Farah Al Qasimi, Anood Playing House Flipper, 2023
ABORT, RETRY, FAIL, Farah Al Qasimi’s exhibition at Delfina Foundation, supported by Abu Dhabi Festival, presents works based on the artist’s fondness for gaming.
The title of the show stems from an error message that used to show up on the screen of the artist’s family’s computer.
For Al Qasimi, it was a computer that offered an escape from reality and a connector to the world.
Vibrant photographs, vinyl wallpaper and a commissioned video work, take over the space at Delfina Foundation until the 20th November.
The series of photographs captured in both the United States and the United Arab Emirates, depict gamers’ staring at screens, moments of life, the everyday, aspects of nostalgia, concerns, the future, cultures merging, a globalised world, globalised societies; all converging in the artist's striking, dynamic series.
Upon entering the exhibition space, eclectic powerful colour pops out from Al Qasimi’s work, where portraits, places and objects are tinted with elements from the past and of the future, embodying reflection—a reflection on our alienation from nature and a world that is in a rapid ecological catastrophe. An ode to the sun glistening brightly across the works, with the sun’s orange colour set across different circumstances.
Works that feel both set in a fictional and a real setting, where the material world enters a world of gaming, photographs of gamers, their gaze hooked on the screen, our gaze hooked on Farah Al Qasimi’s expressive work, time travelling via photography into memories, concerns, and technology, shimmering ligh, shimmering hope.
FARAH AL QASIMI: ABORT, RETRY, FAIL
until — 20/11/2023 at Delfina Foundation
Installation view of Farah Al Qasimi: Abort, Retry, Fail at Delfina Foundation 04/10/2023 – 20/11/2023
All pictures taken at Delfina Foundation