Alla Abdunabi, Wondrous Pool (Vivarium) (detail), 2025
(excerpt)
Abu Dhabi Art, in its 17th edition, feels both like a culmination and a prelude: the last chapter before its partnership with Frieze begins next year. Manarat Al Saadiyat is at its busiest, with 142 galleries from 34 countries. While Nigeria and Turkey’s dedicated sections stand out, one of the presentations that remains at the top of my mind is Alla Abdunabi’s In the Stomach of the Earth.
Her reconstructed Roman vivarium from Apollonia, Libya, built from insulating firebricks and glass-cast fish, transforms the ancient coastal pool into a strange sort of kiln. Historically, the sea was tamed by architecture and the fish contained as both emblem and commodity. In a poetic reversal, today, the pool lies at the bottom of the sea it once tried to domesticate.