Celebrating a decade of art prints at Swatch Art Peace Hotel

Following a new partnership with Alserkal Advisory, a leading Dubai cultural entity, and in the spirit of Expo 2020 Dubai, Swatch presents a special anniversary exhibition of artworks by 10 artists who once held a residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel.

 

Founded 10 years ago in Shanghai, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel was conceived as a space for artists to develop their creative expression. To celebrate its first decade, Swatch is launching this exhibition in Dubai, taking advantage of being the Official Timekeeping Provider of Expo 2020 Dubai.

The ten featured artists are as eclectic as Expo 2020 itself: Alec Von Bargen, visual artist from the United States; Benedikt Partenheimer, photographer from Germany; Donal Turner, French artist and illustrator who has created a special diary about the Swatch Art Peace Hotel; Jordi Fornies, Spanish visual artist, musician and composer based in Singapore; Katharina Lehmann from Russia, visual artist based in Germany; Lei Lei from China, experimental animation artist; Mujin from China, independent film director and video artist; Ouma, Japanese visual artist; Sarah Song, new media artist and techno-impressionist based in Hong Kong and Shanghai; and Julian Palacz, digital and conceptual artist based in Austria.

The exhibition features a range of pieces, from large-scale installations to curated illustrations. To reinforce Swatch‘s presence at Expo 2020 Dubai and the link with the Alserkal Avenue arts district, Swatch also selected five local UAE artists to design artwork for its personalisation platform, Swatch x You:

Ebtisam Abdulaziz, a multidisciplinary artist and writer whose United Insights design represents her celebration of the UAE’s Golden Jubilee.

Khalid Mezaina, illustrator and textile artist, whose digital illustration Doors is inspired by the intricate patterns on the metal doors of traditional UAE houses.

Naor Al-Suwaidi, who has created an abstract representation of how we find love in places, people and nature with Always Time for Love.

Diaa Allam, calligrapher, muralist and live art performer, whose This Time Shall Pass is a timeless reminder that even unprecedented events will come to an end.

Khalid Al Banna, textile artist who adopts elements of Islamic art and geometry in Dynamic of Motion to convey the relationship between Emirati culture and the Island.

After the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice; the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland; the PSA in Shanghai; the Fondazione Feltrinelli in Milan and the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts; the Swatch Art Peace Hotel finally arrives on Alserkal Avenue.

In parallel, a digital exhibition of traces from the Swatch Art Peace Hotel will be available at www.swatch-art-peace-hotel.com as part of a global programme developed by Swatch to partner with leading cultural institutions around the world. With this prestigious and unique collaboration with Alserkal, the 10th anniversary of the brand‘s artist residency comes to an end.

 

The exhibition will be open until 31 March 2022, coinciding with the end of Expo 2020 Dubai. Swatch x You artworks by UAE artists will also be available until that date.