October Exhibitions @CAPKuwait

Contemporary Art Platform is pleased to share the list of October exhibitions and events:

The Sacred Paths
Photography Exhibition from the Middle East

Throughout the centuries the Middle East has been regarded as the cradle of religions; a title with imposing implications on the sociopolitical structure of the Middle East. 

The Sacred Paths is not a search for the essence of the sacred, so much as it dissects the social and cultural accumulations that have evolved in accordance with ideologies that derive their legitimacy from religion, and thus divine rule.

This exhibition engages the symbolic, political, social and personal meanings of the Path rather than its physical aspects. It underscores the overarching collective social practices that developed from a continuous search for belonging, fed by the myriad myths and narratives of holy homelands, ordained by higher powers, that generations have been raised to believe. The Sacred Paths showcases 13 photographers from the Middle-East, mostly acclaimed photojournalists, whose work documents their journeys through various countries in the region.

Three sections: “The Body”, “The Land” and “The Leader” make up the exhibition and emphasize the dual nature of man in his capacity to create and destroy. Furthermore, the exhibition underlines the capacity of the collective, either to form stable, balanced societies, or to be caught in the crisis that can result from the interpretation of the metaphysics of the sacred.

Photographers: Abbas Kowasri, Boushra Al Moutawakel, Dalia Khamissy, Farah Nosh, Issa Touma, Laura Boushnak, Laura El Tantawy, Newsha Tavakolian, Raed Bawayah, Reem Al Faisal, Samer Mohdad, Tamara Abdulhadi and Tanya Habjouqa.

This show was curated by Abed Al Kadiri and exhibited in Modem Museum - Hungary in 2013 as part of Zenith Art Exchange.

Opening reception: 26/10/2014 (7:00 – 9:00pm)

Exhibition dates: 27/10/2014 – 4/1/2014 - Contemporary Art Platform / Exhibition Space 

A White Asylum My First Solo Show 

Najeebah Al-Ghadban

My First Solo show / 30 Days 3 artists is a project presenting young emerging Kuwaiti artists for their first solo exhibition in The Art Room, one of Contemporary Art Platform exhibition spaces. This project gives 3 young artists the opportunity to show their work for 10 days each year,within a reflective artistic community supported by CAP Kuwait.

Now in its second year the project presents Najeebah Al-Ghadban's first solo show A White Asylum, featuring a body of collage and assemblage works that developed from the artist's continuous exploration of the human psyche. This series of portraits depicts the vulnerability of human emotions, in sculptural and photographic detail, utilizing shadows and industrial tools to emphasize the discordance between expressions of heart and entrapment of mind. 

The ‘white’ of the asylum, measures the space of existence: the white light of the hereafter, or the white walls of the now. The ‘asylum’ holds the faces, the bodies, the hands, the scenes: the loveless lovers, the modern mythic battles, the liars and the cheats, the violent, but most significantly, the alone. Whether the nameless of the asylum are confined to the id of one mind, or whether they are united simply by the archetype of their dysfunction, is for the viewer to decide.

The series began in February 2013 and all of the original collages were fleeting -with no glue - just scissors, x-acto blades and an iPhone camera. The resulting images were immediately published exclusively on Instagram, in order to engage with the public. The series now includes over 200 portraits. Starting in March 2014, the portraits have been preserved in their physical state within white shadow boxes. In addition, the first volume of the A White Asylum artist book was released in December 2013, and included 13 portraits and accompanying prose. Its 240 pages revealed intimate insights into each character’s mind through both text and design. Going forward, A White Asylum will extend to include sculptural forms, performance art, motion graphics and video.

Najeebah Al-Ghadban is a School of Visual Arts BFA Design Graduate currently pursuing a Masters in Design also at the School of Visual Arts. Born and raised in Kuwait, she currently resides in New York, refining her cultural skeleton to adapt and absorb human connection through visual communication. Her young design career has primarily focused on the world of publishing and artist books, with a plethora of self-driven projects to sustain the quest for new form ranging from experimental motion films, hand-made zines, to the heart: collage.

Opening reception: 26/10/2014 (7:00 – 9:00pm)

Exhibition dates: 27/10/2014 – 5/11/2014 - Contemporary Art Platform / The Art Room

Make Designers not Clothes

A two-day exhibition to benefit Creative Space Beirut, a non-profit school for fashion design. 

In collaboration with Pretty Little Things 

Creative Space Beirut (CSB) is an innovative non-profit school for fashion design that has been dedicated since 2011to fostering the talent of young aspiring designers who lack the resources to pursue a creative education at increasingly expensive institutions. With four impressive exhibitions around Beirut under its belt, CSB is making its regional debut in Kuwait at CAP from October 14 - 15. This two day exhibition will celebrate the student designers' hard work, take you through their creative journey and give you a chance to support free education through the sale of beautiful handmade pieces. 

Opening reception: 14/10/2014 (5:00pm onward)

Exhibition dates: 14/10/2014 – 15/10/2014 - Contemporary Art Platform / Exhibition Space