Art Dubai 2018

Art Dubai

Taking its distinct identity from a one-of-a-kind line-up of 103 galleries from 47 countries, exhibited acrossits gallery halls and Residents section, Art Dubai aims to broaden the conversation on art outside of the traditional art centers. It does so by featuring galleries and artists presenting works from emerging art scenes, exhibited alongside, and matching the quality of, those from firmly established centers of the art world, making the fair a place of discovery from art from across the globe.

Mirroring the cosmopolitanism and energy of its hometown Dubai, Art Dubai is a human-scale fair that acts as a meeting point forthe international art world. A manifestation of this is the fair’s museum groups programme, which has served as a platform for discussions and networks that last in time and go beyond commercial transactions, and has seen the inception of in ternational exhibitions and artistic projects that crystallize throughout the year. A leading international art fair, Art Dubai is also the preeminent place to interact with art from the MiddleEast, North Africa and South Asia through a number of high-profile galleries from across the region. In addition, the fair features a unique section, showcasing museum-quality Modern works from the MENASA region, alongside a yearly Modern Symposium.

Acting as a digital extension of Art Dubai’s offering, the Art Dubai Portraits, a film series on artists that areconnected to the fair through its programming or participating galleries,serve as a one-of-a-kind resource for curators and researchers working on the art from the region.

CONTEMPORARY

Spread across two gallery halls, Art Dubai Contemporary 2018 will feature 32 galleries in its Solo section–a section focused on solo- and two-artist presentations–and 46 galleries in Collective, which is dedicated to multi-artist shows, with both sections mixed across the two Contemporary halls.

2018 will see a significant contingent of returning galleries from Europe and North America, including Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York, Aspen), Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris, Brussels), Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna), Victoria Miro (London, Venice), Gallería Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, LesMoulins, La Habana) and Galleria Franco Noero (Turin), which will exhibit alongside first-time participants Galería Elba Benítez (Madrid), i8 Gallery (Reykjavík) and Ga lerie Mitterrand (Paris), amongstothers.

The strong representation of galleries from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, is testament to Art Dubai’s role as a driving force in the development of the artscene of the wider region and its market. The diverse line-up from across the Middle East and North Africa includes Sfeir-Semler Gallery (Beirut,Hamburg), Athr Gallery (Jeddah), Galerist (Istanbul), Selma Feriani Gallery (Tunis, London), Gypsum(Cairo), Voice Gallery (Marrakech), Agial Gallery (Beirut) and Galerie Tanit (Beirut, Munich), who will exhibit alongside Experimenter (Kolkata) and Canv as Gallery (Karachi) from South Asia.

African art will feature prominently at the 12th edition in both the gallery halls and the Residentssection, Art Dubai will welcome Gallery1957 (Accra),Addis Fine Art (Addis Ababa, London), Tafeta, (London), and Officine dell’ Immagine (Milan), amongst others.

In addition, the fair continues to hold a unique presence of galleries from Latin America such as Piero Atchugarry Gallery (Pueblo Garzón), Revolver Galeria (Lima, Buenos Aires), Galeria Vermelho (Sao Paulo) and Henrique Faria Fine Art (Buenos Aires, New York).

MODERN

An indicator of its ongoing success, Art Dubai Modern 2018 will feature a record number of 16 galleries exhibiting artists from 14 countries. For the first time, Art Dubai Modern will offer the opportunity to see galleries present tightly curated collective exhibitions, in addition to solo and two-artist shows.

Participating galleries will present renowned Modernists from the Middle East such as Gebran Tarazi (1944-2010), represented by Agial Art Gallery (Beirut), prolific Egyptian Post-War artist Abdel Hadi El Gazzar (1925-1966), showcased by Karim Francis Gallery (Cairo), as well as works by Iranian-American artist Manoucher Yektai (b.1922), shown by Aria Gallery (Tehran). First-time participating gallery Mark Hachem Gallery (Paris, Beirut, New York), will present works by Lebanese artists Alfred Basbous (1924- 2006) and Helen Khal (1923-2009), alongside Egyptian Hamed Abdalla (1917-1985).

Pieces by leading Modernists from South Asia will be exhibited by Grosvenor Gallery (London), DAG Modern (New Delhi, Mumbai, New York) and newcomer Sanchit Art Gal lery (New Delhi), all of whom will present collective exhibitions of works by masters from India and Pakistan, among them M.F. Husain(1915-2011), Zahoor ul Akhlaq (1941-1999), Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985), Ganesh Pyne (1937-2013) and G.R. Santosh (1929-1997), among other renowned South Asian modernists.

Perve Galeria (Lisbon) will present works by Cape Verde an artist Manuel Figueira (b. 1938) and Mozambican artists Ernesto Shikhani (1934-2010) and Reinata Sadimba (b. 1945), amongst others. Elsewhere from the African continent, newcomer Ubuntu Gal lery (Cairo) presents a group show of works by celebrated Egyptian modernists including Gazbia Sirry (b. 1 925), Tahia Halim (1919 – 2003) and Mohammed Naghi (1888-1956), among others. Tunisian gall eries Le Violon Bleu (Tunis) and Elmarsa (Tunis, Dubai), will show solo shows for Ali Bellagha (19 24-2006) and Mahjoub Ben Bella (b. 1946) respectively.

RESIDENTS

Residents 2018 will present an intimate selection of 10 solo gallery presentations by artists from around the world working across all media. The galleries in this section will be presented in a special exhibition between the two Contemporary gallery halls. The programme aims to support artists by providing a plat form to develop their practice and create new work inspired and influenced by their stay in the UAE. Framed within a unique geographical and cultural context, Residents further aims to facilitate exchange and dialogue between artists, local communitiesand the broader cultural landscape.

During the residency, artists will have the opportunity to engage with the local community, work collaboratively with one another, participate in talks and conduct open studios. Further details around this will be announced soon.

Residents will present a diverse artist line-up including Ghanaian-German artist Zohra Opoku (Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle), Lithuanian artist Kristina Al isauskaite (The Rooster Gallery, Vilnius), Indonesian artist Piko Iabadiou (Orbital Dago, Bandung), and Turkish a rtist Jennifer Ipekel (Öktem&Aykut, Istanbul), amongst others.