Contemplating chaos: Richi Bhatia’s immersive solo show lands in Dubai
Plus: Korean film, summer eats, refugee cinema, and Dubai’s four-day workweek.
Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.
This week we spotlight the Korean Film Festival in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the solo exhibition by the Indian artist Richi Bhatia exploring the concept of transnationalism, or moving between two worlds, a film about Palestinian refugees trying to survive in Athens, and Dubai’s announcement of a four-day summer workweek starting July 1.
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Happy reading,
Rebecca
P.S. Have feedback or tips on Dubai's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.
1. Leading the week: “Antevasin – the one who sits at the border of two worlds”
A view from the exhibition “Antevasin – the one who sits at the border of two worlds,” featuring works by Richi Bhatia. (Photo: Altamash Urooj, courtesy of Richi Bhatia and Gallery Isabelle, Dubai)
The UAE-based Indian multimedia and performance artist Richi Bhatia in her latest solo exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the liminality of transnational borders and how they shape our understanding of the world and our relationships with both humans and other forms of life. At Gallery Isabelle, Bhatia presents “Antevasin – the one who sits at the border of two worlds” a powerful, deeply intimate and at times discomforting presentation of work that prompts viewers to contemplate their own existence, their fragility and strength and the shifting states of life and death, where beauty, chaos and destruction regularly collide.
“‘Antevasin,’ a Sanskrit term, which means someone who sits at the border of two worlds, seemed fitting as a title as I am looking at meat as an object of inquiry and as a transnational object,” Bhatia told Al-Monitor. “I was interested in looking at the various lenses through which this object was being read and shaped, which included religion, state politics and mythology.”
Notably, Bhatia incorporates fish scales in varying colors, at times forming tapestry-like objects, and at others covering makeshift structures resembling tents. Hanging on one side of the gallery is a sculpture made of sausages. In “The Animals, the Bodies, and Coefficient of Time” (2025), a series of shelters constructed from fish scales reflect the exterior and interior contours of migrant and temporary worker accommodations in India and Dubai.
“Walking in the fish and then meat markets have been one of the key components of my practice,” explains Bhatia. “Maneuvering within different market spaces in India and then in the UAE, I was interested in different interfaces of the market as a space and meat as an object of inquiry.”
Bhatia says she has been interested in “looking at the market as a fictional landscape that is affected by larger global and economic events and the hierarchies it creates.”
The works chart the process of an animal on its way to becoming food from the mutation to the abstraction of the animal body. The forms Bhatia creates to reflect this journey offer highly intimate contemplations on the fragility of life.
There is no singular centerpiece in this exhibition. Instead, the works unfold as if in an ethereal marketplace inviting the viewer into moments of meditation and unease as they contemplate the themes the works reflect: labor, life, death, food, species and the nature of embodiment.
Dates: Through Sept. 10
Location: Gallery Isabelle, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz 1
Find more information here.
2. Word on the street: INA
An interior view of INA in J1 Beach, Dubai. (Photo: Courtesy of INA)
INA, a new restaurant in Dubai’s luxury beachfront dining destination J1, immerses guests in an upscale African-inspired setting serving seasonally sourced, flame-grilled food. Australian-born chef Glen Ballis’s first venture in the United Arab Emirates, INA offers an international menu centered around fresh produce and other high-quality ingredients with a focus on natural flavors further enhanced by a woodfired grill that diners can view in the kitchen through a window.
Inspired by the beauty of a terracotta African sunset, the interiors are decadent and immersive, highlighting raw wood accents; deep oranges and reds; warm, low lighting; and a selection of curated African contemporary and traditional artworks. Be sure to try the grilled medjool dates with Wagyu ham and manouri cheese; the Hokkaido scallops served with celery kiwi fruit dressing, and Westholme Wagyu beef from Queensland, Australia.
Location: J1 Beach, 71A St, Jumeirah — Jumeirah 1
Find more information here.
3. Dubai diary
Adjei Tawiah. “Pearl Necklace,” 2023. Sponge and oil on canvas, 180 x 120 cm (Courtesy of Opera Gallery)
• “Summer Mix” at Opera Gallery Dubai
From lively textured abstraction and gestural figuration to bold, Pop Art canvases injected with vibrant hues, Opera Gallery’s group show “Summer Mix” brings together works by international artists to offer a poignant presentation of contemporary art produced in the past decade. The works on canvas are by emerging as well as established international talent, including Thomas Dillon, KAWS, George Morton-Clark, Takashi Murakami, Pieter Obels, Alex Sutcliffe, and Adjei Tawiah, among others.
Dates: Through Sept. 1
Location: Opera Gallery Dubai, Gate Village, Building 3, DIFC
Find more information here.
• Korean Film Festival
After screenings in Abu Dhabi last week, the Korean Film Festival moves on to Dubai. Staged by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the UAE and the Korean Cultural Center under the theme “Music,” this year’s festival showcases eight Korean movies from various genres. The opening film, “Parasite” (2019), as well as subsequent films, incorporate music as a central theme and a powerful cinematic element enhancing the emotional depth of the films. A highlight of the festival includes a K-Movie OST Live Concert, featuring live performances of soundtracks from popular Korean films. The Choi Yeowan Group performs reimagined melodies from such movies like “My Sassy Girl” (2001) and “The Host” (2006) as well as “Parasite.”
Dates: June 27–29
Location: Mohammed Bin Rashid Library
Find more information here.
• “To a Land Unknown”
If you’re wishing to escape the heat with a good movie, head to Cinema Akil on Alserkal Avenue to watch “To a Land Unknown” (2024), charting the story of Palestinian refugees, Chatila and Reda, who live on the outskirts of Athens and are saving to buy fake passports so they can leave the country. After Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila develops a plan that involves their posing as smugglers and taking hostages to escape their challenging and hopeless situation before it is too late.
Dates: Until June 1
Location: Cinema Akil, Warehouse 68, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz 1
Find more information here.
4. Book of the week: “The Ungrateful Refugee”
This moving book by the Iranian-American novelist Dina Nayeri was published in 2019, when the global refugee crisis reached an unprecedented level, with more than 70 million people forcibly displaced, according to the United Nations. That number has since risen. By the end of April 2025, there were 122.1 million forcibly displaced people, according to the annual Global Trends Report, released in April by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The problem persists.
“The Ungrateful Refugee” is as timely now as when it was first published. Nayeri does not offer solutions in this compelling read, but instead emphasizes how refugees deserve the dignity and freedom to tell their stories. The book is part personal memoir, recounting her journey from Iran to the West, while also weaving in stories of refugees making their way to Europe.
5. View from Dubai
Baber Afzal, in collaboration with Michal Klimczak, “Luminous,” 2016, featuring Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in a mysterious, glowing light. (Courtesy of Baber Afzal)
The Dubai-based photographer and visual artist Baber Afzal, originally from Pakistan, was inspired by the natural beauty of his homeland to become a photographer. He is known for his breathtaking and captivating images of the Dubai skyline, which is ever-changing. The appearance of a new skyscraper makes it impossible to recapture the same cityscape that existed before it, making Afzal’s images documentation of a moment in time for a city in constant transformation.
6. By the numbers
- Last week, Dubai announced a four-day summer workweek, effective from July 1 to Sept. 12.
- Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), June 2 –Aug. 31, offers 66 consecutive days of world-class shopping promotions, including city-wide raffles, dining experiences and live entertainment.