Vikram Divecha's 'Short Circuits' at Jameel Arts Centre Explores Urban Processes and Human Connections

Vikram Divecha's first survey exhibition, 'Short Circuits,' at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, showcases his decade-long practice of engaging with urban 'found processes'—municipal gardening, demolition, roadmarking—to reveal the human lives within fast-moving cities. The exhibition documents his negotiations with the UAE's urban environment, including works like 'Degenerative Disarrangement' (2013), where bricks from a street repair were rearranged by masons under time constraints, later shown at the UAE Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with support from Dubai's Road and Transport Authority. 'Gardeners' Sketchbooks' (2017) features drawings by municipal gardeners in Sharjah, whose designs were implemented on waterfront hedges. Divecha emphasizes aesthetic participation over social practice, seeking to create spaces where collaborators claim a stake. The exhibition title refers to electrical short circuits, symbolizing connections that bypass capital production. 'Short Circuits' runs until 15 June.