Art Abu Dhabi, now in its ninth edition, has just announced its 2017 line up of 45 participating galleries from 18 countries.
It marks a return to a higher number of galleries from last year’s 36 participants under its new director, Dyala Nusseibeh. Galleries from Beirut, Istanbul, Paris, Salzburg, Beijing and New York, among others, will present works by emerging and established artists.
A new category, Solo Projects, encourages galleries to highlight work by a single artist. It will include recent works by the Egyptian artist Chant Avedissian, presented by Sabrina Amrani Gallery, and the Iraqi visual artist Dia Azzawi, presented by Meem Gallery.
Avedissian is known for his portraits of famous Egyptians like singer Umm Khulthum and former president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Azzawi is recognised as a pioneer of modern Arab art and was one of the founders of the New Vision group in 1969, that united artists on the basis of ideology instead of style.
Economic and social landscape will be explored in section called “Focus: Beyond Territory”, a curated Dr Omar Kholeif, the Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
This section will feature works by Nalini Malani, an Indian artist influenced by her time as a refugee of the partition of India, presented by Jhaveri Contemporary, and Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, whose films and visual art explore representations of their native Lebanon.
“This year’s edition aims to uphold and drive Abu Dhabi Art’s reputation as a regional cultural powerhouse presenting world-class galleries, internationally renowned artists and emerging talent to the public,” said Nusseibeh, in a statement.
“We are delighted to welcome both new galleries to the fair and returning exhibitors. As Abu Dhabi Art grows and expands, it will continue to provide a platform from which cultural and artistic dialogue can be initiated, paving the way for the evolving art scene in the Emirate and the UAE.”
There will also be a series of talks on Gulf art histories, contemporary performance art, a street art programme and a section of site-specific works by three artists in Abu Dhabi city and Al Ain.
Abu Dhabi Art runs from November 8 to 11 at Manarat Al Saadiyat and other venues. For more information, visit www.abudhabiart.ae .
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
