Adliya, Bahrain - ABCAD (Albareh Centre for Art, Design and Visual Culture) is an initiative of Albareh Art Gallery and operates under a fully independent space. The centre offers a variety of programmes in different fields such as contemporary art and design to further develop the contemporary art and design scene in Bahrain.

ABCAD and Albareh Art Gallery, have recently launched the “Artist Leadership Programme” initiative that is running at ABCAD from January 17th through April 15th.

Conceived by art patron and ABCAD/Albareh Art Gallery founder Hayfa Aljishi, the “Artist Leadership Programme” is a communiy-centred initiative focusing on the development of the skills and capabilities of artists in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

For the first edition of ALP, Albareh/ABCAD have invited Dutch artist and curator Mo Reda to mentor the artists. As a part of the initiative, few group-exhibitions will be held by the end of March at Albareh.

This project is the first under the Artist Leadership Programme (ALP), which is a non-profit activity that aims to develop and support the practice of artists in Bahrain through mentorships and exchanges with artists from abroad.

The artistic route offered by the programme is made of several on-going workshops, aimed to train participating artists in the development of professional skills in the art world, enhancing their ability to work conceptually, and to broaden their knowledge of contemporary art practice both in the region and in a global context.

This art project focuses on developing the qualities and visual language of 30 Bahrain-based artists in order to contribute to the Bahraini contemporary art scene. These 30 emerging artists are selected due to the promise they show in contributing to defining the future landscape of Bahrain’s art scene. This project will contain several research-based exhibitions. As part of this project, ALP offers customised training plans for each individual artist to reinforce conceptual qualities under the umbrella of a group exhibition. This project offers an intellectual artistic route that contains several workshops to train artists in developing professional skills, ability to concepts, and knowledge of contemporary art practice.

The concept of the group exhibitions commenced with a series titled “Preludes”. The concept, curated by Mo Reda, envisions to work together with a group of Bahraini artists, producing series of weekly exhibitions and happenings that spotlight a specific work by one of Bahrain’s artists. Personal dialogues between mentor and artist is an effective way to best brings out what each of the artists possess while remaining relevant to the realities of Bahrain’s art scene. Each of the artists featured are drastically different in their processes and are at different stages in their creative careers and each of these preludes offers the audience a visual insight into the world and potential of the artists.

Varying from exhibiting a single painting that was rejected from an art contest, to experimental sound art performances, installation art works and many other exciting projects, this series is of significance to Bahrain in the way it reimagines the activities of an established art gallery and how it interacts with artists and the general public. This playfulness in presentation further strengthens the notion that the art space fosters intellectual exchange alongside unique creative experiments.

About ABCAD

ABCAD (Albareh Centre for Art, Design and Visual Culture) is an initiative of Albareh Art Gallery and operates under a fully independent space. The centre offers a variety of programmes addressing different fields such as contemporary art and design. The initiative was born out of the pressing need to further develop an scene for contemporary art and design in Bahrain, encouraging local artists for wider participation and to make a positive contribution to art and design.

About Mo Reda

Dutch artist/curator Mo Reda has worked previously in Bahrain. He cofounded the Alwan338 festival and was the artistic director of the festival that was launched during Spring of Culture 2012. Part of this festival was the exhibition of “I am the other”, which was designed and curated by Mo Reda himself. 30 artists from Bahrain participated in this exhibition, which was a major contributor towards Bahrain’s contemporary art scene. For this exhibition, Mo Reda worked closely with the 30 artists to coach them into the concept and mentor them as they produced new works.

For further information please contact:

Hayfa Aljishi

Founder and Creative Director

Albareh Art Gallery

Building 38 | Road 3601 | Area 336

PO Box 26282 | Adliya | Kingdom of Bahrain

Tel. +973 1771 7707

E-mail: hayfa@albareh.com