Palestinian artist Harb, who shuttles between Dubai and Rome, in his sculptural installation titled Unlimited Progress, presents the interplay between time and urban change in a fast-developing city such as Dubai, where large tracts of desert give way to urban expansion. Harb, who visited Dubai first in 2012, has been interested in architecture and urban development, and the city has provided him the backdrop to examine the “co-related relationship between progress and time”.

In his multimedia artworks, the artist has juxtaposed various references to pre-1948 Palestine with concrete blocks, which can be seen as a symbol of occupation, representing the apartheid wall, the road blocks encountered daily by Palestinians, and the intrusion of other architectural styles on Palestinian architecture.

The artworks highlight the fact that while architecture can provide shelter, it also has the potential to destroy people and obliterate their existence. Through the heaviness and destructive power of architecture, Harb speaks about the violence of occupation and the destruction of cultural narratives.

However, he also expresses hope in the power and potential of architecture to reverse the destruction and to construct a better future. The show is organised by Salsali Private Museum in collaboration with Athr gallery, Jeddah, and curated by Lara Khaldi.

The Written City exhibition looks at the spatial organization of city and state as a product of often conflicting political intentions. The exhibition analyzes the relationships between several political discourses and their design, interpretation and control of the urban and national space.

The Written City brings together contrasting perspectives of the construction, the use, the representations and the questioning or disputing of the political production of space.

The development of urban and national space often presupposes forms of physical or symbolic inclusion and exclusion. In that respect the exhibition deals with a number of spatial metaphors such as barricades, boundaries and fences or so-called “gated communities,” and at the same time the destruction or penetration of these types of partition.

The list of the participating artists forms a strong connection to a region in which political decisions and urbanisation are complicated and unstable. Amongst others are two artists from Palestine  – Raeda Saadeh and Hazem Harb – who are dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a particular reference to architecture of violence.

Having spent his childhood and teenage years growing up in the contested grounds of Gaza, Palestinian artist Hazem Harb’s artistic output serves as an apolitical, first hand ACCOUNT of this on-going conflict. In his works he deals with a number of core issues including war, loss, trauma, human vulnerability and global instability affected by the situation in the Occupied Territories of Palestine.

Harb has been working on this series, his first museum show, since 2008. For The Archaeology of Occupation series, Harb has super­imposed angular shapes onto landscape photographs. For The Tag Series, he has taken anonymous family portraits, placing squares over faces in the same way that Facebook prompts a user to “tag” or identify people in photos. “Tagging is about recognition of existence,” says El Khalil. “Here the artist is talking on behalf of the people saying ‘we are here, we are the people of the land’.” Also on display is a ­collection of ­photomontages made from pre-1948 images of Palestine.

While this show marks a significant point in Harb’s career, it also shows maturity and development for Athr, which started out as a ­contemporary art gallery in ­Jeddah but is quickly establishing itself as one of the most important initiatives in the Gulf. “One of our missions is to create dialogue,” El Khalil says. “It is very important for us that we bring to the world a dialogue that originates in Saudi Arabia but that also comes back to Saudi Arabia as well.

A special commission by Gaza-born artist Hazem Harb, on view during Art Week, memorialized the actual construction of the Avenue's expansion through video and sculpture; it was admittedly strange and uncomfortable to stand there and watch footage of half a dozen foreign laborers performing their tasks while singing, since labor conditions in the UAE don’t typically generate the most pleasing melodies. 

Hazem Harb’s The Invisible Landscape and Concrete Futures is a nostalgic yearning for a land lost to occupation. Questioning the notion of architecture being destructive rather than protective, Harb’s show, based largely on photographs of pre-1948 Palestine, is a large, moving exhibition that has taken him eight years to complete. It is showing at Salsali Private Museum in Alserkal Avenue.

Tomorrow, Hazem Harb’s first solo exhibition in Saudi Arabia opens in Athr Gallery. Harb, a Palestinian artist from Gaza, has explored Islamic geometry through his Al Baseera series - where, as art historian Salwa Mikdadi says, “he utilises colour to evoke a sense of loss and turmoil”.

In a setting better known for its collections from Pharaonic Egypt and imperial China, the paintings by Harb and Joha — both from Gaza — more than hold their own. Their confident, accomplished work combines visual beauty with a questioning sensibility that is intellectually as well as aesthetically satisfying.

Harb’s contributions to the exhibition come from the Invisibility series. Several feature single or paired heads set amid washes of muted colors — grays, blues and greens. Are these lakes or deserts? Calm or drowning? All have a sense of detachment and loneliness, their identities often half-obscured.

Hazem Harb, the prominent Palestinian artist who has just sold a series of photographs to the British Musuem in London and was one of the installation artists who took pride of place in Athr Gallery’s booth at Art Dubai last month, will be painting live all weekend in Dubai.

As part of Dubai Art Season 2014, Harb is one of three international aritsts occupying the ‘Live Artist Window’ at The Beach, the new leisure destination on JBR.

Saudi artist Sami al-Turki discusses the event within the context of being a participant as well as an established practitioner of video art.

Walking through the exhibition, there was an incredibly diverse range of material on show, ranging from documentary footage, to staged ‘performances’ and videos expressing a comical and light-hearted tone. 

Athr Gallery stated that video (works) is an introduction to video art in the region, showcasing artworks by the likes of Ahmed Mater and his camera view of Jamrat (the stone throwing ritual in Hajj); Ziad Antar’s short art/documentary on the 2006’s war in Lebanon with a mixture of sounds and visuals; Adel Abidin’s commentary on war and pop culture; Hans Op De Beeck’s architectural video masterpiece “Staging Silence 2;” David Zink Yi’s street dance performance; and Sami Alturki’s protest on overwhelming advertising billboards in the region.

Hazem Harb: I use faces embodying the forgotten past like the history of Palestinian people which is in a state of complete oblivion.

In its seventh edition this year, Art Dubai hosted 75 galleries from 30 different countries showcasing the creative and artistic work of 500 artists. Saudi Arabia was represented by Athr Gallery.

One of Athr Gallery’s developers, Adnan Manjal, said that their aim is “to expose the portfolio of unique and talented artists to the rest of the world, beyond the boarder of the Middle East”. Manjal added about Athr’s participation in London’s International Art’13, “even though the Middle East is a crucial point of focus for the gallery, Europe is equally important as we strongly believe our artists are of the same calibre and yet unique… Although Athr Gallery has collaborated with London-based galleries on several exhibitions in the past, Art’13 was a perfect platform to introduce Athr Gallery’s artists to the London’s art fairs.”

In Art’13, Athr Gallery has presented a solo exhibition of the Palestinian artist Hazem Hareb’s series “Inside-Outside”, “Me and the Other Half” and the video installation “Impossible Travel”, which consisted of beautiful conceptual photos that expressed his protest against the deterioration of the quality of life in Palestine.

This panel discussion focused on the emergence of contemporary art practice in Saudi Arabia and the challenges of making art and exhibiting it.

The Middle Eastern galleries selected for the initiative include Athr Gallery, Saudi Arabia and Lawrie Shabibi, UAE. Athr Gallery, located in Jeddah, will stage a solo presentation of a Palestinian artist’s work at London First. Hazem Harb will explore themes including war, loss, trauma, human vulnerability and global instability through his multi-media, conceptual works, ranging from large-scale paintings through to digital photography and video.

Athr Gallery from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be participating at this year's inaugural ART13 fair in London from March 1st to 3rd. The fair is a brand-new event that aims to reflect the shifting dynamics of the art world through engaging with emerging art hubs, galleries and artists worldwide, being a great platform for ATHR. They'll be bringing a solo booth to the 'London First' programme stand, featuring the work of acclaimed Palestinian multi-media artist Hazem Harb. Harb will be showing "Impossible Travel, Me and the Other Half & Inside-Outside", a presentation involving conceptual images of a hypothetical wall standing in his home country Palestine.