Mohammed Kazem, a prominent figure among the “second generation” of contemporary artists in the United Arab Emirates, has cultivated an artistic practice that encompasses video, photography and performance. Initially trained as a painter by his close friends and collaborator Hassan Sharif, Kazem eventually gravitated towards a conceptual approach, intertwining thematic concepts with the repetition of object forms in series. Infused with a touch of surrealist humour, Keys (1995), the three-dimensional wooden board, serves as a replica of the key storage boards commonly found in buildings for storing keys of its tenants. The board features the outline shapes of keys, seemingly “hanging” on physical hooks.