Three Tired Tigers

In ‘Three Tired Tigers’, artists encourage us to view our cities and landscapes from a primarily four-legged perspective. Bringing together more than 40 artists and collectives, drawing from politics, history, economics and urbanism, the exhibition is a playful yet serious exploration of human-animal relationships in these shared geographies. In cities designed primarily for humans, radically separated from nature, kept captive for food or show, animals are often seen as either pets or pests. Despite this, animals find ways to prosper in urban gaps and find communities that welcome them. They resist control and management strategies, compelling us to think about what coexistence truly means. 

Each of the exhibition’s five galleries will guide you through urban spaces where animals are encountered. You’ll start in the zoo and the museum – institutions that manage, control and classify animals. Next is the street, where many stray cats reveal surprising networks of care and coexistence. You’ll then visit the palace and the public square, where animals often embody power, values and history. At the city’s edges, dogs, pigeons and rats challenge humans’ monopoly on cities. Finally, you’ll reach the sky, the symbol of openness and freedom, yet a tightly controlled ecosystem dominated by human networks.

The exhibition is inspired by the street cats of Dubai – if you’re lucky, you might just see one playing or napping in the park near the Jameel Arts Centre. Many exhibited artists engage with the region’s urban animals, and the show extends to other geographies where animals disrupt human-centric landscapes. You’ll encounter bears atop Kurdish mountains, starving lions in Palestine, thriving cats in Pakistani museums, displaced dogs in Istanbul, parakeets taking over Beirut, and many more stories of struggle, survival and companionship. The exhibition asks: How can we view animal presence as integral to our cities and everyday geographies? What happens if we take rats, pigeons, street cats – or tigers – seriously?

With works by:
Noor Abuarafeh; Asim Abu Shakra; Abbas Akhavan; Farah Al Qasimi; Heba Y Amin; Atelier HOKO; Sophia Balagamwala; Sammy Baloji; Jumana Bayazid El Husseini; Anna Boghiguian; Kasper Bosmans; Cheng Xinhao; Ali Cherri; Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group; Bouie Choi; Jason Dodge; Mohieddine Ellabbad; Annika Eriksson; Simryn Gill; Kadhim Hayder; Khalid Jauffer; Hayv Kahraman; Sudhira Karna, Madhumala Mandal, Rebati Mandal, Selo Yadav and Sumitra Yadav; Kee Ya Ting and David Tan, with Migrant Ecologies Projects; Candice Lin; Ali Milad; Benoît Piéron; Pilar Quinteros; Walid Raad; Khalil Rabah; Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook; Lin May Saeed; Mark Salvatus; Walid Siti; Shimabuku; Mariam Suhail; Risham Syed; Robert Zhao Renhui (The Institute of Critical Zoologists)
Curated by Lucas Morin