Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia

The official catalog of the UAE National Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, featuring Al Saadi’s travel-oriented installations interwoven with scrolls, stones and sardine tins

Copublished with the National Pavilion UAE, Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia accompanies Abdullah Al Saadi’s (born 1967) solo exhibition in the United Arab Emirates’ pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. One of the country’s leading conceptual artists, Al Saadi is a wanderer, chronicler, cartographer and storyteller. He has traveled widely, from Asia to South America to Antarctica. His eight artworks featured in the pavilion document these voyages--meticulously recorded through drawings, paintings and diaries--and the natural or artificial objects he encounters, which he also incorporates into his practice. This catalog documents the Biennale pavilion and includes contributions from Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi and authors Aisha Bilkhair and Younes Mashish, which guide readers through the geographical and social constellations that inform Al Saadi’s work.