In October, Al Riwaq held several events, including NEXUS with William Wells and the Colour and Light workshop with Yana Dimitrova. Other events that took place during the month included the Assemblage Art Workshop with Ayman Ramadan, the "Banat Gulnar" Book Launch and Talk Series with Amani Al Tawash, Tanween 2023 Program and Opportunities for Artists and Designers by Ithra, and the Expanded Media Club: Prototyping Journey with FABLAB Bahrain.
NEXUS targets artists and cultural practitioners to provide a platform for developing their practice. The course will address the "Reading, Unpacking, and Rewriting Global Art Histories". NEXUS will include a broad survey of global currents in the arts throughout the 20th century and the present. This 4-month series of lectures, assignments, and mentorship opportunities aims to equip participants with conceptual currents in modern and contemporary art.
This course introduced participants to the fundamentals of subtractive and additive color spaces, color application, interaction and theory of color. A special relationship is explored between light and color as interlinked entities in digital and print technologies. Participants explored projects utilizing analogue and digital techniques, while gaining key understanding of interactions, psychology, and perceptions of color.
Assemblage art is a form of visual art that involves creating three-dimensional compositions by combining found objects, everyday materials, and other discarded matter. Participants assembled these objects together to form a cohesive artwork, often with a focus on creating meaning or exploring new interpretations. Assemblage art allows for unique and inventive expressions, as artists can repurpose and transform ordinary items into something visually striking and thought-provoking.
This event focused on the journey of a prototype, featuring samples of projects/products done by Al Riwaq and Fab Lab Bahrain members, and showcasing the journey required to reach the final states of a product.
The event featured an accompanying talk, which promoted an open discussion about the concept of prototyping, its purpose, and how it is impacted by current technology advancements, and hands on activity titled “Prototypes: What is a prototype and why do we need it?” delivered by a prototyping & digital fabrication expert.
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is one of Saudi Arabia’s leading cultural entities, and a destination for creativity and innovation. The Center supports the growth of the Kingdom’s creative industry by focusing on talent and sector development and offering opportunities for creatives to connect, learn and enhance their capabilities in initiatives such as Ithra’s Creativity Conference, Tanween where this year, in its 6th edition, we delved into the theme of “Scale.”
This session served as an excellent platform to introduce the talented community to Tanween, the program objectives, and what's in store for the year of 2023.
Attendees also got a 20% discount on the "A Day with an Expert" program. This unique opportunity allowed individuals to spend a day with a leading expert in their field, unlocking new dimensions of knowledge and expertise.
We were pleased to introduce artist and writer Amani Al-Tawash to Al Riwaq Art Space, where we hosted the launch of her book (Banat Gulnar) accompanied by an Art Showcase, which was an extension of her book.
Visitors got the chance to go on an exhibition walk with artist Ali Milad to get a closer look at his artworks and a more open discussion about his creative process during his "Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They May Appear" exhibition.
Through the use of analog photography, text, video, and sound – this work foregrounds a seemingly improvised yet coordinated interplay between public dumpsters, stray cats, and humans.
