DUBAI.- Art Dubai’s tenth edition closed last night with participating galleries and artists reporting one of the most successful years of the fair to date. Welcoming international and regional artists, collectors, private museums, institutions, and curators from over 90 countries worldwide, Art Dubai reaffirmed its position as the world’s most global fair.
Art Dubai 2016 celebrated the highest numbers to date of galleries participating from India, Africa, Russia and Central Asia as well as galleries from Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Sri Lanka, Oman, Palestine and the Philippines participating for the first time. The fair continues to offer unparalleled insight into the dynamic art scenes burgeoning outside Europe and America. Major galleries with an international outlook and roster continue to do exceptionally well at Art Dubai, tapping into a market that remains underrepresented at artworld events in the West.
Antonia Carver, Director, said: “With our tenth edition, we’re looking forwards not back. The exceptional comments received from collectors, galleries, artists, museums and curators and the ever-increasing attendance figures from both local and international audiences – from ever more diverse locations – illustrate the maturity of the fair and the crucial role it plays in both the wider region and the artworld calendar."
Art Dubai saw solid sales from the VIP preview through to the last day, with around a quarter of galleries selling out, and the vast majority reporting healthy interest and acquisitions from a diverse collector base. Sales ranged from emerging artists under $10,000 through to works well beyond the $300,000 mark by artists such as Ai Wei Wei, Faiq Hassan, Yayoi Kusama, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Marwan, Nasreen Mohammedi, Jaume Plensa among others.
Art Dubai Contemporary’s two halls were dominated by large-scale installations and stand-out works by internationally acclaimed artists, presented alongside works by the most exciting emerging artists from the region. Indian contemporary art was well represented, with eight of the leading galleries from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata; with Dubai’s role as an international hub for collectors, artists and galleries from South Asia growing fast.
Across its wider programming, Art Dubai presented an extremely strong representation of female artists, particularly from the Middle East and South Asia region, with over 45% of the artists participating in the fair being women.
Art Dubai Modern - the only exhibition of its kind worldwide, focusing on the masters of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia - attracted particularly significant interest from international museum representatives. Comprised of solo and two-person exhibitions of museum-quality works from 1903 to the 1980s, the sector illustrated the development and artistic history of the region and the fastgrowing market demand for these historical works.
Throughout the week, galleries reported interest from major collectors and institutions, representing the role Art Dubai plays as a site for curatorial research, cultural exchange and in establishing a greater understanding of the evolution of the art scene within the region.
95 museums and institutions visited the fair, with museum directors and curators from, among others, Centre Pompidou (Catherine David and Christine Macel), Museum of Modern Art, New York (Glenn D. Lowry), the Solomon R. Guggenheim (Richard Armstrong), Serpentine Galleries (Hans Ulrich Obrist), LACMA, British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Museu Serralves, V&A, Tate, Qatar Museums Authority, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Kunsthalle Zurich and representatives from numerous private museums including the Elgiz Museum and Yinchuan MOCA. Many museums brought groups of curators and patrons to the fair, taking advantage of Art Dubai’s extensive, Gulf-wide VIP programmes.
A group of UK institutions visited the fair for the first time as a result of Art Dubai’s ongoing partnership with the British Council, including the Whitworth, Ikon Gallery, Ashmolean Museum, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, National Galleries of Scotland and Iniva, among others.
Most major biennial directors—including Venice, Kochi, Sharjah, Liverpool, Berlin were also present.
Marker, Art Dubai’s thematic gallery programme, was curated this year by artist and writer Ringo Bunoan and featured works by emerging artists from artist-run spaces in Manila, the Philippines. Throughout the week, in this highly popular and dynamic section of the fair, artists established new connections and interest in their work, with sales of pieces by emerging and established artists from the Philippines– reasserting the fair as a site of discovery.
The Abraaj Group Art Prize exhibition, curated by Nav Haq, was particularly well-received; it included a major new film commission awarded to Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, plus works by shortlisted artists Dina Danish, Mahmoud Khaled and Basir Mahmoud.
The Global Art Forum, now the largest annual arts conference in Asia, attracted capacity audiences throughout its three-day run and achieved record attendance to date. The Forum, titled ‘The Future Was’, continues to consolidate its reputation as one of the most innovative and eclectic talks programmes, globally.
Art Dubai’s not-for-profit programme, the largest programme of its kind in the world, included residencies, commissions, radio and film programmes, plus new site-specific commissions by eight rising artists from the region. Yasmina Reggad, Curator of Art Dubai Projects 2016, presented ambitious interventions throughout the fair, transforming the lower ground floor of Madinat Jumeirah into a Sleep Therapy Clinic by Jumairy, which visitors could check into throughout the opening hours of the fair. Fulfilling its aim to embrace the eclectic fabric and economy of an art fair, the Projects programme this year enabled visitors to become unknowing participants in the performance of Lydia Ourahmane, which used the hotel’s Wi-Fi network as a platform for a new video commission, realised on visitors’ own mobile phones. Additional highlights included performances by Doa Aly and Areej Kaoud that took place throughout the grounds of the fair, plus major new installations by Shreshta Rit Premnath and Massinissa Selmani.
The educational role the fair plays in the region also continues to grow: a revamped volunteers programme saw 123 young UAE-based enthusiasts involved in all aspects of the fair, while an expanded student programme welcomed over 1000 young people to the fair.
