The sixth edition of Abu Dhabi Art (ADA) aims to reach out to a much wider audience through a public programme inspired by the cultural institutions set to open in Abu Dhabi and a focus on public art, which will bring to the city famous works such as Subodh Gupta’s monumental sculpture “Et tu, Duchamp?” and a recent work from Ai Wei Wei’s well-known “Forever” series of bicycle installations.
ADA 2014, organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), will be held from November 5 to November 8 at Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island. Besides bringing leading art and design galleries from around the world to Abu Dhabi, the art fair will engage the local community with a public programme featuring art, talks and performances that explore themes of time, space and history in the context of modern museums, including the ones being built on Saadiyat Island.
“This year, the Abu Dhabi Art programme will celebrate the upcoming opening of Abu Dhabi museums and finds inspiration in the spirit of the future museums’ collections. It will consist of three main sectors: a daily public forum examining the importance of museums as sites of action and new experiences; a performing arts programme exploring concepts of universality and transversality and themes such as humankind’s complex relationship with nature and the passage of time, culture and ideas between one civilisation and another; and a set of public art, design and architecture initiatives that connect with the wider city and communities of Abu Dhabi,” says Rita Aoun-Abdo, executive director, Culture Sector, TCA Abu Dhabi.
The talks will focus on the “life” of modern museums as spaces of education, performance and experience. Participants include Richard Long, a pioneer of the “land art” movement; and Martin Creed, who will present a playful lecture-performance titled “What is Art?” The programme also includes panel discussions on “Museums as Sites for New Experiences”, and on the collection of The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The fair’s performing arts programme features a series of interactive performances titled “Hours and Colours”, which combines illumination, calligraphy, music and video art to create a variety of ambiences and art moments. The Durub Al Tawaya programme returns with a series of performances designed to engage the wider community and to explore the spaces (tawaya) of the city. This year, ADA’s “Beyond” section, which presents large-scale sculptures at the fair, has been expanded to include an annual selection of monumental public-art installations, which will be on display in public areas throughout the city. “Beyond” at ADA 2014 will feature 14 works by well-known artists, including Ai Wei Wei, Subodh Gupta, Francois Morellet, Mohammad Kazem, Shilpa Gupta and Sahand Hesamiyan.
Wei Wei’s “Forever” series of installations are among the Chinese artist’s best-known works. They feature stainless-steel cycle frames stacked in layers and fused together to create geometric shapes that look different from different sides. In an ironic reference to the “Forever” brand of bicycles that have been manufactured in Shanghai since 1940, the series comments on the changing urban landscape and lifestyles of people in our consumerist society. It also alludes to a massing of humanity and the mass production of goods through processes of assembling, repeating and copying. The work presented at ADA 2014 by Lisson Gallery resonates with the architecture and the developing cultural ethos of Abu Dhabi, and beautifully encompasses the themes of time, space and history.
“The bicycle is an object we grew up with. Owning a bicycle was a luxury then, and everyone aspired to have a ‘Forever’ bicycle, which was the best brand at the time. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s ‘readymades’, I thought this is a good material to use for my art because society is familiar with it. But the role of this strong, sturdy and practical mode of transportation in the countryside is changing. Contrary to its name, in China the ‘Forever’ bicycle is gradually disappearing from the roads as more and more people are using cars, leading to increasing pollution. On the other hand, people in rich countries have started using bicycles to keep fit and be eco-friendly. These cycles are an apt way to comment on the changes in the landscape, social structures, perceptions, attitude and behaviour of people around the world,” the artist says.
Subodh Gupta’s sculpture, “Et tu, Duchamp?” is also inspired by Duchamp’s work. The monumental piece, presented by Hauser & Wirth, translates Duchamp’s legendary moustachioed Mona Lisa, titled “L.H.O.O.Q.”, into a larger-than-life three-dimensional figure. The bronze sculpture, covered with a black patina, is an appropriation of an appropriation, which substantiates Duchamp’s sleight of hand, revisiting the most mysterious beauty in Western art as a bearded heavyweight.
“Art has to go beyond the museum spaces and art fairs; and this sculpture is a particularly wonderful choice for public art, given the work’s inherent humour. The parallel between the Louvre in Paris where Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ — the world’s most famous artwork — hangs and the exciting new Louvre Abu Dhabi lends a fantastic dimension to the reimagining of the original artwork,” Florian Berktold, executive director, Hauser and Wirth, says.
Sahand Hesamiyan’s stainless steel sculpture, presented by The Third Line, represents an object washed ashore by the waves, and was originally made to be exhibited by the sea in a Scandinavian country. “I see it as something that has stories and mysteries, and might bring with it new culture and philosophy to the new land. The form, shape and position of the lines allows people to discover new perspectives by walking around it; and the glow powder coating makes it glow at night. Like an object drifting in from the sea that will be explored by the people who find it, this piece is being brought to the Beyond section of ADA from far away, to be explored by yet another group of people,” Hesamiyan says.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts enthusiast based in Dubai.
For more information, visit www.abudhabiart.ae