The UAE Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale presents 'Washwasha,' an exhibition curated by Bana Kattan with assistant curator Tala Nassar. The show features six artists—Mays Albaik, Jawad Al Malhi, Farah Al Qasimi, Alaa Edris, Lamya Gargash, and Taus Makhacheva—whose works explore the concept of whispering in Arabic, encompassing oral history, language, rumor, and daily noise. Installations include glass sculptures, sound-based pieces from barbershops and farms, and a reconstructed hammam installation by Al Malhi that plays recordings of wedding rituals. The exhibition runs until November 22.
This presentation matters because it marks a shift toward deeply personal, biographical work in contemporary art, as noted by curator Kattan, who observed that all six artists leaned into their own histories—a departure from recent trends. By centering on an Arabic onomatopoeia, 'Washwasha' makes the exhibition accessible to non-Arabic speakers while grounding it in regional culture. The show also highlights the UAE's growing role in global art discourse, using sound and memory to create a multi-sensory portrait of the nation that challenges conventional national pavilion presentations.