Ala Younis: Past of a Temporal Universe

This exhibition spans the last two decades of Ala Younis’ hybrid practice as an artist-researcher-curator. Her archival installations, textiles, murals, mosaics, and drawings make subtle, startling connections among political, social, urban, and popular imaginaries. Informed by her training in architecture and visual cultures, Younis’ projects center on the physical developments and narrative intersections of the Arab geographies in which she grew up, frequently drawing from a wide range of formal and informal archives. The exhibition will debut a series of new commissions alongside iterations of major past projects. Together, these works trace conceptual and formal throughlines in her work, from the tools and skills she developed as she emerged in the art scene of Amman, Jordan, to her experiments in navigating new knowledge as she evolved the unique methods and perspective for which she is renowned today.

Younis’ projects have appeared in exhibitions worldwide. She has participated in the biennials of Dhaka, Istanbul, Venice, Gwangju, Ural, Orléans, Ljubljana, Kaunas, Sharjah, and the Islamic Arts in Jeddah, as well as the New Museum Triennial: The Ungovernables (2012, New York). She curated Kuwait’s first pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2013), served as co-Head of Berlinale’s Forum Expanded (2021-2024), co-Artistic Director of Singapore Biennale 2022, Artistic Director of the Academy of the Arts of the World in Cologne (2023-2025), and a recent research scholar at al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art, at New York University Abu Dhabi. She co-founded the independent publishing initiative, Kayfa ta, which researches and publishes on and through independent endeavors. Her work and writings are published in numerous publications, including e-flux, Nafas Art, Mizna Journal, Ibraaz, Creative Time, Camera Austria, Divan Journal, and Flash Art. Younis holds a BSc. in Architecture from the University of Jordan (1997) and MRes in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London (2016).

Younis’ artworks are in several major institutional collections, including: Le Frac Centre-Val de Loire (France); Darat al Funun (Jordan); the Uppsala Art Museum (Sweden); Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah Art Foundation, and Jameel Art Collection (all UAE); and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (US).

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Opening Reception Ala Younis: Past of a Temporal Universe