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Ahmed Mater

@ahmedmater

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A people counter is a familiar machine, found in malls, metros, hospitals and public spaces around the world. It counts who enters, who passes through, who is present. But that simple function points to something larger: how much of contemporary life has come to depend on what can be measured, recorded and assigned a value.⁠
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@ahmedmater has long used photography and technology within his practice, but here he makes a deliberate reversal. Rather than use a machine to photograph another machine, he paints it by hand. As he puts it, he uses his own hand to depict the machine, removing the very technology that would ordinarily mediate the image.⁠
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That decision is central to the work. People Counter reflects a reality increasingly governed by what can be measured: attendance, productivity, performance, value. Yet much of what gives human life meaning cannot be counted at all. Feeling, memory, identity and experience remain outside the system. ⁠
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People Counter (2025) is a recent acquisition by the Dalloul Art Foundation.⁠
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#DAFBeirut #ArabArt #Beirut #Arts #SaudiArabia by @ahmedmater

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12 days ago

@ahmedmater began his ‘Guncaps’ series in 2012, painstakingly arranging thousands of red plastic toy gun caps to create messages of unity and harmony in a powerful assertion of global common ground.

Now, Ahmed has collaborated with @avant.arte to release three new limited edition prints that uniquely capture the texture of his original piece.

Titled ‘Salam’, ‘Ray’, and ‘Hurriya’, the editions are available to collect individually or as a set – with each print limited to an edition of 25.

For a chance to collect, enter the draw via the link in bio. Closes at 14:00 UK time, 28 July. by @ahmedmater

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3 months ago

Announcing my latest collaboration with @avant.arte – a new limited edition trio of prints titled ‘Salam’ (Peace), ‘Hurriya’ (Freedom) and ‘Ray’ (Opinion). Taken from my ‘Guncaps’ series, each is available to collect individually or as a set.

- Limited edition archival pigment prints
- 90 x 90cm
- Signed and numbered
- Worldwide shipping

For a chance to collect, head to my link in bio and enter the draw. Closes 28 July at 2:00pm UK time. by @ahmedmater

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4 months ago

Lightning land, 2017 ⚡️ by @ahmedmater

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6 months ago

Coming up next on The Baer Faxt Podcast: Ahmed Mater (@ahmedmater), one of Saudi Arabia’s preeminent contemporary artists. Here’s a sneak peak at some of the ground he and host Josh Baer cover, from artistic expression in the region to the enduring nature of painting.

Keep your ears and eyes peeled for the episode release this Friday, February 27th, wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Ursula (@ursulamagazine) - A Magazine of Contemporary Culture by Hauser & Wirth.

The Baer Faxt Podcast is available on all major streaming platforms. Head to the link in bio to view past episodes.

#TheBaerFaxt #AhmedMater #SaudiArabia #painting by @ahmedmater

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8 months ago

Black Stone 🕋
On view at @artbasel Doha. taken in DOHA - Qatar by @ahmedmater

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8 months ago

Our debut print collaboration with @ahmedmater channels the magnetic force of Mecca.

For Ahmed, ‘Magnetism 25’ is “faith made visible – unseen, yet it gathers us and gives us direction.”

Link in bio to bid in the ranked auction for a chance to collect.

Bidding closes Tuesday 21 October at 10:00 UK time.

#ahmedmater by @ahmedmater

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a year ago

Introducing ‘Magnetism 25’, a new limited edition print created in collaboration with @avant.arte

· Textured archival pigment print
· Limited edition
· 43 x 43 cm
· Signed and numbered
· Worldwide shipping

To bring the edition to life, I worked closely with Avant Arte’s specialist fine art printmaking studio, Make-Ready, to translate the piece into a highly complex, 25-layer print – with 258 layers forming its sculptural core.

The ranked auction is now open. The top 40 bidders will win an edition, with print numbers assigned by final bid rank.

Head to the link in my bio to place a bid. by @ahmedmater

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a year ago

Dream, حلم 💭
2024

Plastic toy caps mounted on wooden board.
185×185cm. taken in حي جاكس - JAX District by @ahmedmater

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a year ago

"Disarm" 2013 🚁🕋

Featured in the Guggenheim Museum exhibition "But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise” curated by @punkorientalism 2016

Collection of Guggenheim Museum @guggenheim
UBS MAP Purchase Fund @ubsglobalart taken in Guggenheim Museum by @ahmedmater

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a year ago

“Leaves Fall in All Seasons” 2013

Maknana exhibition at @dafmoc 2025
1- 📸 @omniaabdulqadir taken in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by @ahmedmater

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a year ago

One week left to experience “Ahmed Mater: Antenna” at UCCA Edge in Shanghai! A profound entry point to contemporary Saudi culture.

This exhibition is presented as part of the official celebrations surrounding the Saudi Chinese Cultural Year 2025. This year also marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the People’s Republic of China. It follows on UCCA’s continued involvement in the Saudi art scene that began with its work on the first Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in 2021. Curated by UCCA Director Philip Tinari, “Ahmed Mater: Antenna” is presented by the Saudi Visual Arts Commission, one of 11 sector specific commissions under the Ministry of Culture. It is offered in a spirit of engagement and collaboration, and in the hope of creating new connections between audiences in Shanghai and contemporary art and culture in Saudi Arabia.

Renowned worldwide, artist Ahmed Mater was born in 1979. He grew up in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia and would later become part of the first wave of Saudi artists to exhibit overseas in the 2000s. For over the past four decades, he has been documenting the seismic social and economic changes in Saudi Arabia as part of his artistic journey. With an archival urge to collect and categorize, Mater combines a Pop sensitivity to iconic source material, as encapsulated by his expansive body of work on view completed from the late 1990s to the present, including photography, installation, sculpture, video, painting, found objects, and designs for an upcoming large-scale land art intervention in northwestern Saudi Arabia’s AlUla. Taking its title from Mater’s symbolically significant installation work Green Antenna (2010), this exhibition is also organized to reflect Mater’s preoccupation with the curiosity of connection and the possibilities of receiving and transmitting vital information, both for himself and on behalf of a wider community, within and outside of Saudi Arabia.

#ucca #uccaedge #ahmedmatershanghai by @ahmedmater

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a year ago