Dubai Émirats arabes unis
Perrotin is pleased to present Altered States, Monira Al Qadiri’s second solo exhibition with Perrotin, and first exhibition with Perrotin Dubai. Known for her multidisciplinary practice, Al Qadiri explores the intersections of global history, ecology, and the evolving relationship between natural and manufactured environments. Altered States presents four sculptural bodies of work that reflect upon the use of natural resources and how the global economy is shaped by oil extraction. Conceptually layered and politically resonant, Al Qadiri’s practice balances critical inquiry with a distinctly playful formal language. Her signature use of shimmering, iridescent color remains an underlying constant throughout her practice. The resulting sculptures are both visually seductive while inviting deeper reflection on systems of power, consumption, and materiality.
Based in Berlin, but born in Senegal and raised in Kuwait, Al Qadiri witnessed firsthand how the Gulf War revealed oil’s capacity to both empower and destabilize societies. Growing up in the Middle East in the 1980s, she recalls how oil refineries appeared as mystical, high-tech cityscapes—symbols of progress and modernity. That vision collapsed in 1990. At seven years old, Al Qadiri remembers being confined to her home beneath a sky blackened by smoke, an experience that became inseparable from her personal identity, her family’s history, and the collective memory of the region. It was only after leaving Kuwait—first to attend art school in Japan, then to Beirut and Amsterdam respectively, before eventually relocating to Berlin—that she began to fully grasp oil’s paradoxical power: its capacity to propel rapid advancement while simultaneously causing destruction. This enduring contradiction has remained central to her practice over the past decade.
For this exhibition, Al Qadiri presents two series inspired by drill bits, the industrial tools used to extract oil. Orbital (Auger) hovers between the geometry of ancient pyramids and the language of futuristic architecture, rotating continuously at the center of the exhibition space.
Her Spectrum series reimagine drill bit forms as alien-like structures, reflecting oil’s ability to reshape landscapes, economies, and bodies. The series also references Kuwait’s once-thriving pearl diving industry, replaced by oil, suggesting that today’s dominance may one day be supplanted in kind.
In examining the far-reaching impact of petrochemicals, Al Qadiri seeks to bring the inner mechanisms of this often invisible industry into sharper focus. Her series NAWA draws formal inspiration from the steel rope cables used to transport oil from deep within the earth to the surface. When cut open, these industrial cords reveal intricate, almost botanical cross-sections—patterns that are both mesmerizing and unexpectedly organic. By translating these forms into two-dimensional metallic sculptural compositions, Al Qadiri transforms instruments of extraction into a shimmering installation that evokes the impression of a metallic “flower field” in bloom.
The final series presented in the exhibition, Man of War, reimagines the marine organism of the same name: a striking life form composed of multiple entities functioning as a single body. With its venomous tentacles and delicate structure, the creature embodies a paradox of potency and vulnerability. Al Qadiri calls on us to consider how the past and present shape the futures we are capable of imagining— and to question which of those futures we ultimately choose to construct. She suggests that any meaningful path forward depends upon collective action.
At a moment when utopia and dystopia seem inseparable, Al Qadiri emphasizes the vital importance of interconnectedness amid shared vulnerability, presenting solidarity not merely as a means of survival, but as a lens through which to imagine new possibilities for the future.
Born in 1983 in Dakar, Senegal.
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) is a Kuwaiti artist whose practice explores global histories, ecologies, and cultural narratives. Raised between cultures and educated in Japan, where she earned a Ph.D. in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts, Al Qadiri’s work primarily focuses on the worldwide impact of natural resource extraction. Through a combination of in-depth research and humor, in her sculpture, videos, and installations, she brings to the fore the effects of what she refers to as “petro-culture”—a society shaped by and reliant on oil consumption. Often characterized by seductive shapes and iridescent colors, her work blends autobiographical elements, literature, pop culture, and science fiction. Whether juxtaposing opulence and adversity, tradition and innovation, and the fragility of both natural and human ecosystems, her work encourages deep reflection on the pressing and urgent issues of our time.
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