Press conference on March 20: Monira Al Qadiri’s Kiasma exhibition revolves around the question of our common destiny

The press conference starts at 11:00. Before that, media representatives have the opportunity to explore the exhibition from 10:00. The exhibition will be open for preview until 13:00.

The artist will be present at the conference.

More information: Communications Officer Kiira Koskela, kiira.koskela@kiasma.fi, +358 50 4786 861

Arrival: The doors of the museum open at 10:00. The address is Mannerheiminaukio 2, 00100 Helsinki.

About the exhibition

Oil’s dual role in generating wealth and causing crises is a central theme in the new exhibition by artist Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983). The subject is personal for her: Al Qadiri grew up next door to oil refineries in Kuwait and experienced the Gulf War as a child.

The exhibition features sculptures and video works from the last decade. Some of them are very large, while the smallest are only a centimetre in diameter. Various sculptures echo the shapes of the blades and the molecular structures of the chemicals used in oil drilling. Al Qadiri’s works are characterised by iridescent rainbow colours that are reminiscent of oil and the shimmering surface of pearls. 

In her video works, the artist often returns to her childhood experiences. For the child living close to an oil refinery, the industrial structure evoked thoughts of a glowing metropolis rather than of environmental destruction. Meanwhile, burning oil fields were her first conscious encounter with oil. 

Al Qadiri’s works also contain references to the history of her family. Before the oil boom, one important source of livelihood in the region was pearl diving, in which her grandfather worked. In the 1950s, the oil industry lifted the small country of Kuwait out of poverty and into prosperity, and in so doing brought an end to the pearl-diving industry. 

The exhibition opens to the public on March 21.

Artist’s biography 

Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) is a Kuwaiti artist educated in Japan. She currently lives and works in Berlin. 

Her solo exhibitions include “The Archaeology of Beasts” (Bozar Brussels, 2024); “Benzene Float” (Halle Verriere, 2024); “Haunted Water” (UCCA Dune, 2023), “Mutant Passages” (Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2023); “Holy Quarter" (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 2022); “Refined Vision” (Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, 2022); “Holy Quarter” (Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2020).

Select group exhibitions include Desert X Al Ula (Al Ula, 2024); 24th Biennial of Sydney (Sydney, 2023–24); 8th Boras Biennial (Sweden, 2024); Sharjah Biennial 15 (Sharjah, 2023); 15th Asia Art Biennial, Taiwan (2021); Dubai Expo 2020 (2021); “Our World is Burning” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2020); “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars” (MoMA PS1, New York, 2019–20). In 2022, Al Qadiri was featured in the Venice Biennale’s central exhibition “The Milk of Dreams.”

Monira Al Qadiri
Deep Fate
21.3.–7.9.2025