Expo 2020 has unveiled the first permanent artwork as a part of the Public Art Programme, which will bring 11 artworks from 11 different artists from the UAE and around the world.
The first artwork belongs to Kuwaiti artist, Monira Al Qadiri and features a gigantic iridescent, oil drill-shaped sculpture.
Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Public Art Curator at Expo 2020 Dubai said, “We are thrilled to be launching the Public Art Programme with Chimera by artist Monira Al Qadiri. Her bold sculpture with its magnified size and reflective colour makes it seem like a futuristic creature from outer space. Through this sculpture, the artist attempts to merge the pre-and post-oil eras into one body. She creates aesthetic connections between pearls and oil, through their colour, materiality, symbolism, ecology and economy in order to reimagine the past, present and future of the wider Gulf region”.
The other commissioned artists with their artworks put on display are Hamra Abbas, Afra Al Dhaheri, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Abdullah Al Saadi, Asma Belhamar, Olafur Eliasson, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Khalil Rabah, Yinka Shonibare and Haegue Yang.
The artworks will be located at District 2020, across the Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability Districts and Expo 2020’s two parks.
Monira Al Qadiri, Artist said, “I am very proud to be among the 11 artists from around the world selected to be part of this programme that invites visitors to access new perspectives through art in public space.”