Dubai and Sharjah: four shows to see now

Abu Dhabi’s El Dorado Cinema, which specialized in cinema from the subcontinent, was a beloved old institution whose founding predated that of the UAE. When it closed in 2017, Dubai-based Indian artist Vikram Divecha found a projectionist’s diary as the theater was being cleaned out. Isolated in a dark booth for decades, the projectionist’s figure echoes that of the alienated migrant workers who would flock the cinema nightly to get a shot in the arm of home – unacknowledged, then as now. In this exhibition, the projectionist becomes the main character for once.