies—or AC ecologies—are flourishing not because of some anthropocentric masterplan, but rather, they represent a symbiotic relationship and nature’s ability to adapt to industrialised landscapes. Strategically placed in the throughway between two warehouses of Alserkal Avenue, an area that has undergone significant development, A Forgotten Place draws attention to these feral ecologies and thinks with them: it considers the potential of AC water as a precious and abundant, yet untapped, irrigation source in a water-scarce part of the world that must contend with expanding human populations and development.
A network of transparent irrigation tubes collects water from AC units that are inside warehouses on either side and suspended overhead. Visitors are welcome to walk inside the installation as the network of pipes channels the otherwise wasted water to irrigate seeds found within the soil beneath and between the bricks and that will hopefully, over time, generate a place for plants to thrive and be recognised within the community.
Muhannad Shono: “On my first site-visit to Alserkal Avenue, I was told a story of a beloved tree growing in the centre of the cultural district, where the original part of the complex transitions to the newly built areas. Like other AC-ecologies, the tree wasn’t planned but rather serendipitously sprouted and thrived because it was fed by a steady-stream of water collected from an entire block of AC-units installed outside the older warehouses. With such a concentration of water, the tree has grown into a towering giant in just a few years, providing much-needed shade for the community in an otherwise forgotten corner of the Avenue. And even though the tree’s roots are starting to undermine the foundations of the warehouse it stands in front of and are growing into the water and drain-pipes below, the community has rallied around it, to protect it, preventing it from being cut down. I hope that - likewise - A Forgotten Place will prompt discussions on ecological stewardship and bring the public to consider more deeply sustainable practices and the preservation of native plant species.“
These commissions are not isolated but are conceived and produced in dialogue with each other. This collaborative approach underscores the need for cultural districts to share knowledge and resources, creating a collective voice to address pressing global issues. A Feral Commons serves as a catalyst for discussions around sustainability, community engagement, and the evolving role of art in addressing climate imperatives.
Accompanying Shono’s A Forgotten Place is a comprehensive program that explores the connection between storytelling and the natural world. Anecdotes, such as the beloved tree in the cultural district of Alserkal Avenue, reinforce the unintended beauty that arises from the interdependence of nature and human activities. The program associated with the artwork aims to raise awareness and educate the public on the significance of sustainable practices. Collaborating with scientists, environmentalists, and engineers, the initiative seeks to promote innovative approaches to preserving and nurturing the natural world amid rapid human development and expansion.
