NIKA Project Space Opens 'Coded Gestures' in Dubai

NIKA Project Space, a new art and culture platform in Dubai, presents its second exhibition 'Coded Gestures,' curated by Nadine Khalil and running from May 4 to July 16, 2023. The show pairs artists from Central and East Asia with UAE-based practitioners, featuring works by Alexander Ugay (Almaty), Minja Gu (Seoul), Fatma Al Ali, Mona Ayyash, and Khalid (all UAE). Housed in a 250 m² industrial space designed by T.ZED Architects, the exhibition explores gesture as invisible labor, repetition, and the disciplining of bodies. Highlights include Minja Gu's live tea ceremony 'House Tea de la Maison de la Casa' (2023) and Khalid's daily sunset documentation 'my job is to look at the sunset' (2023). Alexander Ugay's video 'More than a Hundred Thousand Times' (2019-20) addresses Korean labor migrants in post-Soviet states, while his AI-generated 'Unknown Return' (2023) indexes historical events affecting the Korean diaspora. Fatma Al Ali's brick installation 'My mother told me not to collect bricks' (2020) examines individual versus collective systems. The exhibition also features Minja Gu's marathon documentation '42.195' (2006) and Mona Ayyash's pixelated video 'Trampoline' (2015). Founder Veronika Berezina emphasizes the gallery's focus on lesser-known female artists, while Khalil notes the synergy between post-Soviet and hyper-capitalist contexts. The press release is from NIKA Project Space.