Five Artists Transform Language Into Sensory Experience at Dubai Design Week

Abwab 2026 gathers designers from across Asia and Africa to reimagine how we communicate beyond words, exploring silence, memory and traditional craftsmanship through immersive installations

Five creative installations at Dubai Design Week are transforming language into something altogether more visceral: interactive experiences that speak through light, silence, layered fabric and the inherited knowledge of artisans. Gathered under the collective exhibition theme “In Other Words”, these projects explore the subtle grammar of human expression beyond the limitations of writing systems.

The Abwab 2026 programme, a leading commissioning initiative that champions designers and creative practitioners from West, South and East Asia alongside African practitioners, has brought these five distinct works into a single space for the first time. Rather than the individual pavilions of previous years, this new format creates unexpected dialogues between artists working in vastly different mediums yet united in their investigation of how design can transcend linguistic and cultural divides.

Kanaka Raghavan’s “Cheent Devanagari” reimagines letterforms through layered translucent fabric inspired by traditional woodblock printing. As visitors move through the installation, overlapping sheets create shifting visual interpretations of the letters themselves, prompting reflection on the relationship between language and the craftsmanship that gives it form. Raghavan spoke of her desire to help audiences understand the skills embedded in shaping writing systems, particularly meaningful in Dubai’s layered cultural and linguistic landscape where different writing traditions coexist.

Grace Shih presents “A Library of Paper Memories”, transforming paper from its conventional role as a writing surface into an artistic language in its own right. Her handmade sheets, produced from natural fibres including lokta, abaca and cotton, invite visitors to interpret meaning through texture and structure rather than words. The installation suggests that stories exist beyond what conventional pages can convey, a sentiment echoed throughout Dubai Design Week’s twelfth edition, which brings together creative practitioners from more than 50 countries to explore design’s role in cultural heritage.

Silence itself becomes language in Dalia Rafea’s “Shhhhh”, a seven-metre installation that uses the repetition of the Arabic letter Sheen and red lighting to transform the sound of calling for silence into a visual experience with emotional and psychological dimensions. Rafea speaks of silence as capable of expressing grief, exhaustion, resistance or simply the pause between thoughts, emotions that do not require words to be felt or understood.

VARUSSI Studio, based in Srinagar, Kashmir, presents “Taleem”, an architectural installation inspired by the traditional system of symbols, numbers and colours used by Kashmiri artisans in carpet weaving and Kani shawl production. Wooden frames repeat and rotate around a central point, creating an interactive spatial structure that reflects how craft knowledge passes across generations. The project demonstrates how language can be experienced through movement and spatial interaction rather than merely read.

Artist UBIK explores “Non/sense”, examining the gap between reading words and understanding them through seemingly familiar phrases that resist straightforward interpretation. By transforming text into spatial experience, the installation encourages visitors to engage with language differently, questioning their own relationship with meaning.

Woodblock printing, handmade paper, weaving techniques and Arabic letterforms become tools for expression and communication, each reinforcing the presence of cultural heritage within the global design landscape. The projects span continents yet speak a shared language of artistic inquiry.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

The Abwab programme continues to position the broader region as a vital centre for creative exchange and cross-cultural dialogue. By supporting designers from across Asia and Africa, it strengthens Dubai Design Week’s role in demonstrating how design can bridge geographical and linguistic divides while connecting inherited knowledge with contemporary expression. This commitment to artistic experimentation and knowledge exchange elevates the UAE’s standing within the global creative community.

For audiences across the region, these installations offer an opportunity to explore how communication transcends language itself. In a city where multiple cultures and writing systems coexist, the exhibition speaks directly to the lived experience of navigating diverse forms of human expression, making design a tool for deeper understanding and reflection rather than mere aesthetic gesture.

Abwab 2026 runs until 8th November at Dubai Design District as part of Dubai Design Week. Source: Emirates News Agency