More than 100 art galleries to showcase work at Abu Dhabi Art this year

The fair will also have three new sections delving into various facets of the art world

Abu Dhabi Art will run at Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 20 to 24. Photo: Abu Dhabi Art

This year’s Abu Dhabi Art will have more than 100 local, regional and international galleries displaying works.

Surpassing the number of galleries that were showcased last year, the art fair, set to run at Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 20 to 24, will feature 102 regional and international galleries from 31 countries. Last year, 92 galleries joined the event.

“This year marks our biggest edition to date,” Abu Dhabi Art director Dyala Nusseibeh tells The National. “We are starting to see some very interesting developments in our local and regional art market, a reassessment of the importance of modern and contemporary artists from our part of the world, who have a vital role to play in shaping narratives about our past, present and future.”

Across seven sections, which will cover various facets of modern and contemporary art, three are new. The first, Something Bold, Something New, will focus on modern artists from the region. The second, the Collectors Salon, will be a space where galleries can showcase artefacts, historical objects, manuscripts and artworks. The third, Silk Road: Drifting Identities, will highlight galleries and artists from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Les Cueilleuses de Dattes (The Date Pickers) by the Egyptian painter and activist Inji Aflatoun. Photo: Abu Dhabi Art

Something Bold, Something New is curated by arts consultant Myrna Ayad. It will consider seminal artists who have played a significant role in the evolution of styles and art practices in the region. They include Palestinian artists Emily Fanous Azar and Nabila Hilmi; Egyptian painter and activist Inji Aflatoun; Lebanese artist Halim Jurdak; Saudi artist Sami Al Marzoogi; and Tunisian painters Aly Ben Salem and Rafik El Kamel.

“Arab artists always feature prominently in our fair – being a fair rooted in the Middle East how could this be otherwise?” Nusseibeh says. She adds that there will be a plethora of Arab artists contributing to the fair this year.

Pioneering Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem is creating the visual identity for the fair. Nusseibeh says that through design, Kazem aims to remind visitors that “we are interconnected, through our geographies and in our networks with each other, through the sea and through trade”.

Nusseibeh also highlights the installation by Lebanese visual artist Raed Yassin titled City Mirage, which is comprised of 130 vintage Beirut shop sign letters, a work that “is a haunting recollection of the devastations the city has endured”.

The fair will also focus on the ties and synergies between the Arab world and other cultures and countries through art. In the Gateway exhibition this year, Nusseibeh says curators have been invited to consider the long-standing cultural ties between the Arab world and South America, an area that is both “under-researched and fascinating”.

A mother and son look at an artwork by the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui at Abu Dhabi Art last year. Victor Besa / The National

“I think of Abu Dhabi Art as a useful platform for knowledge production and sharing in the field of art. It shapes the exhibition programmes and selection of galleries participating,” she says.

“Another exhibition will consider the historical presence of Arab artists in Paris. In our commercial gallery presentations, with works for sale, we are introducing a section dedicated to art, manuscripts and artefacts that span centuries including a rare seventh-century leaf from a Quran and an Ottoman ceremonial saddlery.”

Given the tumultuous and violent events, and resulting unsettlement, in the region over the past year, Nusseibeh highlights that art acts as a means to understand and explain our collective feelings, issues and trauma that are often difficult to express in any other way.

“We are in a time of existential crisis and of deep trauma for the region,” she says. “There are things that can’t be expressed or found in ordinary conversations among us. Visual poetry and art can somehow fill these voids that we are all facing and can form bridges across the seemingly incomprehensible. We may not find reconciliation in such events, but we can make sense of more, perhaps, because of them.”

Abu Dhabi Art also revealed this year’s community partners, who will be coming together in an exhibition that pays homage to crafts.

House of Artisans, the Abu Dhabi centre dedicated to preserving Emirati traditions and handicrafts, will be leading the exhibition. Titled Crafts as a Language, the show will highlight how crafts make use of natural resources to produce objects that, while serving a particular function, are also a means of creative expression.

Others include Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation, 81 Designs, Kalimat Foundation, Zayed University’s College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, MFA in Art and Media department at NYU Abu Dhabi and 1971 Design.

The fair’s Art and Tech programme will also be returning to connect art and technology students with visual artists. The initiative, which launched in 2017, aims to foster collaborations between the country’s art and tech sectors. Students from eight universities across the UAE will be taking part in this year’s programme. They will be working with artists Afra Al Suwaidi and Marina Fedorova. Al Suwaidi has guided students in creating an installation that will be revealed at the fair. Fedorova, meanwhile, worked with students to produce an artwork that makes use of augmented reality.

“This programme not only merges cutting-edge technology with contemporary art, but also offers a unique space for innovation and expression,” Al Suwaidi said. “I am grateful to have shared this opportunity with passionate students, who have displayed unimaginable talent and eagerness to showcase their creativity.”

Art Abu Dhabi will run at Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 20 to 24