With dedicated focus on India and China, honoring long-standing communities to the Emirates
November 21–23, 2019
Abu Dhabi Art: 2019 edition of fair to launch dedicated gallery focus on India and China, honoring long-standing communities and new visitors to the Emirates.
Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, the 11th edition of Abu Dhabi’s premier international art event, Abu Dhabi Art, will this year showcase 49 galleries and artists from the UAE, Europe, Asia and North America.
Opening next week and held at Abu Dhabi’s iconic cultural hub, Manarat Al Saadiyat, the annual event responds to the Emirate’s dynamic and international landscape. The 2019 edition follows a year-long programme of art installations, exhibitions, talks and commissions in a variety of venues across the city, including the launch of the Special Olympics Sculpture Garden, art commissions in collaboration with Aldar for Reem Central Park, site specific installations in Al Ain and a solo show for Rashid Al Shashai following his artist residency at Khalifa University. The exhibition programme at the fair itself this year will include a new Gateway exhibition entitled Fragments: Yesterday and Today curated by Paolo Colombo alongside a first-time collaboration with the Al Burda Endowment who have commissioned new artworks to be unveiled at the fair. Both exhibitions will remain on view until early 2020.
Within the gallery presentations at the fair, Focus, curated by Dr Omar Kholeif, will explore how a range of artists, from galleries such as Green Art Gallery, ATHR and Jhaveri Contemporary, use the practice of drawing to map different cartographies, dreams and imaginaries.
Abu Dhabi Art 2019 will also introduce two new sections to this year’s fair; New Horizons: India, curated by Ashwin Thadani, and New Horizons: China Today, curated by leading French curator and Asia specialist, Jérôme Sans.
Reflecting the increasing number of Chinese visitors to the UAE, New Horizons: China Today will unite contemporary works by artists from nine galleries in China, including Almine Rech Gallery, Galleria Continua and White Space Beijing, many of whom have not exhibited in Abu Dhabi before. New Horizons: India pays homage to the long-standing Indian diaspora in Abu Dhabi and will bring together artists from six galleries in India, including Aicon Contemporary, Galerie Isa and Gallery Espace.
Complementing the annual art fair at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Art encompasses a varied series of public events throughout the year which includes, Beyond, a programme driving new audiences to historic sites through contemporary art, Beyond Emerging Artists, a programme supporting emerging local artists from the UAE and Gateway, a curated exhibition that opens during the fair and will continue until January 2020, a series of stimulating cultural talks as well as site-specific performances at the fair in different locations around the city.
Dyala Nusseibeh, Director of Abu Dhabi Art commented: “Abu Dhabi plays a key role in supporting the art eco-system in the Emirates through our year round exhibition programming and through the flagship fair in November. The fair has guest curated gallery sectors throughout which offers collectors a slower pace of discovery and discussion. This includes works on display across our exhibiting galleries, in our Focus section created for us by Omar Kholeif and, of course, by the launch of our New Horizons sections curated by Jérôme Sans and Ashwin Thadani, who focus on China and India respectively.”
Marking the beginning of the art season in the UAE and the wider region, Abu Dhabi Art offers a unique meeting point for international artists and galleries in the Middle East, accompanying anniversaries at Warehouse 421 and Louvre Abu Dhabi, amongst others. In a quest to reach new audiences, and art enthusiasts unable to attend in person, Abu Dhabi Art will host two nocturnal robots, which can be controlled by online users anywhere in the world, to roam around the fair after-hours.
The fair’s upcoming 11th edition will run from Thursday, November 21 to Saturday, November 23, 2019 at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Cultural District where it will present innovative and established galleries from around the world, catering to established and emerging collectors.
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