WHAT'S ON - Warehouse 421
- Art Salon Team
- Apr 28
- 2 min read
NYUAD MFA Graduate Exhibition 2025
Unstable Grounds
18 MAY - 7 SEPT 2025
Unstable Grounds: NYUAD MFA Graduate Exhibition 2025 presents the work of graduate students completing the two-year Master of Fine Arts in Art and Media at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Marking the fourth year of collaboration between 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD, this exhibition highlights the research and experimentation of the 2025 MFA cohort, whose work explores the environment, displacement, migration, memory, and human connection.
The artists in this exhibition, Dima Abou Zannad, Bao, Adele Bea Cipste, Hala El Abora, Mowen Li (Amira), Jude Maharmeh, Safeya Sharif, and Danutė Vaitekūnaitė, engage with themes of the origin stories of flora, fauna, and water as metaphors for environmental and economic cycles; memory and its role in shaping contemporary perceptions; and communion as a site of vulnerability and celebration, reflecting on displacement, community, and belonging.
Working across photography, drawing, mixed media, installation, video, sculpture, painting, printmaking, and performance, the artists push the boundaries of their disciplines, creating interdisciplinary works that challenge and expand conventional forms. While this cohort is diverse and international, their practices are deeply grounded in local specificity, responding to the landscapes, urban environments, commercial exchange zones, and creative histories of West Asia. Like past cohorts, they have advanced their material and conceptual inquiries through theoretical and archival approaches.
Through this collaboration, 421 Arts Campus and NYUAD support the development of emerging contemporary practices in the region, providing MFA graduates with a platform to share their artistic research and growth. The program continues to evolve, attracting artists from around the world at different stages in their careers, expanding through increased student enrollment, visiting artist engagements, and post-MFA opportunities such as residencies with 421 and Yale School of Art.
The 2025 cohort would like to thank their MFA faculty for their guidance and mentorship throughout the program.
In memory of Tarek Al-Ghoussein (1962–2022), professor, mentor, and artist, whose legacy continues to shape the MFA program at NYUAD.
About Warehouse 421
421 Arts Campus is an independent platform dedicated to emerging artists and creative practitioners in the UAE and across the region. A site for research, learning and experimentation, 421 provides a nurturing environment for emergent creative practices and those who want to harness the arts as an agent for social inquiry and transformation. 421 encourages practitioners to explore the potential of public spaces as a means for progress and community engagement through a wide-ranging programmatic model that facilitates artistic exchange and critical dialogue.
Located in Abu Dhabi’s Mina Zayed, 421 presents a year-round program of exhibitions, talks, workshops, special events and educational initiatives that offer accessible learning opportunities to the wider community and the general public. Many of the 421 programs are organized in collaboration with local, regional and international partners, engaging children, students, educators, and creative professionals in a participatory approach to artistic and creative practice. These programs are designed to develop artistic and creative skills, supporting the growth of the UAE’s creative ecosystem.
(Source: https://www.421.online/about/)
Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday, 10 am - 8 pm
Monday's Closed
Address: Zayed Port - Mina Zayed - Abu Dhabi
