Ayman Zedani’s investigative practice works to upend our comprehension of the past and challenge our acceptance of the future. His work includes videos, installations and immersive environments that consider the future of the Gulf. His resultant projects are platforms to invite audiences to observe human-nonhuman symbiosis, leaving his narratives open to a multitude of interpretations and questions. His arc of inquiry highlights the interactions and relationships of humans in the more-than-human world, framing his practices and projects as extended animism.

Zedani’s practice occurs beyond a strict classification and highlights a constant renegotiation with humanity’s relationship to nature, especially from a regional context. His previous projects include almost sacral quality to them, highlighting material play that feature stone, clay, charcoal, salt, and concrete in austere displays and have recently moved into manipulation of function and form of organic material including trees, plants, bacteria, and other living matter as well as more immersive storytelling featuring non-human protagonists.

The construction and consumption of nature in the Gulf are central to his explorative process, as well as elements of animist and polytheism themes found in pre-Islamic Arabia, where non-human elements existed in harmony with humans. New materialist philosophies such as the agency of matter and the notion of making kin, also feature in his approach in creating new hybrid spaces built on weaving the factual and fictional. His themes of speculative futures move beyond the margins of Gulf Futurism and centralize the legacy of regional ecological and cultural lineage. His multi-layered projects are built on a series of experiments and investigations exploring multi-species collaboration and various forms of knowledge as a foundation to overcome the challenges of the Anthropocene.

Zedani’s recent projects include The Heavens Is For All, Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2023); The keepers, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden (2022); The Valley of the Desert Keepers, Desert X AlUla (2022); The Desert Keepers, Portrait of a Nation II, ADMAF (2022); Between Desert Seas, Diriyah Biennale, Diriyah (2021); a permanent installation titled Terrapolis, The Sustainability Pavilion, Expo 2020, Dubai (2020); Between the Heavens and the Earth, Lahore Biennial, Lahore (2020); the return of the old ones, 21’39, Jeddah (2020); Between muddles and tangles, NYUAD Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2019); Sailing stones, Bienalsur International Biennial, Buenos Aires (2019); non-human-assembly, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2018); Khamsa, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2018). He won the inaugural Ithra Art Prize and presented a new project titled Mēm (2018) and had his debut solo show titled bahar-bashar-shajar-hajar, (sea-human-tree-stone) curated by Murtaza Vali, in Athr Gallery, Jeddah (2019).

Awards

  • Ithra Art Prize, 2018

  • Misk Art Grant, 2020

  • Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille Art Prize finalists, 2022

  • Cultural Award, Visual Arts Nomination, 2023

Curatorial projects

  • Hawas, Bahrain International Design Week, Bahrain, 2013.- program coordinator

  • artRiyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2015 - program coordinator

  • Sharjah Biennial 13, UAE, 2017 - curatorial coordinator

  • Act II: Upon a Shifting Plate, Lebanon, 2017 - curatorial coordinator

  • Sharjah Film Platform, inaugural edition, UAE, 2018 - senior program coordinator

  • Sharjah Biennial 14, UAE, 2019 - curatorial coordinator

  • Sharjah Film Platform, UAE, 2019 - senior program coordinator

Residencies

  • British Council and Royal College of Art, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2014

  • Goethe-Institut, Frankfurt, Berlin and Leipzig, Germany, 2016

  • Delfina Foundation Residency, London, United Kingdom, 2021

  • AlUla Artist Residency Program, AlUla, Saudi Arabia, 2023

Exhibitions

2023

  • Palimpsest of Time Exhibition, AlUla Artist Residency Program, Saudi Arabia.

  • Awwal Bait, Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

  • Biography of a Passage, 421, Dubai, UAE

2022

  • art-here-2022 - Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE

  • Nature and State, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany

  • Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia

  • Košice Seed Library: Seeds That Move, Šopa Gallery, Slovakia

  • Portrait of a Nation II: Beyond Narratives at ADMAF, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2021

  • Diriyah Biennale, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

  • Noor Al Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Dubai Expo 2020, Dubai, UAE

  • Riyadh Noor Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

2020

  • Misk Art Week, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan

  • I Love You, Urgently, 21,39 Jeddah Arts, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2019

  • From Within, MOC, Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

  • Speculative Landscapes, NYUAD, Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE

  • Bienalsur, Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • Zamkan, Ithra, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia 

  • bahar-bashar-shajar-hajar, solo show, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

2018

  • March Project, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • Mēm, Art Dubai, Ithra, Dubai, UAE

  • Refusing to Be Still, 21'39, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2017

  • Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE

  • TCA Abu Dhabi, Al Qattara Arts Centre, Al Ain, UAE

  • Four, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE

  • Letters, Athr, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

  • Shara Art Fair, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

  • Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE

  • Mind the Gap, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE

  • Tadafug, art Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2016

  • Vantage Point, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • Wujood, private show, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2015

  • Flatland, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  • Albareh art gallery, Manama, Bahrain.

2014

  • (e)merge art fair, October, Washington, USA.

  • Qualia, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh.

  • 21,39 Jeddah Arts, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

2013

  • [Un]Stitched Exhibition, Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  • Loud Art Exhibition, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

  • YSA, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.