Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Cultural Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of "A way of surviving, a way of life…", a captivating exhibition by renowned artist Zineb Sedira. On display from 3 October 2024 to 8 March 2025, the exhibition showcases Sedira's pioneering cinematic practice, spanning from 2002 to 2022, and her profound exploration of identity, memory, culture, and resistance.

Born in 1963 to Algerian parents, Sedira's work explores personal narratives to illuminate broader global anxieties surrounding cultural emancipation and the complexities of diaspora. Featuring four impactful films – Dreams Have No Titles (2022), mise-en-scène (2019), Image Keepers (2010), and Mother Tongue (2002) – the exhibition offers a poignant narrative on the complexities of migration, memory, and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge.

The centerpiece installation of the exhibition, Dreams Have No Titles, is presented as a full-scale cinema box within Cultural Foundation's atrium. This award-winning film, which premiered at the French Pavilion of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, interweaves Sedira's personal story and the history of anticolonial cinema in Algeria under the themes of displacement, mobility, integration, and longing. Through an autobiographical lens, Sedira examines her own life experiences against the backdrop of avant-garde cinema and diasporic narratives.

The film mise-en-scène reimagines archival footage from 1960s Algerian anti-colonial films, presenting a new narrative that highlights both Algeria's pivotal historical moments and the collaborative spirit of activist filmmakers. The film's grainy texture, a result of time's effect on the original film, serves as a metaphor for the degradation of memory and the challenges of archival preservation.

Image Keepers, a video installation showcases a dual biographical portrait of photographer Mohamed Kouaci, as seen through the eyes of his widow, Safia. Through a moving interview, the installation interweaves their personal and professional lives.

One of Sedira's most acclaimed video installations, Mother Tongue uses a triple-screen format to present conversations with three generations of women: herself, her mother, and her daughter. It explores how memory transmission evolves as a result of shifting languages across generations.

Sedira's internationally recognized films blend archival research, oral histories, and intimate storytelling. By weaving together personal and family stories with official histories, she creates nuanced perspectives that challenge and reinterpret existing narratives, offering profound insights into both the personal and the political.

This captivating exhibition is free and accessible to all, inviting audiences to engage with Sedira's powerful work on the ground floor of Cultural Foundation.

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About Cultural Foundation  

Opened in 1981 under the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Cultural Foundation was the United Arab Emirates’ first multi-purpose community centre, a public institution with a mandate to foster and nurture cultural consciousness for all citizens of the recently unified UAE. Placed next to the historic Qasr al Hosn, this building fundamentally represented a new outlook on the role of culture in the modern UAE, with the introduction of the first national library, a theatre, and a multi-purpose exhibition hall. Between 2009 and 2018, the Cultural Foundation underwent extensive conservation measures including repairs, rehabilitation, and some adaptive reuse. Its much-anticipated reopening took place in December 2018.  

The Cultural Foundation presents a cutting-edge visual arts programme of exhibitions, workshops, and events. It also showcases a world-class, contemporary, and home-grown performing arts programme in its newly renovated 900-seat theatre. It has transformed its library to become the Abu Dhabi Children’s Library. The state-of-the-art facility presents innovative hands-on learning programmes for children and families.  For more information, please visit: culturalfoundation.ae

About the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi:  

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) drives the sustainable growth of Abu Dhabi’s culture and tourism sectors, fuels economic progress and helps achieve Abu Dhabi’s wider global ambitions. DCT Abu Dhabi cements the ecosystem around a shared vision of the emirate’s potential, and use the best tools, policies, and systems to support the culture, creative and tourism industries.  

For more information about the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, please visit: dct.gov.ae and visitabudhabi.ae and abudhabiculture.ae.  

Media Contact 
Ishita Singh
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Email: ishita.singh@ogilvy.com