Murtaza Vali
Arresting Flows, Stacking Forms: On Vikram Divecha’s ‘Warehouse Project’

45 mins 46 secs

This talk begins to unravel some of the many cultural, political and economic histories and networks that come together in Vikram Divecha’s Warehouse project. Working out from its immediate context of Alserkal Avenue and Dubai, the talk attempts to situate the project within the complex histories of post-war sculpture, institutional critique, and the postcolonial critique of globalization.

Murtaza Vali is a critic and curator based in Brooklyn, USA and Sharjah, UAE. A recipient of a 2011 Creative Capital, Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for Short-Form Writing, he regularly publishes in various international art periodicals and has contributed to publications for both commercial galleries and non-profit institutions globally. His past curatorial projects include: Formal Relations (Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, 2015); Accented (Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, 2015); Geometries of Difference: New Approaches to Abstraction and Ornament (Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, 2015); PTSD: Shahpour Pouyan (Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, 2014); extra | ordinary: The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2013 (Art Dubai, 2013); Brute Ornament (Green Art Gallery, Dubai, 2012); and Accented (BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, 2010). He also edited Manual for Treason (2011), a multilingual publication commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation for Sharjah Biennial 10 and served on the selection jury for the 2010 Sharjah Art Foundation Production Programme grants. He is a Visiting Instructor at Pratt Institute and a Lead Tutor of Campus Art Dubai 4.0.