Arnar Asgeirsson and Yazan Khalili: The Island

The installation, which is open throughout the duration of Art Dubai 2015, is located on the Madinat Jumeirah’s Fort Island.
The work is themed around the concept of past futures, questioning ideas of reality, imagined and perceived, of belonging and the theatrical nature of life itself.

The Island is an extension of Khalili’s artistic practice, which uses photography and the written word to unpack historically constructed landscapes. Khalili has been given free rein to fully conceptualise and create his art Bar, from drinks to decor and entertainment ambience. The Island is inspired by Dubai’s skyline and Khalili’s idea of past futures. The installation features a 15 metre-high facade of a mountain, which is set against the backdrop of the city’s skyscrapers, juntaposing dubai’s natural desert landscape against its modern cityscape.
Khalili’s Art Bar vision permeates every part of the installation from concept to the design and programming of the space. He commented: “When developing the installation I was inspired by the architecture of Dubai. The city’s skyline incites the questioning of imagined futures and of created pasts.”

Yazan Khalili, lives and works in and out of Palestine, received a degree in Architecture from Birzeit University and graduated with a masters degree from Goldsmith’s College, University of London. He was one of the founding members of Zan Design Studio and a finalist in the A. M. Qattan Foundation’s Young Artists Award, as well as an artist-in-residence at The Delfina Foundation in London and The Danish Film School.
Using photography and the written word, Khalili unpacks historically constructed landscapes. Borrowing from cinematic language, images become frames where the spectator embodies the progression of time and narratives.
Khalili has had solo shows at Imane Fares Gallery in Paris, Transit Gallery in Belgium, French Cultural Centres in Palestine and The Delfina Foundation in London. He also participated in group shows in Ramallah, Amman, Rome, Granada, Dubai, London, Venice, Berlin and Sharjah.