A photograph of the torso of a modestly dressed woman greeted us in the vestibule of “Dear Leader,” Ingrid Hora’s elegant solo debut in Dubai. Titled Positions for leading, 2013, it shows the Berlin-based Italian artist facing the camera and making a determined gesture with both hands—elbows jut out, arms come back in toward the chest, palms face into the body, thumbs press against two fingers. The terse gesture, that of a conductor at the beginning of a performance, is an apt introduction to Hora’s practice, which can be characterized as an ongoing investigation of orchestration and