DUBAI: Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday unveiled its community art project, titled Hammour House, at a preview attended by Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-Nahayan, the UAE’s Minister of Tolerance and the coexistence and commissioner general of the event.

Hammour House will bring together fishermen, scientists, artists, school students and a number of institutions to showcase a selection of on-site installations.

Sheikh Al-Nahayan said at the event: “Hammour House embodies Expo 2020’s theme, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,’ which links creativity and engagement, and aims to bring the whole community together to build awareness, and enable action towards addressing our biggest challenges from the viewpoint of the arts.”

The art project is also expected to examine the coral reefs of the UAE and its inhabitants, particularly the orange-spotted grouper, known locally as hammour.

During the highly-anticipated six-month event, which starts on Oct. 1, the project will showcase a tapestry depicting marine life, created by school students using natural dyes. It will also feature Hammour Fish, a sculpture made from ghost nets – which are fishing nets lost or abandoned in the sea – by Australian artist Sue Ryan.

The program is said to include daily knitting experiences, workshops led by UAE-based artists and musical evenings. 

Visitors will get the opportunity to contribute to coral reef sculptures, made from recycled materials, which will be showcased on-site at Expo 2020.

According to a statement, one of Hammour House’s inspirations is the “One Thousand and One Nights” story of “Abdullah the Fisherman” and “Abdullah the Merman,” where the fisherman develops a friendship with the merman and learns about underwater life. 

He later begins to appreciate that fish are not only a source of food, but also organisms subject to complex systems and hierarchies similar to those found on land.