Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind: A Guided Tour of Contemporary Arab Art and Specialty Coffee Tasting

Date: Sunday. August 25, 2024

Time: 5:00 pm

Registration fee: 50 AED

This multi-sensory experience combines a guided tour of the exhibit “One Hundred Years of Painting: Arab Art from 1916 to 2017” with a tasting of specialty coffee from around the world. Paintings by award-winning contemporary artists Khaled Ben Slimane, Najat Makki, and Ali Hassan are paired with Ethiopian, Colombian, Brazilian, Ugandan, and Salvadoran coffees roasted in the UAE. 

Khaled Ben Slimane is a ceramicist, sculptor and painter who uses letters, words, and Qur’anic verses to create art with spiritual elements. The recipient of numerous awards, including the 2002 Grand Prize in Vietri sul Mare in Italy and National Cultural Prize in Tunis, Ben Slimane has art work in museums worldwide, including the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC and the British Museum of Art. 

Najat Makki is an Emirati artist best known for her curiosity for color and dreamlike, abstracted depictions of the natural landscape in the UAE. She was bestowed the distinction of France’s “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (Order of the Arts and the Letters) as Chevalier by the French Ministry of Culture.

Ali Hassan is one of Qatar’s most celebrated artists, known for his semi-abstract mixed media compositions (watercolor, pencil, and even ceramic) art works. In 2009, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Qatar honored him with a retrospective.

Representatives from Cazador Specialty Coffee Roasters will discuss notes and flavors of each coffee and how color is associated with flavor. Cazador is an Emirati-owned roastery based in the UAE.

The tour and tasting will be followed by a writing workshop open to all. This workshop creates space to reflect on meaning and explore concepts and experiences that the paintings and the taste of coffee evoke. Writing prompts will be provided.