This year’s Art Dubai — the annual showcase of art in the city — presents 94 galleries from 40 countries, representing more than 500 exhibiting artists and 70 nationalities with countries like Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Palestine and Sri Lanka making their debut at the fair.
Art Dubai hosts not only established galleries and artists, but in its curated sections — Modern, Contemporary and Marker — it nurtures a good mix of small-scale, up-and-coming galleries that work as incubators of sorts for new talent.
The success of Dubai Art Week — as Art Dubai and Design Days Dubai (the annual design fair, which is at The Venue in Downtown Dubai until March 18) are collectively known — can be measured from the economic impact of these fairs, totalling $35 million across the seven-day period last year.
In a report produced by the independent research body Repucom, the 2015 cycle of Dubai Art Week saw 25,000 visits to these events with a tally of 15,625 unique attendees, 51 per cent of whom were visiting from outside Dubai. Together Art Dubai and Design Days Dubai impacted the sales of over 6,000 art and design works.
With 16 booths and 13 galleries, this edition of the fair also marks the largest participation of galleries from the UAE and underscores Art Dubai’s pioneering role in the growth of the regional art market.
And with 46 per cent of the exhibiting artists female, Art Dubai 2016 boasts of the highest percentage of female representation at any international arts fair.
Here’s how to navigate the event, which runs at the Mina A’Salam, Madinat Jumeirah, from March 16-19.
Art Dubai Contemporary
Featuring 76 galleries from 36 countries, Art Dubai Contemporary presents artists covering all artistic media — including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, video, photography and performance. Kate Fowle, chief curator at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and director-at-large at Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York returns to the fair as guest curator of this section. Founded in 2012, Yay Gallery from Baku, Azerbaijan, is known for its stellar role in nurturing the local arts scene. To the fair, it brings works by artists Orkhan Huseynov and Aida Mahmudova among others. GVCC Gallery provides a platform for Maghreb female artists while promoting 21st-Century artists from Morocco. In bringing artists like Zoulikha Bouabdellah to Art Dubai, the gallery contributes to the near-equal female representation at this year’s fair. Evi Keller will present her works courtesy of Gallery Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris.
Art Dubai Modern
Home to works by modern masters from the 20th Century (until the year 2000), Art Dubai Modern will play host to modern art from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, with each gallery scheduled to present a solo or two-person show. Operating from New York and Tehran, Shirin Gallery is often regarded as a custodian of modern and contemporary Iranian arts. It will showcase the Love and War series by artist Ali Akbar Sadeghi. Managing the portfolio of diverse established and emerging artists, the Dubai and Beirut based Ayyam Gallery will present works by Moustafa Fathi, while Wadi Finan Art Gallery from Jordan will present works by artists Samia Zaru and Muhanna Durra.
Marker
Art Dubai’s curated programme of galleries and art spaces focuses each year on a particular theme or geography. This year, it trains its focus on the Philippines as Manila-based artist Ringo Bunoan curates a selection of works from 20 Filipino artists.
RCA Secret Dubai
Back by popular demand, Dubai’s edition of the Royal College of Art’s anonymous art exhibition and sale returns to Art Dubai this year and is held in partnership with Alserkal Avenue.
The Wedding Project
This new immersive project and cafe space featuring performances and an eleven-course menu created entirely by artists will transform two halls at Madinat Jumeriah into a magical wedding-scape. The cake-topper to the wedding themed event are the eleven-course gala dinners, inspired by a 10th-century Arabic text that defines love in 11 stages. “Playing on the rituals we associate with social get-togethers, The Wedding Project is the perfect commission to create a tongue-in-cheek commentary on our tenth anniversary,” said Antonia Carver, the director of Art Dubai. “We’re delighted to produce this highly original and creative project with Delfina Foundation, a long-standing partner and collaborator of Art Dubai Projects.” The dinners are at 8pm on March 16, 17 and 18. Email sara.m@artdubai.ae to reserve a seat.
Don’t miss it
Art Dubai 2016 held at Madinat Jumeirah from March 16-19, 2016. Entry is Dh50 (one-day pass), Dh80 (three-day pass). Entry is free for children under 18 years and university students (with student ID). For more log onto www.artdubai.ae
— Pratyush Sarup is design manager at one of the UAE’s premium interiors firms. He writes twice a month on design in the Weekend tabloid!.
