As Told by the: Routes of Exchange

August 13 – August 27, 2026

Every Thursday

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm 

Routes of Exchange looks at different modes of exchange including trade, conversation, and the natural and built environment. This month, we understand and apply what goes into shaping our urban landscape. 


Sessions:

The Explorers Book Club

by The Rabyah Reading Project
Thursday, August 13th
4-8pm

The Explorers Book Club is a collaboration with The Rabyah Reading Project that combines engaging book readings with a hands-on art activity inspired by its story to encourage literacy in young readers. The Rabyah reading project is an Arabic language led programme, with an objective to develop children’s emotional & cognitive skills through reading and play.

The Water Bearer by Maryam Saqer Al Qasimi

The Bridge by Heinz Janisch

Sign up here

The Art of Exchange 

by Tala Qari
Ages: 10-15
Thursday, August 20th
4-8pm

Rather than focusing on a single artist, the workshop explores how artists influence one another through a chain of inspiration and exchange.

Ideas travel just as people, objects, and stories do.

Throughout history, artists have learned from one another by observing, collecting, responding to, and transforming ideas. Inspiration moves across cultures, generations, and places, creating an ongoing conversation that continues to shape art today.

Beginning with a short presentation and guided gallery tour, participants discover how artists exchange ideas through colour, material, storytelling, memory, and place. Equipped with an explorer’s notebook, they move through the exhibition collecting fragments that capture their attention; recording colours, textures, shapes, questions, words, and observations.

Back in the studio, these collected fragments become the starting point for a new artwork. Participants learn how artists transform inspiration into something uniquely their own.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand that artistic ideas develop through exchange, observation, and reinterpretation.
  • Explore how artists throughout history have influenced one another across cultures and generations.
  • Develop careful observation and visual note-taking skills.
  • Learn to collect inspiration through drawing, writing, and mapping ideas.
  • Transform collected observations into an original artwork.

Register Here!

Reimagining My City 

by the Learning Team
Wednesday August 26
Thursday August 27
Saturday August 29
4-8pm

This 3-day workshop is inspired by Hitesh’s work “Narrating the City: Memories and Myths” drawing on similar styles and ways of viewing a city.  

Day 1: What makes Jeddah special?

Discover how Jeddah’s port brought people of many cultures together, shaping our food, language, and homes. Inspired by Hitesh Vaidya’s “Narrating the City: Memories and Myths,” they learn his painting style and create small works of Jeddah’s landmarks to add to a shared city map panel.

Day 2: Roads & Paths

A critical-thinking workshop that explores how roads and paths come to be. Through discussion and hands-on problem-solving, participants will examine what choices and values shape the routes in a mini-city of their own. They will explore questions such as: what is prioritized, what gets left behind, and what do these decisions say about us?

Day 3: Flavors & Finds of the City 

Participants add Jeddah’s food, animals, memories, and natural details to complete the reimagined city with the small, everyday things that bring the city to life.

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