Music made by plants, culinary art sculptures and mobile dhow galleries – it’s all in a day’s work for the curators of this year’s Abu Dhabi Art Fair…
If you thought art was just oil paintings in hushed, echoey galleries, think again.
For the fifth year running, from November 20-23 the Manarat Al Saadiyat exhibition centre and UAE Pavilion in the Saadiyat Cultural District will be hosting Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2013, in conjunction with 43 participating international galleries.
This year the festival’s organiser, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), has gone to town – organising exhibitions and performances which include 3D artwork on buses, poetry on the beach and hip hop dance performances.
Tairone Bastien, the cultural programme manager for TCA Abu Dhabi says, ‘Over 21,000 people flocked to the fair in 2012, and as we’ve expanded the programme this year we’re expecting even more. We’ve designed an innovative programme packed with events over four days to surprise and delight our audience. If I had to pick just one to experience, then I’d choose the Durub Al Tawaya – the buses we’ve transformed into mobile galleries – an exciting project that is new for this year.’
Still think Abu Dhabi’s Art Fair sounds like other international art fairs? Alanood Al Hammadi, exhibitor relations coordinator for TCA Abu Dhabi, begs to differ. ‘The fair focuses on contemporary art and hosts a range of mixed media,’ she says. ‘Over 400 artists will showcase their work, which will come in the form of installation, film screenings, sculpture, design and more. And while emerging artists are welcome in the Signature and Bidaya parts of the show, only artists represented by a selected gallery or exhibitors chosen by the official selection committee can participate, while galleries must have been operating for at least three years – so you can be sure the works will be museum-quality.’
The fair will be divided into five themes. The modern and contemporary category will showcase works from respected art dealers and renowned artists; talks, workshops and a design souk fall into the design category, while Signature offers galleries an opportunity to unveil the work of emerging artists to the international art world in a solo show. This year will see Art Sawa showing Marwa Adel’s photography and computer graphics, Artspace featuring Sheikha Alyazia bint Nahyan Al Nahyan’s paintings and documentaries and Salwa Zeidan Gallery will showcase the themes of Muslim women’s lifestyles and struggles which Fatema Al Mazrouie portrays in her mixed media work.
Bidaya – which means ‘beginning’ in Arabic – offers galleries less than three years old the opportunity to showcase their artists on an international stage. This year, the powers that be picked Dubai’s Lawrie Shabibi, which opened in 2012. The gallery will present the colourful, textured abstracts of Nabil Nahas, a cutting-edge Lebanese newcomer; mixed media folk art by Egypt’s Farghali Abdel Hafiz, recreations of ancient Chinese pottery carved from soap by Korea’s Meekyoung Shin and the sculptures, photos and collages Indonesia’s Yudi Noor has become known for.
Large-scale sculpture, video installation and street performances will be shown outdoors at The Plaza in front of Manarat Al Saadiyat, as part of the fair’s Beyond category. Thirteen mammoth sculptures will be exhibited this year, making it the largest Beyond gallery yet. Featured artists include Pascale Martine Tayou, Rafael Barrios, Hassan Sharif, Jukhee Kwon, Ahmed Matar and Hussain Sharif.
For full details visit www.abudhabiartfair.ae.
View Best things to see and do at Abu Dhabi Art Fair here.
View Abu Dhabi Art Fair events guide.
