Mosaic Rooms (MR)

Similar to other cultural centres and institutions around the world, the Mosaic Rooms passed through an unprecedentedly difficult year due to COVID-19 restrictions and ramifications. 

Countrywide lockdowns, changes in the UK government, and the mutation of COVID-19 made planning for the future quite difficult even on the short term. This necessitated the rescheduling, changing, and/or cancellation of exhibitions, events, and activities. Due to the imposed lockdowns and closures, the Foundation’s exhibition hall was open for the public in only 22 weeks this year. There were also less face-to-face programs (due to social distancing instructions), which evidently led to small numbers of exhibition attendees/visitors in 2020.

Despite the said challenges, the Mosaic Rooms held two important exhibitions for artists Mohammad Omar and Heba Yihya Amin, respectively. For example, the latter’s ingenious solo exhibition received an extraordinary media coverage on the international level. This exhibition was among Heba’s most ambitious and intellectually rigorous exhibitions to date.

Mosaic Rooms also held some distance learning activities, including a special online program with local schools. This program utilized best practices to promote creative learning and education. And although the Mosaic Rooms were often physically closed, their first program was implemented successfully with positive feedback from critics online. The said program was attended by a total of 29,700 online participants from the United Kingdom and throughout the world.  This experience was a great “learning curve” for the team, and we are very proud of what we have learned and achieved in such a short period of time.