Installation View: Washwasha. Farah Al Qasimi. The Curse, 2026. Image courtesy of National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo: Ismail Noor of Seeing Things.
Farah Al Qasimi participates in Washwasha, a group exhibition presented by the National Pavilion UAE at the 61st International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia.
In her multi-media installation, The Curse (2026), Al Qasimi explores children’s cursory understanding of guilt, as well as historic and contemporary ways people navigate communication barriers. Through multiple screens set against a backdrop reminiscent of traditional children’s theater, the work traces the ways people signal, reach, and attend to one another across distance, ritual, culture, and everyday life.
Washwasha, an Arabic word for 'whispering,' is an onomatopoeia that describes sound at the very threshold of audibility: subtle forms of communication, background noise, and intangible sonic traces that risk going unnoticed. Taking this concept as a starting point, the eponymous exhibition explores themes of migration, technology, and oral histories.
Washwasha is curated by Bana Kattan, Curator and Associate Head of Exhibitions at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, with Assistant Curator Tala Nassar.
Visit the National Pavilion UAE's website to learn more about the exhibition.
