MONIRA AL QADIRI
ALIEN TECHNOLOGY VENICE

PALAZZO CA’ TRON, VENICE, ITALY
11 MAY – 18 AUGUST 2019

ALIEN TECHNOLOGY is a series of large-scale sculptures in the form of industrial oil drill bits. In May 2019, ALIEN TECHNOLOGY was presented in Venice, Italy, as part of the 5th Future Generation Art Prize, a collateral event of the 58th Venice Biennale.The artist’s giant drill bits resemble forms of bioluminescent marine life, especially with their recast surfaces, or some futuristic organic machine. They allude both to the underwater world that fed the Gulf’s economy for so many years (pearls) and simultaneously, the tool that is central to the current economy of oil. The works engage with the pearl industry that is now invisible to most—a forgotten history after the economic transformation that came with the discovery of oil in the region. And while the presence of oil is now pervasive, the nature of its extraction is rarely seen. Here, it is all made visible in Al Qadiri’s shimmering public monuments.ALIEN TECHNOLOGY, (2014-2019)
Public sculpture series
Fiberglass, automotive paint
3 x 3 x 3 meters

© Courtesy PinchukArtCentre
© Images Maksym Bilousov

FEATURED ARTIST

MONIRA AL QADIRI
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. Spanning sculpture, installation, film, and performance, Al Qadiri’s multifaceted practice is based on research into the cultural histories of the Gulf region. Her interpretation of the Gulf’s so-called “petro-culture” is manifested through speculative scenarios that take inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture, resulting in uncanny and covertly subversive works that destabilize mythologies of statecraft and modernization as well as traditional notions of gender. Tracing the delicate ecologies threate...
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