The A4 Space, a new hub for Dubai’s artists and creative thinkers, launched Monday night in a warehouse on Alserkal Avenue, in the heart of the industrial and gallery district of Al Quoz. The construction was so fresh that the sign out front was still being installed.
Many of the city’s cultural influencers were out en masse to support the Alserkal family’s latest contribution to the developing neighborhood. The mood was one of tight-knit community as guests snacked on canapés and bobbed their heads to the beats of Hamdan Al Abri, a Dubai-born singer/songwriter known for his soul sounds.
Open to the public six days a week, the A4 Space provides a much-needed hub where the city’s writers, gallerists, and thinkers can work, meet, and collaborate. With desks for quiet concentration and a hopscotch court out front, it is a good combination of practical and playful and will welcome everyone from industry professionals working in the area to art lovers stopping by for a cool drink between gallery visits. Downstairs is a café with strong coffee, fast Wi-Fi, and communal oak tables, as well as a screening room equipped with beanbag chairs, a concept store with a revolving selection of quirky t-shirts and jewelry for sale, and a project space that will play host to pop-up exhibitions and events year-round.
Up the steep stairs is a loft-style cultural library. Those who attended the opening each came with a book to contribute to the shelves; the donations are part of the #LEAVEYOURNOTE campaign, which encourages visitors and organizations to gift the library with a book that influenced them along with a personalized inscription. Guests snacked on cotton candy and popcorn while thumbing through titles including Palimpsest: Unstable Paintings for Anxious Interiors (a monograph of Kamrooz Aram’s paintings) The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease, and a leather-bound tome on Islamic architecture signed by Abdelmonem Alserkal, patron of the arts and the developer behind Alserkal Avenue.
Alserkal Avenue, which houses more than 20 contemporary art galleries and other innovative spaces, is set to double in size by the end of the year, with construction well underway. Let’s hope that accessible public transportation follows next, as the district is a challenge to reach without a car.
Image Credits: Courtesy of the A4 Space and Alserkal Avenue
—Danna Lorch
