Art Dubai is a leading international art fair that takes place every March in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. Founded in 2007, Art Dubai is the pre-eminent platform for art from the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, North Africa and South Asia. Each year, the fair features a globally diverse lineup of over 90 galleries from more than 40 different countries, from household names to emerging art spaces, making it the world's most globally diverse art fair. Art Dubai is one of the major events on the international arts calendar, attracting over 30,000 visitors in 2019, including UAE-based, regional and international collectors, curators, patrons, and nearly 100 visiting museums and institutions. Alongside its gallery halls, Art Dubai's extensive programming includes commissioned artists’ and curators’ projects, residencies, education initiatives and the Global Art Forum. Art Dubai is held under the patronage of Sheikh

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emir ...

, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of

. The 2020 edition of Art Dubai went digital due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The 15th edition of Art Dubai will take place in March 2022.

Galleries

Art Dubai Contemporary

Art Dubai's gallery halls are split into four main sections: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and Residents. Art Dubai Contemporary features commercial galleries operating on the primary market that have been established for at least two years. Around 60 galleries are selected every year for Art Dubai Contemporary, from established galleries to younger art spaces from under-represented art capitals. Likewise, exhibited artists range from emerging practitioners to industry heavyweights. The works presented at the fair cover painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, video, photography and performance. At the 2019 edition of Art Dubai, more than 90 galleries from over 40 countries were featured, including newcomers from Cameroon and Colombia. Art Dubai Contemporary's Selection Committee includes Priyanka Raja (Experimenter, Kolkata), Isabelle van den Eynde (Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai), Andrée Sfeir-Semler (Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg/Beirut) and Ursula Krinzinger (Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna).

Art Dubai Modern

Art Dubai Modern, established in 2014, is devoted to

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Each exhibitor presents a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

, two-person or multi-artist show, featuring works by modern art masters of the 20th century, with a focus on work produced between the 1940s and 1980s. In the 2019 edition of the fair, Art Dubai Modern moved into one of the two main Contemporary halls, allowing for a better reading of the region's art history and contextualization of the Contemporary works on show. Art Dubai Modern's Advisory Committee is composed of Dr Nada Shabout, professor of Art History and the Coordinator of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative (CAMCSI) at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

; Dr Iftikhar Dadi, associate professor in

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

's Department of History of Art and Chair of its Department of Art; Catherine David, Deputy Director of

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in ...

, Paris; and Vali Mahlouji, curator, director of the Kaveh Golestan Estate, independent advisor to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and founder of the curatorial think tank Archaeology of the Final Decade.

Residents

Art Dubai presented its first edition of Residents, a four-week residency programme hosted by the fair, in March 2018. Through this programme-cum-gallery section, multidisciplinary gallery artists from all over the world are invited to the UAE to create new works, in fully equipped Dubai and Abu Dhabi studio spaces, inspired by their experiences in the UAE. The artists' selection of works are displayed in a special exhibition area at the fair. The 2019 edition of Residents focused exclusively on Latin America.

Bawwaba

Art Dubai 2019 saw the launch of Bawwaba, a unique gallery section, located within the main gallery halls. The section featured projects by individual artists or galleries, located in or focused on the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia as well as Latin America. The inaugural edition of Bawwaba was curated by French-Cameroonian curator Élise Atangana, and focused on highly conceptual works including videos, installations and murals. The section aims to give visitors a curated reading of the Global South, acting, as its name suggests, as a gateway to current artistic developments from these regions.

The Global Art Forum

The Global Art Forum is the largest annual arts conference in the Middle East and Asia and takes place every year at Art Dubai. The conference features live talks, panel discussions and performances by regional and international thought leaders, artists, curators and writers. Previous speakers include high-profile figures such as

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Poss ...

and

Christo Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific art, site-specific environmental art, environmental art i ...

. In 2018, the Global Art Forum was co-directed by Noah Raford and Marlies Wirth with Commissioner

Shumon Basar Shumon Basar (born 15 October 1974) is a British writer, editor and curator. Life and education Basar was born in Pabna, Bangladesh, in 1974. His mother Dilruba Basar emigrated with him to the United Kingdom, to join his father, Abul Basar, who ...

and held under the title 'I Am Not a Robot', focusing on the timely theme of power, paranoia and potentials of automation. The 2019 iteration of Global Art Forum, on the theme "The School is a Factory?", was organized by Commissioner Shumon Basar, with Victoria Camblin and Fawz Kabra as co-directors.

Education

Art Dubai's non-for-profit educational programming, provides programmes for children through to post-graduates. Art Dubai's education initiatives include Campus Art Dubai, a community art school for UAE-based artists, curators, writers, designers and enthusiasts, and Forum Fellows, a fellowship that brings together young curators and writers from the Middle East. The fair also has an internship and volunteer programme.

Art Dubai Portraits

In Spring 2017, the fair started producing Art Dubai Portraits, a series of one- and three-minute films focusing on artists that are connected to the fair through its programming and participating galleries. Unique in showing the artists’ personal- and work-spaces as well as capturing their personality, the Art Dubai Portraits serve as a one-of-a-kind resource for curators and researchers working on the art from the region.

Economic impact

In March 2016, the fairs’ parent company, Art Dubai Fair FZ LLC (The Art Dubai Group), released the results of an independent survey for Art Week 2015 (March 18–25, 2015). The results show that the total economic impact the Art Dubai and Design Days Dubai events have on the local economy and service sector totaled US$35 million across seven days.

References

External links

Art Dubai Website

Art Exhibitions and Events Dubai
{{Authority control 2007 establishments in the United Arab Emirates Annual fairs Arab art scene Art fairs Culture in Dubai Emirati art Fairs in the United Arab Emirates March events Recurring events established in 2007 Spring (season) events in the United Arab Emirates