Alserkal Arts Foundation · Warehouse 51
Fifteen researchers came to Al Quoz with a question.
Alserkal Arts Foundation commissions artistic projects, awards research grants and hosts residencies, for practitioners whose methods challenge institutional convention.
The research
Fifteen questions. Each one a residency.
Our reading of the Foundation’s published residency notes, from Fall 2023 to Fall 2025. Open one for the research behind it.
Field notes
Where the questions went looking.
The archive
Forty-nine residents. Sixteen cycles. One studio.
Every resident since the first cycle in Fall 2017, by season and by practice.
Research grants
For research that would fall between the cracks.
Grants for radical, intersectional, experimental research in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, the kind that slips past academic and cultural funding alike.
Chosen by
The residency
Two cycles a year. By nomination only.
Research-led, open to researchers, writers and artists from any field, and not limited to visual production. Each cycle is designed around shared interests, as an introduction to the region with room for something longer.
Common Room · Warehouse 51
A desk, a pantry and twelve million articles.
A free space for research and writing, group study and informal convening. Register once, then drop in for a desk or a comfortable chair.
- DesksDrop in, find a place, stay the day.
- JSTOROn the iMac at reception: over 12 million journals, articles and books.
- PantryShared with the offices and residents. Tea, coffee, a light bite.
- StorageOvernight space for books and research materials.
Programmes
Socially engaged. Often ephemeral.
Exhibitions, special commissions and artistic projects, thought through with artists, designers and curators. Collaborative, participatory, and built with a wide network of artists, institutions and ambitious initiatives. Scholars and practitioners take part in the associated programming, through critical feedback and peer exchange.