UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Abdullah Al Saadi’s work encompasses a diverse range of artistic activities, including painting, drawing, creating artist’s journals, collecting and categorizing objects discovered during his many journeys and inventing new alphabets. In the Emirati Pavilion, his conceptual practice translates into a series of works closed inside metal crates, alongside other works normally put on display. Performers, who are constantly present within the exhibition space, will disclose the contents of the chests to visitors – such as maps, stones, and drawings – replicating a ritual that the artist regularly stages in his studio in Khor Fakkan.