The Other Side of the Moon

Baró Galeria, founded by María Baró in 1999, and O-Contemporary, founded by His Excellency Dr. Obaid Al Ketbi in 2024, are proud to announce the launch of their new partnership in Abu Dhabi. This partnership  aims to foster cultural exchange and elevate contemporary art in the region by bringing together a diverse array of works by internationally renowned artists and emerging regional talents in 2025. For the Grand Opening, the gallery invite you to The Other Side of the Moon — a group exhibition unfolding in three interconnected chapters: Insān, Techné, and Cosmos. The exhibition traces a journey from human origins to technological invention, and onward to the collective imagination of what lies beyond. Set in Abu Dhabi, under the light of the same Moon that has inspired poets, scientists, and dreamers for millennia, The Other Side of the Moon invites viewers to reflect on what connects the known and the unknown.

Featured Artists:    Rasheed Araeen, Christopher Joshua Benton, Elias Crespin, Néstor García, Jorge Rosano Gamboa, Gary Hill, Tamara Kalo, Eduardo Kac, Mohammed Kazem, Adrian Pepe, Mano Penalva, Abdus Salaam, Latifa Saeed 

 

There is always another side: hidden, distant, imagined. The Other Side of the Moon brings together artists from seven countries and unfolds in three interconnected chapters, moving from the immediate landscapes around us to the distant realms of the cosmos. The exhibition opens with Insaan, a meditation on humanity featuring works by Abdus Salaam, Latifa Saeed, and Adrian Pepe. Through themes of self-knowledge, memory, and spirituality, these works explore how meaning is constructed in relation to land and myth, positioning the human experience as a point of contact with both material and symbolic realities.

 In Matters, attention shifts to materiality: not only what things are made of, but also what they carry. Matter here is never neutral; it holds the weight of affection, memory, and political tension. Artists including Tamara Kalo, Néstor García, Mano Penalva, Christopher Joshua Benton, Jorge Rosano Gamboa, and Mohammed Kazem engage with strategies of reuse, translation, and subtle intervention.

Finally, Cosmos turns its gaze outward. The Moon and the space beyond appear not as destinations, but as mirrors, surfaces upon which we project our questions and longings. With works by Eduardo Kac, Elias Crespin, Gary Hill, and Rasheed Araeen, this chapter explores the celestial as a poetic frontier.

 

Through this path, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on what connects the known and the unknown. In the subtle tension between outer space and inner gravity, it challenges us to reconsider what we choose to illuminate, and what we leave in shadow.