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Maydan: A Living Agora

April 14 – 22, 2025

Behrang Samadzadegan Vice, 2022

Behrang Samadzadegan
Vice, 2022
138 x 210 cm

Katya Traboulsi Qatar, 2016

Katya Traboulsi
Qatar, 2016
Hand painted resin and brass sticks

Brass base and top
Edition 2/6
73 x 21 x 21 cm

Katya Traboulsi, Afghanistan, 2016

Katya Traboulsi

Afghanistan, 2016
Hand carved and painted resin
Brass base and top
Edition 2/6
73 x 21 x 21 cm

Katya Traboulsi Iran, 2016

Katya Traboulsi
Iran, 2016
Hand painted porcelain
Brass base and top
73 x 21 x 21 cm

Katya Traboulsi Lebanon, 2016

Katya Traboulsi
Lebanon, 2016
Hand carved cedar wood
Brass base and top
Artist's Proof
73 x 21 x 21 cm

Farideh Lashai Gone Down the Rabbit Hole, 2010

Farideh Lashai
Gone Down the Rabbit Hole, 2010

Oil, acrylic and graphite on canvas, in four parts
220 x 220 cm overall

Farideh Lashai Keep Your Interior Empty of Food, You Mayest Behold Therein the Light of Interior

Farideh Lashai
Keep Your Interior Empty of Food, You Mayest Behold Therein the Light of Interior
Projected animated photographic images on painting (oil and graphite on canvas)
180 x 200 cm

Mehdi Farhadian, Allies, 2023

Mehdi Farhadian

Allies, 2023

Acrylic on Canvas

150 x120 cm

 

Parinaz Eleish Gharagozlou

Parinaz Eleish Gharagozlou
Being A Woman, 2022
Mixed Media and Collage on Canvas
179.705 x 152.4 cm

Reza Aramesh Action 184, 2016

Reza Aramesh
Action 184, 2016
Edtion of 3+AP Bronze
10 x 19 x 50 cm

Reza Aramesh Action 188: Metamorphosis – a study in liberation, 2017

Reza Aramesh
Action 188: Metamorphosis – a study in liberation, 2017
Height: 164 cm
Bronze

Soraya Sharghi The Thinker, 2023-24

Soraya Sharghi
The Thinker, 2023-24
Acrylic on Canvas
226.6 x 183 cm

Wassef Boutros Ghali

Wassef Boutros Ghali
Untitled, 2001

Acrylic on Canvas
71 x 43 in.
180.3 x 109.22 cm

Wassef Boutros Ghali

Wassef Boutros Ghali
Untitled, 2013

Acrylic on canvas
65 x 55 in.
165.1 x 139.7 cm

Y.Z Kami Endless Prayers XXXVII, 2009

Y.Z Kami
Endless Prayers XXXVII, 2009
Mixed media on paper
114.5 x 84 cm

Y.Z Kami Endless Prayers XVII, 2009

Y.Z Kami
Endless Prayers XVII, 2009
Mixed media on paper
158.8 x 124.5 cm

Marwan Sahmarani Untitled, 2024

Marwan Sahmarani
Untitled, 2024
Oil on canvas
150 x 170 cm

Jehangir Vazifdar Serenity

Jehangir Vazifdar
Serenity
Oil on Canvas
140 x 112 cm

Jehangir Vazifdar The Athletes, 1992

Jehangir Vazifdar
The Athletes, 1992
Felt-tip on paper
21 x 29 cm
61 x 55 cm (framed)

Jehangir Vazifdar Untitled (two faces), 1999

Jehangir Vazifdar
Untitled (two faces), 1999
Felt-tip on paper
21 x 29 cm
61 x 55 cm (framed)

Azza Al Qubaisi

Azza Al Qubaisi
ECO STELLAR 2, 2021
Recycled Aluminum from aircraft seats
170 x 170 x 160 cm

Azza Al Qubaisi

Azza Al Qubaisi
ECO STELLAR 1, 2020
Recycled Aluminum from aircraft seats
150 x 140 x 120 cm

Katya Emelyanova Mr. Mojo

Katya Emelyanova
Mr. Mojo

Ceramic Glazed, Metal Stage
210 x 37 x 37 cm 

Sofia Yeganeh In Between Us, 2024

Sofia Yeganeh
In Between Us, 2024
Hand embroidered, print and paint on canvas

Aref Montazeri, Shahzad, 2024

Aref Montazeri

Shahzad, 2024
Mirror, Polymer
48 x 70 x 200 cm

Lorenzo Quinn Posidonia

Lorenzo Quinn
Posidonia
Stainless Steel
Edition of 8 plus 2 artist proof
86.5 x 177.5 x 92.5 cm

Zeinab Al Hashemi

Zeinab Al Hashemi
There May Exist, 2024
Oil Barrels, Camel hides
Dimensions Variable

Arash Nazari Haroun in Bath, 2023

Arash Nazari
Haroun in Bath, 2023

Oil on Canvas
300 x 125 cm

Marcos Grigorian Untitled, 1961

Marcos Grigorian
Untitled, 1961
Mixed Media on canvas
110 x 120 cm

Marcos Grigorian Crossroads, 1975

Marcos Grigorian
Crossroads, 1975

Cracked Earth on Canvas
48 x 48 in.
122 x 122 cm

Shirin Neshat “Love Decided Our Fate,” from Looking For Oum Kulthum series, 2018

Shirin Neshat
“Love Decided Our Fate,” from Looking For Oum Kulthum series, 2018

C-Print with Ink, Printed on Dibond

65 x 50.5 in.
165.1 x 128.3 cm

Shirin Neshat, “Ask My Heart,” from Looking For Oum Kulthum series, 2018

Shirin Neshat

“Ask My Heart,” from Looking For Oum Kulthum series, 2018

C-Print with Ink, Printed on Dibond

60 x 46.7 in.

162.4 x 118.6 cm

Press Release

Dubai, UAE – Leila Heller Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming collaborative exhibition with Zaal Art Gallery, Toronto, titled Maydan: A Living Agora, opening on April 14, 2025 at A1 Space, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai.

 

The exhibition explores Maydan- a space of gathering, exchange, and dialogue, both as a physical site and as a symbolic structure embedded in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and global cultures. Like the Greek Agora, the Maydan has historically functioned as a civic space, but in today’s context, it embodies evolving notions of collectivism, identity, and shared presence.

 

Maydan: A Living Agora brings together artists from diverse backgrounds who engage with the social, spatial, and conceptual dimensions of communal space. Their works reflect the multifaceted nature of Maydan as a platform for negotiation, memory, and storytelling within today’s shifting cultural landscapes.

 

Set within Alserkal Avenue, a former industrial zone turned vibrant cultural hub, the exhibition mirrors its setting: an Agora within an Agora. Here, artists, thinkers, and publics converge, not in isolation, but in active exchange. Unlike Foucault’s heterotopia, Maydan is not a space of "otherness," but one of togetherness, a participatory arena where overlapping narratives and identities intersect.

 

The exhibition unfolds across three interwoven modes:

Geometry & Spatial Constructs – Artworks exploring the architectural and conceptual design of communal spaces.

Monumentality & Collective Memory – Sculptural works that anchor shared experiences and histories.

Cultural Narratives & Figurative Storytelling – Pieces drawing from mythology, heritage, and lived experiences to animate the human fabric of Maydan.

Together, these threads invite the viewer to inhabit a living, breathing Maydan, an ever-evolving agora of voices, visions, and encounters.

 

ARTISTS: Marcos Grigorian, Reza Aramesh, Sudarshan Shetty, Katya Traboulsi, Lorenzo Quinn, Aref Montazeri, Zeinab Alhashemi, Anton Bakker, Azza Al Qubaisi, Sofia Yeganeh, Farideh Lashai, Parinaz Eleish, Arash Nazari, Mehdi Farhadian, Behrang Samadzadegan, Soraya Sharghi, Shirin Neshat, Wassef Boutros Ghali, Y.Z. Kami, Marwan Sahmarani, Jehangir Vazifdar, Ali Beheshti, Sahand Hesamiyan, Andisheh Avini, Mehrdad Mohebali, Farah Ossouli, Fereydoun Ave, Ashkan Abdoli, Mohammad Hossein Maher, Shahryar Hatami, Yousha Bashir, Kiarash Alimi, Ali Akbar Sadeghi.