Monira Al Qadiri's 'Haunted Water' at UCCA Dune Explores Oil and Pearls

UCCA Dune in Beidaihe, China, presents Monira Al Qadiri's first institutional solo exhibition in China, 'Haunted Water,' curated by Luan Shixuan. The exhibition, running from an unspecified date, features a comprehensive overview of Al Qadiri's recent work plus four new commissions. Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar) investigates petro-cultures, gender performance, and aesthetics of sadness in the Middle East, focusing on how the oil industry transformed Kuwait and the Gulf Region. The show juxtaposes two central motifs: oil and pearls, both classified as 'resources' with similar optical properties. Pearl diving, a pre-oil economic activity in the Gulf, is contrasted with petro-modernity. Works include 'Diver' (2018), a film of synchronized swimmers in oil-like waters; 'Future Past 3' (2023) and 'OR – BIT' (2016-2018) with levitating drill tips; 'Seismic Songs' (2023) featuring a dinosaur singing about petroleum; 'NAWA' (2023) with aestheticized oil pipelines; 'Reservoir' (2019) using industrial imaging on polyester; 'Gastromancer' (2023) with mollusks on oil tankers; 'SS Murex' (2023); 'Divine Memory' (2019); 'Man of War' (2023); and 'Holy Quarter' (2020), narrated by black pearl meteors. The exhibition explores non-human subjectivities, ocean ecologies, and mysticism, addressing how petro-capitalism infiltrates ecologies, politics, and daily life. The seaside setting of Beidaihe, undergoing economic transformation, resonates with the theme.