A pioneer of conceptual art and experimental practice, Hassan Sharif (1951–2016) played a foundational role in shaping the contemporary art scene in the UAE, establishing key platforms such as the Emirates Fine Arts Society (1980) and Al Mureijah Art Atelier in Sharjah (1984). One Day Exhibition (1984) is a photographic documentation of the artist’s eponymous contemporary art intervention staged in Sharjah. After convincing the emirate’s Department of Culture and Information to grant him a space for artistic production, Sharif founded Al Mureijah Art Atelier which functioned as a cultural hub for artists. For the one-day exhibition, Sharif suspended large stones strung in ropes along the studio’s exterior walls—borrowing a common gardening technique used to support young saplings. On the ground, he scattered drawings and works-in-progress based on his ‘semi-systems’ method—a practice that embraced structure while allowing for chance, disruption and error. By bringing art out of formal gallery settings and into everyday surroundings, the exhibition challenged traditional notions of art as static or sacrosanct, inviting local audiences to encounter it as part of daily life. 

^{*Currently exhibited at Hayy Jameel}