At Louvre Abu Dhabi, the idea of cultural exchange has often been framed through objects, histories and civilisations placed in conversation across galleries. For Art Here 2026, that dialogue will extend into the museum’s outdoor spaces, where contemporary artists from the GCC and India will respond to centuries of movement and exchange across the Indian Ocean.
Opening on November 11 and running until February 28, 2027, beneath French architect Jean Nouvel’s famed dome, the sixth presentation of Art Here and the corresponding Richard Mille Art Prize marks the first time the annual exhibition will include artists from India. Organised in partnership with Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille, the exhibition continues Louvre Abu Dhabi’s efforts to position regional contemporary art within a global conversation.
Conceived by guest curator Kamini Sawhney, this year’s theme, Confluences, explores intertwined histories, migration, trade and cultural exchange, particularly across the Indian Ocean.
For the museum, the expansion reflects ties that have long shaped both regions.
“Art Here has always been conceived as a platform shaped by connections between artists, places and shared histories,” says Guilhem Andre, director of scientific, curatorial and collections management at Louvre Abu Dhabi.
“Expanding the 2026 edition to include India alongside the GCC felt like a natural evolution of that approach. The ties between the Gulf and India are long-standing and multidimensional, rooted in centuries of exchange, movement and coexistence across the Indian Ocean.”
The expansion also coincides with the museum’s wider programming around trade routes, creating a thematic link between historical narratives and contemporary artistic practice.
Rather than approaching the exhibition through a singular perspective, Andre says the intention is to create “a convergence of artistic, cultural and ecological perspectives” that show how those histories continue to shape the present day.
For Sawhney, the theme is rooted in relationships that stretch far beyond contemporary geopolitics.
“That history long predates the modern era,” she says, describing centuries of exchange in trade, astronomy, mathematics and migration between the Arab world and India.
“It is reflected in the exchange of material goods, ideas and scholarship, from mathematical systems and numerical knowledge such as the introduction of the zero and developments in algebra, to advances in navigation.”
Sawhney is particularly interested in how artists interpret those connections today through questions of identity, migration and shared cultural memory.
“What is important in Confluences is recognising that these networks are complex, sophisticated and deeply interconnected, shaped over centuries by movement, adaptation and dialogue,” she says.
The site itself is expected to play a central role in shaping the commissioned works. The exhibition will spread across the museum, from the courtyard with the Damascene fountain to Jenny Holzer permanent marble installation on the on the external walls of the museum's galleries.
“The site is fundamental,” Andre says. “Art Here is not conceived as an intervention placed on to the museum or set apart from it, but as a dialogue with it.”
Artists are expected to respond not only to the architecture itself, but also to the movement of light, water and people through the space. Sawhney says the monumental scale of the site could encourage experimentation with sound, light and spatial installation in ways artists may not have previously explored.
“The spaces at Louvre Abu Dhabi, shaped by the dome, the movement of light and the proximity to the water, hold their own resonance and atmospheres,” she says.
“I am interested in how artists can respond to these spaces in ways that heighten a sense of encounter, between artworks and environment, but also between audiences and the space itself.”
Audience engagement and accessibility will also shape curatorial direction. Sawhney says the aim is to create an exhibition where exchanges are not only represented within the artworks themselves, but also actively generated between artists and visitors.
At its core, Art Here continues to function as a platform for emerging artists, with proposals selected for technical ambition as well as for how deeply they engage with the exhibition’s themes and setting.
“We are looking for projects that are thoughtful, courageous and rooted in research, yet open to dialogue and transformation through the commissioning process,” Andre says.
Sawhney adds the strongest proposals will be those that remain flexible as they evolve within the context of the museum and the surrounding sea. “The ocean is a constant presence in the exhibition, as archive, artery and witness to this complex relationship, and I hope to see that narrative emerge in its unfolding.”
