At Mina’s Table, Bardi’s “Dust” Finds a New Life

In London, far from the conventions of the white cube, a recent evening at Mina Habchi‘s private residence offered a more measured way of encountering contemporary art. Conceived by Jidar, the gathering brought together collectors, curators, and cultural figures around a selection of works from Dust, the latest body of work by Algerian artist Mehdi Djelil, known as Bardi.

The premise was simple, yet deliberate: to replace distance with proximity. Installed within the domestic space, Bardi’s paintings unfolded not as objects to be observed in isolation, but as presences within a shared environment—absorbed gradually, in conversation, over the course of a dinner. 

Material, Memory, and the Condition of “Dust”

Bardi’s work has long engaged with states of ambiguity, and Dust extends this inquiry with particular clarity. The surfaces are layered and tactile, carrying a sense of accumulation—of matter, memory, and erosion. Dust, here, is neither purely residue nor metaphor; it becomes a condition. It marks what remains after collapse, but also what enables new forms to take shape.

“Bardi’s work has long engaged with states of ambiguity,”

Across the canvases, figures emerge and recede. They appear hybrid, at times grotesque, yet never fixed in meaning. There is a certain watchfulness to them—sentinel-like presences that hold tension between fragility and endurance. Humor surfaces intermittently, though it is of a quiet, disquieting kind. Rather than resolve, the works sustain a state of negotiation, drawing from myth, lived experience, and fragments of the everyday.

The Dinner as Curatorial Framework

Presented in the presence of curator and producer Fouad Boudjedra, the evening extended these ideas beyond the works themselves. The dinner was not conceived as an accompaniment, but as an integral part of the curatorial framework. Courses, gestures, and the choreography of the table introduced a temporal dimension—one that encouraged attention, pause, and exchange.

“The works sustain a state of negotiation, drawing from myth, lived experience, and fragments of the everyday.”

Hospitality, in this context, operated as a medium. The table became a site where aesthetic experience and conversation converged, allowing the works to be approached obliquely—through dialogue rather than declaration. Guests moved between looking and speaking, between silence and interpretation, in a rhythm that echoed the open-ended nature of Bardi’s practice. 

Such formats have become increasingly significant within Jidar’s broader program. Operating between Algiers and international contexts, the platform has consistently sought to create conditions for encounter that move beyond exhibition as display. Instead, it proposes a slower engagement—one rooted in presence, and in the possibility of sustained exchange around contemporary practices from North Africa.

Where Meaning Lingers

At Mina’s, this approach found a particularly resonant expression. Removed from institutional framing, Dust settled into the lived space of the evening—less an exhibition than a shared situation. In that setting, Bardi’s work did not seek resolution. It lingered, as dust does, in the air between people, in the quiet intervals of conversation, and in the subtle awareness that meaning, like matter, is always in the process of becoming.

“The platform has consistently sought to create conditions for encounter that move beyond exhibition as display.”