Series 5 begins with artist Wael Shawky, an artist best known for his epic, narrative films that explore and toy with common ideas about history. Whether using puppets or people for his cast, his work looks beyond the historical canon and brings to the fore lesser known events from the past.

Extending his artistic practice, Wael founded and ran MASS, an independent educational space in Egypt’s Alexandria. Since 2024, he has been the artistic director of Fire Station, a creative residency space in Doha and last year was named the inaugural artistic director of Art Basel’s first art fair in Qatar.

Wael spoke to me from his Doha office just ahead of the fair’s launch.

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This special edition of Art Worlds comes to you from London during the week of Frieze art fair. Cecilia Brunson is a London-based, originally from Chile, gallerist and advisor who has dedicated over two decades to championing Latin American art on a global stage. Beginning her career as a curator in America and then founding a residency programme in Santiago, her move to London in 2009 led her to establish Cecilia Brunson Projects in Bermondsey.

The gallery, which is attached to her home, has become a beacon for Latin American art in the capital. Cecilia has uncovered overlooked Latin American artists’ estates and supported contemporary talent from the region, often introducing artists that have never been shown before in Europe. She joined me from her gallery to discuss the artists she’ll be exhibiting at Frieze and in her space.

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This special edition of Art Worlds comes to you from London during the week of Frieze art fair.

Reena Saini Kallat is an artist based in India’s economic capital, Mumbai. Central to her practice, which spans drawing, photography, sculpture and video, are the often man-made tensions and divisions that mark our existence. As such, she has explored political borders like the Radcliff Line, investigated water treaties as well as researching divisive national rhetoric. In all her investigations, Reena likes to highlight areas of subversion and show the ways in which systems of authority can be malleable and overcome.

Reena is showing one of her impressive listening device sculptures at Frieze Sculpture curated by Fatoş Üstek. Installed in the grounds of Regent’s Park, her work is interactive and uses sound to invite audiences to dwell on themes of loss, violence and protection. Reena joined me from her studio just after she had returned from London and the sculpture park’s opening.

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