How Dyala Nusseibeh is bringing change to Abu Dhabi Art

Abu Dhabi Art’s new director talks to Nick Leech about her plans for an event that she has always viewed as 'a very different fair'

Dyala Nusseibeh was appointed as the director of Abu Dhabi Art in November 2016. The ninth edition of the fair, which opens on November 8 2017, will be her first in charge.

"I see my role as enhancing the fair's existing strengths," Nusseibeh tells me. "I wouldn't say that it doesn't have legs as it is – it does – but I've been attending Abu Dhabi Art almost since the first edition and I've seen it evolve.

In a round-up, The Art Newspaper's Anna Somers Cocks described last year's show as an "artistically interesting and rather jolly" long weekend that was part-family-focused cultural event and part-fair.

Nusseibeh makes no bones about the role that writer, editor and uber-curator Omar Kholeif has played in attracting new blood to the Focus: Beyond Territory strand at this year's fair.

Abu Dhabi Art will run from November 8 to 11 at Manarat Al Saadiyat and other venues. For more information, visit www.abudhabiart.ae.