Exhibition of Ahmed Mater's works celebrates 35 years of Saudi-Chinese ties
2025-03-08 to 2025-06-08
2025-03-08 to 2025-06-08
"Mecca Windows," 2013, installation of 25 found window frames with glass. Image courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla
"Magnetism IV," 2012, Fine Art Latex Jet Print, mounted on Diasec, edition 1/8. Image courtesy of the artist.
"Ahmed Mater: Antenna" is the first large-scale, institutional solo exhibition of a Saudi contemporary artist in China.
It is being presented by UCCA Edge in partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Culture's Visual Arts Commission.
The exhibition is part of the official events for the Saudi Chinese Cultural Year 2025. The year also marks the 35th anniversary of Saudi-Chinese diplomatic relations.
The exhibition features over 100 artworks of the visionary Mater, one of Saudi Arabia's best-known artists.
Born in 1979, Mater grew up in Abha, southern Saudi Arabia, and was among the first wave of Saudi artists to exhibit internationally in the early 2000s.
As part of his creative journey, he documented Saudi Arabia's seismic social and economic transformations over the past four decades.
Mater blends an archival need to collect and organize with a pop sensitivity to iconic source material, as evidenced by his extensive body of work on display, which includes photography, installation, sculpture, video, painting, and objects made between the late 1990s and the present.
"Lightning Land," 2017, UV print on flannelette. Image courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition on the museum's second floor opens with a series of early career pieces that foreshadow Mater's future creative pursuits.
Mater was trained as a physician before becoming an artist, and his early works clearly show the influence of medicine. The "X-Ray" series (2003-2004), developed while still practicing medicine, marked the start of his career as an artist incorporating Islamic cultural elements with his abstract paintings.
One of the highlights is the video "Leaves Fall in All Seasons" (2013) and the photographic "Desert of Pharan" series (2012-2015), which reflect on the collective and individual experience of Mecca by observing and documenting its pilgrims' progression, commercial developments, and the evolving landscape and environment of the holy site.
If you go:
Date: Through June 8, 10am–7pm
Venue: UCCA Edge
Address: 2/F, 88 Xizang Rd N.
Admission: 60 yuan (search UCCA Edge in the WeChat mini program to buy tickets).