Art Dubai 2025 first look: What to expect at this year's fair

Event taking place from April 18 to 20 is a reflection of the political, social and ecological challenges facing the planet

Seeing an art fair come together is much like seeing a single artwork materialise.

Plastic protectors are unfurled across the floor. The smell of paint wafts in the air. There is the din of drills and hammers. Step ladders appear, vanish and reappear elsewhere. The lighting is adjusted, scrutinised then readjusted. The disparate elements come together so that what began as a blank white space buzzes with colour and movement. Soon the chaos begins to make sense, an order materialises and an elegant wholeness finds form.

Art Dubai 2025 was in the throes of this transformation when The National visited its site at Madinat Jumeirah on Tuesday. More than 120 galleries were setting up, displaying works across mediums and subjects. Yet, despite the diversity on show, there is a loose thread that connects the art pieces together, particularly in the contemporary works. It's a response to the state of the world.

This is most evident in the Bawwaba section. The recurring feature of Art Dubai is dedicated to works created in the past year, or specifically for the fair. This year, it is showcasing 10 solo presentations from across the world. The works are thoughtful reflections of current political, social and ecological issues.

Galleries preparing for the opening of Art Dubai 2025. Antonie Robertson / The National

“The overall theme started with the current situation of our world, which is in a state of turmoil and crisis both among people and ecologically,” says Mirjam Varadinis, curator of the Bawwaba section.

Mexican artist Jorge Rosano Gamboa highlights the importance of water, showing its mutability in form and quality while also examining historical perceptions of the resource. In textiles produced in collaboration with Mexican craftspeople, Gamboa draws from motifs of Mesoamerican civilisations that were used to denote water. “He takes iconography from this history and connects them also with ancient forms of knowledge about producing artworks,” Varadinis says.

These textiles works by Jorge Rosano Gamboa have been produced in collaboration with Mexican craftspeople. Antonie Robertson / The National

The works come as a stunning contrast to those by Iranian artist Mohammad Piryaee. His large canvasses are drenched with vivid red and black lines that criss-cross to form towers that stretch to the sky. The works are emotionally charged. While Gamboa’s works evoke a sense of serenity, Piryaee’s communicate ferocity. Sculptural figures featuring architecture, similar to those in the canvasses, are assembled in the centre space. Though they look like they are formed from charred pieces of wood, they are surprisingly made of porcelain.

“He builds architecture like they are creatures,” Varadinis says. “He references architecture from the desert region in Iran, where he comes from. It also presents ideas of burning, not in the sense of destruction but as a force for life.”

This tetraptych by Omar Mismar depicts mosaics found near Gaza. Antonie Robertson / The National

Then there are artists who use altogether unexpected materials for their works. These include Saudi artist Abdullah Al Othman, who presents a series of works in neon that pay homage to a bygone time while also recreating the unique spatial and design aesthetics found in neon signage.

Gulnur Mukazhanova from Kazakhstan, on the other hand, is showcasing a selection of vibrant abstract works that were created out of wool. The use of wool, Varadinis says, reflects a weaving tradition in Kazakhstan that was at risk of erasure during the Soviet era. Kate Newby from New Zealand, meanwhile, presents a series of sculptures that make use of salvaged material, ranging from ropes to glass.

Among the most arresting works in the Bawwaba section are the mosaics of Omar Mismar. The Lebanese artist often incorporates political themes into his work and this series is no different. Among the works is Ahmad and Akram Protecting Hercules. Spanning two meters in length, it is drawn from real-life events and depicts two men piling sandbags by an ancient mosaic of Hercules in the Maarra Mosaic Museum in Syria to protect it from destruction.

Beside it is a work created specifically for Art Dubai. The tetraptych features panels of mosaics showing, Varadinis says, something found near Gaza. “They were renovating a house and discovered on the ground all these beautiful mosaics,” she says. Mismar depicts the mosaics’ storks, gazelles and rabbits as well as a young boy cleaning the tiles.

Collectively, Bawwaba is meant to embody a healthy diversity of voices and practices. “The idea was basically having a representation of different voices, a polyphonic approach,” Varadinis says. “They are reflecting the contemporary concerns of our society.”

Carbon Wake, by US artist Breakfast, is a kinetic sculpture that showcases how cities are moving towards cleaner energy. Antonie Robertson / The National

The digital section is built on a similar ethos. While digital art is often seen in a vacuum, the section’s curator, Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, is setting out to show how the works respond just as acutely to contemporary issues.

“We often see that, with digital art, it is quite disconnected from the discourse of the contemporary art scene,” he says. “In the contemporary art scene right now we are looking at art responding to the current political, social and environmental challenges that the world is facing. So I thought that it was important that the theme for this year be connected with that.”

This connection is evident at the entrance. US artist Breakfast is presenting Carbon Wake, a kinetic sculpture that showcases how cities are moving towards cleaner energy. The work features gold-mirrored stainless steel panels that rise and fall depending on real-time energy data from different cities around the world. The work uses artificial intelligence technology and juxtaposes the effects of fossil fuels and renewable energy.

Moving into the space, the works incorporate technology with unexpected results under the section’s theme: Sublime. “The Sublime,” explains Delicado, “is a concept reclaimed from ancient Greece in the 17th century when artists, scientists, thinkers and philosophers were travelling around the world for the first time and discovering the immense beauty of nature. That beauty was overwhelming and was creating fear, admiration and love. Technology is creating a similar effect in our society.”

The digital art section is being held under the theme Sublime. Antonie Robertson / The National

Several works depict this intersection. These include a series by Berlin-based artist collective Crosslucid. The works, titled The Way of Flowers, show floral forms that feature uncanny qualities – such as pearlescent stamen or crystal-like fibres. “It’s a collective a collective that is using artificial intelligence to imagine new natures,” says Delicado.

Another highlight is a monolith by the new media studio Ouchhh, by Ferdi and Eylul Alici. The structure generates unique art forms based on environmental data aggregated from 20 satellites. The data includes everything from global temperatures to carbon emissions; changes in wind and cloud formations to other information on climate change. The structure and its artwork is connected in real time to variations in Mexico City and Beijing. As such, the project is described as “the world's first cross-continental real-time AI climate change data sculpture”.

Art Dubai's digital section is now in its fourth year. Delicado sought to build upon the efforts of previous iterations, showing the history and legacy of this often misunderstood art form. “Digital art is something that is quite broad,” Delicado says. “It isn’t something that started a few years ago with the boom of NFTs. It is something that started far before, as far back as the 1960s when artists in working with computers.”

Art Dubai 2025 takes place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, from April 18 to 20, with previews on April 16 and 17