2013 features the most prolific collection of Art Dubai Projects to date, with a dynamic programme that invites artists, predominantly from the Middle East and Asia, to create new works that engage audiences and interact with or comment on the fair itself. Art Dubai Projects is indicative of the fair’s commitment to fostering talent from the region and its collaborative approach of working in partnership with institutions and artists. 

Art Dubai Projects includes residencies, site-specific installations, a mobile gallery, performances, a radio project, children’s programmes and video screenings. 

Commissioned projects
Eleven artists are commissioned to create site-specific works for Art Dubai 2013: Dina Danish, Hind Bin Demaithan, Mary Evans, Ehsan Ul Huq, Shi Jinsong, Mohammed Kazem, Farideh Lashai, Basim Magdy, Joe Namy, Yudi Noor, and Ahmet Öğüt. The commissioned projects utilize a wide variety of media, from Emirati artist Hind Bin Demaithan’s personal video log to Lahore-based Ehsan Ul Huq’s herd of life-size plaster donkeys. Ahmet Öğüt’s VIP Lounge for Interns offers an exclusive space for Art Dubai’s 60-plus volunteers to relax and exchange knowledge. Artist and musician Fatima Al Qadiri‘s contribution provides fair visitors with a soundtrack to their experience. 

A.i.R (Artists-in-Residence) Dubai
A.i.R Dubai, the annual three-month-long residency programme run by Art Dubai, Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), and Tashkeel, hosts six artists and a curator to develop their practice and create new works in Dubai. A.i.R. Dubai 2013 features Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Ammar Al Attar, Dina Danish, Reem Falaknaz, Joe Namy and Yudi Noor, alongside curator Bérénice Saliou. Their stay culminates in an Open Studios exhibition, held parallel to SIKKA, an artist-led fair run by Dubai Culture March 14–24, 2013. 

Mobile Art Gallery – M.A.G
In an effort to expand audiences, M.A.G presents a nomadic, pop-up gallery that roams the city, showcasing works by UAE-based artists, including Azim Al Ghussein, Shamsa Al Omaira, Rami Farook, Rania Jishi, Karim Mortada, Sharmeen Syed and Sara AlHaddad. M.A.G was created by Dubai-based independent curators Isabella Ellaheh Hughes and Angelle Siyang-Le.

Eavesdropper/Falgoosh
Radio producer and artist Fari Bradley is creating a dedicated live-streaming radio station onsite at Art Dubai, broadcasting interviews and programmes. Fari will also conduct workshops with young curators and artists participating in the 6-month ‘Saturday School’ Campus Art Dubai.

Children’s Programmes 
2013 marks the launch of Sheikha Manal Little Artists, an expanded programme for children and young teenagers aged 3–14. It includes shadow puppet workshops led by Zid Zid Kids, the Morocco-based trilingual children’s art education specialists, plus discovery tours and a range of artist-conceived guide books. 

The Hatch
2013 guest curator and artist Maha Maamoun, co-founder of the Contemporary Image Collective, is dedicating The Hatch’s 2013 program to new work by four diverse artists. The Hatch, an intimate space for film and video, is run in collaboration with the not-for-profit space The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, where the series will be also shown throughout April.

Sculpture on the Beach
In 2013, Art Dubai launches a new programme, Sculpture on the Beach, an exhibition of large-scale works on the beach adjacent to the fair. Its inaugural edition is curated by Chus Martinez, Chief curator of El Museo del Barrio, formerly Documenta 13′s Head of Department. 

dXb Store
The 2013 edition of the dXb Store—a pop-up initiative showcasing the innovative work of UAE-based designers and artists—will be presented at Dubai Culture’s SIKKA, Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood, March 14–24; Design Days Dubai, Downtown Dubai, March 18–21; and Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah, March 20–23, 2013. 

Art Dubai is held in partnership with The Abraaj Group and sponsored by Cartier. Madinat Jumeirah is home to the event. The fair’s educational programming is run in partnership with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).

Global Art Forum_7, the leading platform for cultural discussion and debate, explores Definitionism in 2013. Featuring commissioned projects and research, as well as six days of live talks, the Forum brings together a diverse lineup of artists, musicians, curators, strategists, writers and thinkers. It begins at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (March 17–18, 2013) and continues at Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah (March 20–23).

The Global Art Forum was launched by Art Dubai at its inaugural fair in 2007. Bringing together protagonists from the art world and beyond for a week of talk and performance, the Forum has become known as a particularly innovative platform, with an emphasis on issues prevalent in the Middle East and Asia. The Global Art Forum is presented by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), and is held in partnership with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar Museums Authority).

In 2013, the programme is directed by Istanbul-based writer/editor HG Masters, and commissioned by writer/curator Shumon Basar. Titled IT MEANS THIS, the forum explores the concept of definitionism: investigating the words, terms, clichés and misunderstandings that proliferate in the art world and beyond. The Forum attempts to (re)define words, phrases and ideas we think we know, and those we need to know, to navigate the 21st century.

Each session or element of the Forum takes on a keyword; some are terms we use every day—such as Heritage, Biography, Freezone, Score and Place (looking particularly at how the cities Lagos and Ramallah having been shaped by writers and artists). Other terms may be less familiar—including Academese, Advert Adverts, Drone Fiction, MENA (Middle East Nervous Anxiety), or Neologism. The eclectic lineup of Forum contributors are set to pick apart these terms through talks, debates, performances, TV clips, new publications, films, music, long-term research projects, and so much more.

Global Art Forum_7 features over 40 contributors. New participants include Dubai-based political scientist Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla; poet and author Mourid Barghouti (I Saw Ramallah, among other books); artist and former REM lead singer Michael Stipe; writer-editors Charles Arsene-Henry, Brian Kuan Wood (Editor, e-flux journal) and Guy Mannes-Abbott (author, In Ramallah, Running); artists Tarek Atoui, Tristan Bera, Manal Al Dowayan, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Shuruq Harb, Hassan Khan, Slavs and Tatars, Ala Younis; writers Elif Batuman (contributor, New Yorker), Maryam Monalisa Gharavi (Editor-at-Large, The New Inquiry), Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (author of What if Latin America Ruled the World?); Lagos-based writer-editor Tolu Ogunlesi; writer/urbanist Keller Easterling (Professor, Yale University); curator-translator and Dar Al-Ma’mun founder, Omar Berrada; curators Reem Fadda (Associate Curator, Middle Eastern Art, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, and curator, National Pavilion for the UAE at the Venice Biennial), Koyo Kouoh (Director, Raw Material Company, Dakar), Bisi Silva (director, CCA Lagos) and Tirdad Zolghadr (writer, based at Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York); New York-based anthropologist Uzma Z. Rizvi (Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute); composer and musician Andre Vida; and Doha-based analyst and commentator Tarik Yousef.  

Speakers returning from previous years include writer and artist Douglas Coupland; curator Lara Khaldi (Director, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah); geostrategist and Director of Hybrid Reality Institute Parag Khanna; Turi Munthe, founder of ‘citizen journalist’ newswire Demotix; Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London, Hans Ulrich Obrist; art patron and commentator Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi; and the Beirut-based critic Kaelen Wilson-Goldie.

The Global Art Forum_7 features a range of commissions, including a series of “advert breaks” by upcoming artists Lantian Xie and Abdullah Al Mutairi, and two publications—Biography (contributors; Victoria Camblin, Douglas Coupland, Suna Kafadar, James Westcott, Charly Wilder) and Drone Fiction (contributors; Rayya Badran, Josh Begley, Hu Fang, Guy Mannes-Abbott, Tod Wodicka).

Other discussions at Art Dubai include Terrace Talks, a series of high-level one-on-one conversations between key protagonists from the arts scenes of the Middle East and Asia, each year focusing on particular themes and developments.

For more information and the latest updates, please visit www.artdubai.ae, become a Fan of Art Dubai on Facebook and follow Art Dubai on Twitter at @artdubai.  

Art Dubai, Delfina Foundation, the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and Tashkeel announce the artists and curator selected for the 2013 edition of Artists-in-Residence (A.i.R.) Dubai. Following a pilot year in 2011, A.i.R Dubai was launched in 2012 opening the door for six artists and a curator interested in developing their practice and creating new work in the context of Dubai. 

A.i.R. Dubai 2013 features artists Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Ammar Al Attar, Dina Danish, Reem Falaknaz, Joe Namy, and Yudi Noor. The six artists will work alongside curator Bérénice Saliou.

The residency programme (January 7–March 31) will culminate in an Open Studios exhibition, held parallel to the SIKKA Art Fair (March 14–24, 2013). The international artists are also commissioned to create site-specific works for Art Dubai Projects, which forms part of the fair’s extensive non-commercial programming. The projects will be exhibited at Art Dubai March 20–23, 2013.

A.i.R. Dubai supports artists by providing them with a platform to develop their practice and create new work, while facilitating exchange between the artists, the local communities, and the broader cultural landscape. Furthermore, the curator-in-residence position gives an international practitioner interested in the Gulf the opportunity to write, research, and cultivate ideas for future projects.

A.i.R Dubai 2013 projects and exhibitions coincide with Art Week, Dubai’s umbrella initiative, which includes Art Dubai, Design Days Dubai and SIKKA, among other events across the UAE and the Gulf.

Multidisciplinary Emirati artist, curator and writer Ebtisam Abdulaziz incorporates her unique perspective on mathematics and the structures of systems to explore issues of identity and culture through installations, performance pieces and works on paper. Selected exhibitions include Belief, Singapore Biennial (2006); and Sharjah Biennial 7 (2005) and 10 (2011). Abdulaziz is represented by The Third Line Gallery.

Born in Dubai, Ammar Al Attar has attended numerous photography courses and is a member of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), Photographic Society of America (PSA), and the Abu Dhabi International Photographic Society (ADIPS). Ammar’s group exhibitions include Emirati Expressions, Manarat Al Saadiyat (2011) and the Thessaloniki Museum, Greece (2011).

Egyptian artist Dina Danish‘s work combines conceptual art’s preoccupation with language and structure with an interest in humour, misunderstanding, mistranslation and superstition. Winner of the Illy Present Future award at Artissima 18, Danish’s recent exhibitions include solo shows Re-Play: Back in 10 Minutes, SpazioA, Pistoia (2012); A Matter of Time, Galerie Barbara Seiler, Zurich (2011); and group exhibitions at Kunsthall Oslo and CIC in Cairo. She performed Kurt Schwitters’s Ursonata at the Cairo Pavilion of the Amsterdam Biennial.

Visual Communications graduate Reem Falaknaz currently works for the Dubai Media Incorporated group, allowing her to travel around the Emirates, where she collects and documents narratives from the city’s inhabitants. Through her work, Falaknaz aims to translate the story of the city through sounds and visuals.

Joe Namy works with sampled sounds, documentary/music videos and photography, to investigate aspects of identity, memory, power and currents encoded in music. He participated in Ashkal Alwan’s Home Workspace (2011–12), and has studied jazz, Arabic and heavy-metal drumming. His work has been exhibited at the Detroit Science Center; Queens Museum and Brooklyn Museum, New York and Beirut Art Center, among other venues.

Yudi Noor was born in West Java, Indonesia, and lives and works in Berlin. In a practice based on accumulation and observation, Noor explores the relational state of material as an abstract visualisation. He proposes spiritual signification in minimal compositions through work in sculpture, installation, photo and collage. Selected exhibitions include Preloaded Key; Colour, Galerie Stadtpark, Krems (2010); We Have Time, Kunstverein Arnsberg (2009). Noor is represented by Nettie Horn, London.

Bérénice Saliou‘s curatorial practice explores the ideas of borders, territory, public space, dialogue and negotiation. She holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths College (2010); her exhibitions include No Signal Found (Younes Baba Ali), Gallery Arte Contemporanea, Brussels (2011) and Duty Free (Katia Kameli), Vidéochroniques, Marseille (2012). As Artistic Director of the Moroccan organisation Feddan, she develops its large-scale permanent residency and exhibition project Trankat Street (opening in 2013, Tétouan part of Marseille 2013, European Cultural Capital).

The international artists-in-residence were identified through a nomination process by A.i.R. Dubai’s selection panel, consisting of all partners and the 2013 guest juror, Cairo-based curator and writer Sarah Rifky, while the Emirati artists were selected by the same panel following an open call for application. The curator-in-residence was chosen through A.i.R. Dubai’s selection panel with ArtAsiaPacific, a leading international art publication, and partner in the curator-in-residence programme. 

The Middle East’s largest contemporary art fair was attended by 22,500 UAE-based, regional and international guests, including curators, collectors, gallerists, artists, and 75 international museum groups.

Now in its sixth year, Art Dubai’s mature roster of participating galleries has reached out to the arts scenes of East Asia, widening the fair’s existing reach across the MENASA region, Europe and the Americas, and highlighting its role as an intimate yet extraordinarily globalized meeting point. The impressive line-up of 75 galleries generated sales from international and regional institutions as well as established and first-time collectors.

For 2012, new names such as Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Arndt, The Pace Gallery and Alexander Gray Associates brought museum-quality artworks to Art Dubai alongside returning gallery heavyweights, the majority of which experienced strong sales. Jeddah’s Athr Gallery and Dubai’s The Third Line, among others, reportedly sold out on the preview day. Art Dubai also invited five galleries from Indonesia as part of its Marker section, curated by Alia Swastika, and included over 40 artists in its commissioned projects programme, underscoring the fair’s role as a site of discovery.

“Now six years old, Art Dubai has a new maturity. In 2012, we reached out beyond our established base in the Middle East and South Asia, building new links for both the local arts scene and visiting galleries, recognizing that it’s fundamental to always bring new blood into the fair,” said Antonia Carver, Fair Director, Art Dubai. “Looking ahead, we aim to develop our relationship with African contemporary arts scenes, drawing on existing cultural links and shared histories.”

Art Dubai 2012′s ambitious offering of artists’ projects and dynamic programming generated a wealth of interest from an increasingly diverse audience base.

The fair played a key role in cultivating the intrinsic link between debate and artistic practice during the six-day Global Art Forum. Directed by writer and curator Shumon Basar, the Forum explored the theme of ‘The Medium of Media’ and added a series of commissioned research, exhibition and publishing projects to the programme. Over 50 contributors, including writer-artist Douglas Coupland, art historian Victoria Camblin, and artists Michael Rakowitz and Wael Shawky, took part.

For 2012, Art Dubai also introduced Terrace Talks, a more intimate series of presentations, featuring discussions with Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Michael Govan; Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum; collector and patron Richard Chang; Lekha and Anupam Poddar of the Devi Foundation; and Chinese performance artist Zhang Huan, among an inspiring array of speakers.

“Art Dubai is firmly rooted in the Middle East yet a progressively global cultural platform. Going forward, we’ll be developing ongoing initiatives, such as the Arabic Art Glossary being developed by Lara Khaldi, announced during this year’s Global Art Forum, in addition to year-round artists’ and curator-in-residence programmes and educational seminars. We hope these institutional elements will act as further catalysts, contributing to the arts and cultural infrastructure of the UAE and the wider region,” added Carver.

For more information and the latest updates, please visit www.artdubai.ae, become a Fan of Art Dubai on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @artdubai

Contact:

Art Dubai
Farah Atoui, Press and Marketing Manager 
farah@artdubai.ae 
+971 4 384 2009

Art Dubai
Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

Over the last six years, Art Dubai, the leading international art fair in the MENASA (Middle East/North Africa/South Asia), has become a cornerstone of the region’s booming contemporary art community. In 2012, Art Dubai welcomed 22,500 visitors, including 75 international museums groups.

Art Dubai is held in partnership with Abraaj Capital and sponsored by Cartier. Madinat Jumeirah, on Dubai’s beachfront, is home to the event.

Art Dubai Projects is a programme of new works that explores the fabric and economy of an art fair, embracing the theatrical nature of such an event. In 2012, this critically-acclaimed, interactive programme at Art Dubai (21–24 March 2012) features dynamic new initiatives: artists’ residencies and site-specific projects are joined by live, city-wide radio transmissions; a new Performance Night staged at the fair; plus a unique artist’s project for children.

Artists commissioned to produce new site-specific and performative works for Art Dubai Projects include Fayçal Baghriche, Yto Barrada, Carlos Celdran, James Clar, Koken Ergun, Rami Farook, Setu Legi, Magdi Mostafa, UBIK and Deniz Üster.

In partnership with The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, The Curatorial Delegation—a collective consisting of writer and curator Juan A. Gaitán and Rabat’s L’Appartement 22 founder Abdellah Karroum—presents Radio for Example (R22-Dubai), a live transmission of mobile conversations with leading artistic practitioners, recorded on the move, around Dubai. These interviews will be streamed on Radio Appartement 22 and presented at Art Dubai and The Pavilion.

In keeping with the spirit of collaboration, Art Dubai hosts its inaugural Performance Night on March 22, in partnership with not-for-profit artspace Traffic, Dubai. This special event features artists, poets, musicians, academics, curators, and collectors—most of whom are based in the UAE—including Hala Al Ali, Isak Berbic, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Anahita Razmi, Lantian Xie and WolfPakistan, a self-styled “native-born Emirati Indian Slash Mexican dance rap group.”

Art Dubai Projects also presents an ambitious series of commissioned interactive performances. In 2012, selected artists include Manila-based Carlos Celdran, who will perform seven acts in seven different parts of Art Dubai, offering commentary about issues surrounding geopolitics, arts and culture, and Koken Ergun, from Istanbul, whose new project involves surprise performances throughout the fair, employing musicality as a means of communication.

Created by renowned Tangier-based artist Yto Barrada with designers Zid Zid Kids, Morocco to the Moon is an interactive, educational installation for families and children. Inspired by 1950s sci-fi, this trilingual space takes visitors on a whimsical trip to outer space and beyond.

Other major, site-specific installations include Pseudophobia, an interactive fortress (or refuge)-like structure made from sandbags, textiles, pins and mirrors, by Jogjakarta-based artist Setu Legi.

In 2012, Art Dubai, Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Tashkeel launched a new, three-month residency programme, for six artists and a curator. As part of their residency, artists Fayçal Baghriche (Paris), Magdi Mostafa (Cairo) and Deniz Üster (Istanbul, Glasgow) have been commissioned to make new site-specific works for Art Dubai Projects.

Also part of its special commissions programme, Art Dubai Projects features Prototype for a Dubai Commune by Rami Farook and Oil and Water, a collaboration between artists James Clar and UBIK: both projects use architectural models of Dubai landmarks as a point of creative departure. Dubai-based UBIK will also present Portrait of an Artist through his Statements, an edible project that documents the precarious and symbolic relationship artists share with their bank balance on a daily basis.

This year Art Dubai debuts The Hatch, an ordinary stairwell given new life as a screening room. This intimate, innovative space features video programmes curated by Bidoun, plus artists’ talks and presentations.

The sixth edition of Art Dubai takes place 21–24 March 2012 and features 75 galleries from 32 countries, plus a dynamic projects programme, the unveiling of works by Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners, and the critically acclaimed, six-day Global Art Forum.

Art Dubai is held in partnership with Abraaj Capital and sponsored by Cartier. Madinat Jumeirah, on Dubai’s beachfront, is home to the event.

artdubai.ae

The Global Art Forum, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region’s leading platform for cultural debate, expands to six days in 2012, and features commissioned projects and research, as well as live debates and presentations.

Now in its sixth year, the Global Art Forum is directed by writer Shumon Basar and is characterized by a particularly innovative and dynamic approach.

Art Dubai’s Global Art Forum_6 presented by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and in partnership with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar Museums Authority), starts in Doha March 18–19 before continuing to Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah, March 21–24.

Entitled ‘The Medium of Media’, the Forum is re–inventing itself this year. Along with the familiar array of lectures, conversations, discussions, and workshops, it includes a new roster of commissioned projects that precede and succeed the live days. Thematically, GAF_6 looks at the double meaning of the term ‘media’, both within the art world and referring to the world of publishing and reportage. Underpinning this is a look back at the past year in the Arab world, and how fundamental events have been both produced and consumed as media. GAF_6 is, effectively, a media production about media.

Over 50 contributors to Global Art Forum_6 include: LACMA director Michael Govan; Serpentine Gallery co-director of exhibitions and programmes and director of international projects Hans Ulrich Obrist; novelist and artist Douglas Coupland; writer/critic Sukhdev Sandhu; art market reporter Georgina Adam; film–producer Anna Lena Vaney; artists Wael Shawky, Shezad Dawood and Michael Rakowitz; curators Jack Persekian and Nat Muller; Demotix founder Turi Munthe; commentators Sultan Suood Al Qassemi and Yasmine El Rashidi; as well as filmmaker Sophie Fiennes with a special screening of Over Your Cities the Grass will Grow.

Commissioned projects include a series of PowerPointsTM by writers and artists, curated by Victoria Camblin, including Goldin & Senneby and Alexander Provan + Triple Canopy; a Dictionary of the Mediatized Gulf by Qatari artist-writer Sophia Al Maria; a publication entitled Some Medium Stories, edited by Michael Vasquez featuring Emily Dische-Becker, Tom Francis, Kristine Khouri; and a Media Archiving blog by Mariam Wissam Al Dabbagh. Two new collaborations between Art Dubai and Mathaf will be announced: an interactive Arabic Art Glossary, led by curator Lara Khaldi, and an Artist’s Residency at Al Jazeera news network, Doha. These works will be made available, in both Doha and Dubai, at the new Forum–Forum resource space, which will include UAE research by Brusselssprout and blogger/photographer Hind Mezaina as well as works by artists Isak Berbic and Banu Cennetoglu.

The programme begins in Doha with presentations of the new commissioned projects as well as discussions on the relationship between news-makers and history-making in the Arab world, and the increasing phenomena of artists turning to the medium of feature film making.

The Forum subsequently moves on to Art Dubai, March 21–24. Here, continuing the theme of ‘The Medium of Media’, GAF_6 invites critics, historians and experts to discuss Marshall McLuhan’s legacy; the Beatles’ last ever concert; the past and future of ‘Net Art’; how news shapes art and financial markets; the Crusades told through the medium of puppetry; archiving Emirati TV; and much more.

The Global Art Forum is also continuing Forum Fellows for the second year. Led by art-critic Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, the programme invites exceptional young writers from the Middle East, Asia and the UAE to interact with the rich themes and subtexts of the Fair, as well as the challenge of writing through past and present in times of political crisis.

The Global Art Forum is part of Art Dubai’s discussion programme that includes Terrace Talks, a series of conversations on the relationship between the Gulf and wider Asia, and the fourth edition of The Big Idea, a dynamic, fast-paced forum for young UAE–based artists and designers.

The sixth edition of Art Dubai takes place March 21–24, 2012, at Madinat Jumeirah, and features 75 galleries from 32 countries, in addition to a new programme of artists’ and curators’ residencies, commissioned projects, performative tours, workshops, and the unveiling of the works by Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners.

artdubai.ae

Art Dubai, in partnership with the Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Tashkeel, has launched Artists-in-Residence (A.i.R) Dubai 2012, an annual programme for artists and curators based in the historic quarter of Bastakiya, Dubai.

Artists Hadeyah Badri, Fayçal Baghriche, Zeinab Al Hashimi, Magdi Mostafa, Nasir Nasrallah, and Deniz Uster have been selected for the three-month residency in the lead-up to Art Week, the Gulf-wide programme of fairs, museum shows, exhibitions, performances and projects that coincides with Art Dubai each March. The 2012 curator-in-residence is Alexandra MacGilp.

As part of their residency, Fayçal Baghriche, Magdi Mostafa, and Deniz Uster are commissioned to make site-specific works for Art Dubai Projects, a programme of new works and performances that explore the fabric and economy of an art fair, embracing the theatrical nature of such an event.

All six artists will be exhibiting as part of an Open Studios programme included in Sikka Art Fair during Art Week 2012.

The artists—three from Asia and the Middle East, three from the UAE—were selected by representatives of the partner organisations plus guest curator November Paynter, Associate Director of Research and Programs at SALT, Istanbul and Director of the Artist Pension Trust, Dubai. The curator-in-residence was selected by A.i.R. Dubai selection panel, with critic HG Master of ArtAsiaPacific, following an open call. The curator’s residency is in collaboration with ArtAsiaPacific.

Artists-in-residence

Hadeyeh Badri studied Visual Communications and Design at the American University of Sharjah. She is the co-founder of Möbius Design Studio, a collective engaged in experimental processes, and conceptual and formal investigations. Her work is an exploration of typography, photography and other media.

Fayçal Baghriche lives and works in Paris. A collector of narratives and traces and an assembler of objects and films, he proposes images that thwart the identification reflex. Recent international exhibitions include ‘Architecture of survival’, Outpost for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008); ‘Second Hand’, the Museum of Modern Art, Paris (2010); and ‘The Future of a Promise’ at the 54th Venice Biennial (2011).

Zeinab Al Hashemi is a young visual artist based in Dubai, who specializes in multi-media design and sources her ideas from elements of popular culture. She is also the creator of Dibs & Dips, the first Emirati pop art modern bakery concept.

Magdi Mostafa is a Cairo-based artist who works primarily with site-specific, research-driven sound projects, multimedia installations and experimental music. Exhibitions include ‘Invisible Presence’, Malawian museum, Cairo (2009); ‘The One & the Multiple’, La Capella de Barcelona (2010); ‘Sound Cells (Fridays’) ‘, Cairo Opera House (2010).

Nasir Nasrallah is a Sharjah-based visual artist. His practice is driven by the need to experiment with new concepts and methodologies and to transform raw materials into art. Nasrallah’s first solo exhibition was held at the Sharjah Art Museum (2009). Other international exhibitions include The Fine Arts Creative Gulf Artists, Kuwait (2009) and Sana’a International Forum for Plastic Arts (2009). Nasrallah is vice chairman of the Emirates Fine Arts Society.

Deniz Uster is based in Glasgow and Istanbul. Her work often implies processes of transmutation, and draws upon the language of alchemy. Uster’s work has been featured in ‘Light Courses’, Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum, Istanbul (2010); ‘Encrypting Signs on the Fabric of a Rhizome’, La Giarina Gallery, Verona (2011); ‘Confessions of Dangerous Minds, Contemporary Art from Turkey’, Saatchi Gallery, London (2011).

Curator-in-Residence

Based in London, Alexandra MacGilp is interested in film, video, performance and installation practices and working with archive materials. MacGlip has curated multi-media exhibitions with accompanying talks and performance programmes in London, Hamburg and Kabul, often working as part of a curatorial collective with Cassandra Needham. She contributes regularly to EXIT Express and artvehicle.com, which she co-founded in 2006.

The sixth edition of Art Dubai takes place March 21-24, 2012, at Madinat Jumeirah, UAE. Art Dubai 2012 includes leading galleries and dynamic young spaces from across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia and Africa.

The most established international fair in MENASA (Middle East/North Africa/South Asia), Art Dubai 2012 features a carefully selected roster of 74 galleries from 31 countries. The full list is available here.

“Art Dubai epitomizes the globalised phenomenon that is today’s art world,” said Antonia Carver, Fair Director, Art Dubai. “Over the past five years, the fair has become known as a site of discovery, and an essential meeting point on the art world calendar.” In 2011, Art Dubai welcomed over 20,000 visitors, including 60 international museum groups.

New participants in 2012 include Arndt (Berlin), Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels), Lombard Freid Projects (New York), Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke (Mumbai), The Pace Gallery (New York, London, Beijing), Galerie Perrotin (Paris), and Platform China (Beijing).

Galleries returning from 2011 include Athr Gallery (Jeddah), Chantal Crousel (Paris), Experimenter (Kolkata), Goodman (Johannesburg, Capetown), Grey Noise (Lahore), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York), Sfeir-Semler (Hamburg, Beirut) and The Third Line (Dubai).

Galleries planning artist focus shows include Mumbai’s Chemould Prescott Road, with new works by Shezad Dawood; Argentinian galleries GC Estudio de Arte and Galeria Teresa Anchorena with a stand featuring kinetic sculpture; and Impronte Contemporary Art (Milan), which specializes in contemporary video and photography from Central Asia.

Marker, the curated section of ‘concept stands’ launched in 2011, this year turns its focus to the Indonesian arts scene. Commissioned by Art Dubai, Yogyakarta-born curator Alia Swastika has invited five Indonesian galleries—Ark Galerie, Biasa Artspace, Galerie Canna, D’Gallerie, and Jogja Contemporary—to participate; they are now working with artists to produce new work for the fair in March 2012.

Curator of the upcoming Jogja Biennial and one of the artistic directors of the 9th Gwangju Biennial, Ms Swastika commented: “Like the Middle East, Indonesia has witnessed the growth of an extraordinarily dynamic arts scene, where art is perceived not only as an integral part of life, but as a tool to reflect on society.”

Besides a stellar selection of international galleries, Art Dubai features an innovative, non-commercial programme of talks, projects and educational initiatives. The critically-acclaimed Global Art Forum, under the directorship of curator and writer Shumon Basar, expands to six days. It begins at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, March 18–19, and continues at Art Dubai, March 21–24.

Highlights of Art Dubai Projects 2012 include a new artists’ and curator’s residency programme—a partnership between Art Dubai, the Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and Tashkeel—plus commissioned site-specific works, performances, radio and research projects. The curator’s residency is in collaboration with ArtAsiaPacific. The participants will be announced early December.

Art Dubai is an anchor event within Art Week, which expands in 2012 to include a range of art and design events across the Gulf.

For more information and the latest updates, please visit www.artdubai.ae, become a Fan of Art Dubai on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @artdubai.

Contact:
Art Dubai
DIFC, Gate Village 1
PO BOX 72645, Dubai, UAE
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The largest and most diverse edition to date, Art Dubai experienced strong sales during its 2011 presentation from 16–19 March and attracted more than 20,000 guests, with a 30 percent increase in international visitors. Underscoring its role as a vital cultural meeting point connecting the Middle East and Asia with the rest of the world, Art Dubai 2011 was attended by curators, collectors, gallerists, artists, museum directors and more than 60 museum groups.

Of the 81 participating galleries, the majority experienced strong sales from the outset with major purchases from international and regional institutions in addition to established and first-time collectors from the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States. A number of participating galleries, including Chatterjee & Lal and Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai), BISCHOFF/WEISS (London), Kalfayan Galleries (Athens /Thessaloniki), Sutton Gallery (Melbourne), AB Gallery (Lucerne/Zurich), Gandhara-art (Hong Kong/Karachi), Pilar Corrias (London), Dirimart (Istanbul), Priska C. Juschka Fine Art (New York) and GALLERY ISABELLE VAN DEN EYNDE (Dubai) among others sold most of their available works at the fair.

“Never before has there been such a level of international interest in the arts scenes of the MENASA or such a level of regional support for artists and their projects,” said Fair Director Antonia Carver. “Galleries at Art Dubai 2011 reported strong sales and the fair offered an unprecedented level of innovative artists’ projects and educational events, which we feel are part of what makes this fair unique.”

Exhibitors offered positive reports of their experience at the fair, including:

“Art Dubai has been really successful for us,” said Paola Weiss of BISCHOFF/WEISS (London). “I’ve noticed that there is now a solid Middle Eastern collector base. In general people seem more interested in collecting. Furthermore, arts patronage has really started to show.”

“I had a great experience here at Art Dubai and really met a lot of people who are very interested in our work,” said Sappho Ma, Gallery Director, Connoisseur Contemporary (Hong Kong). “And equally important—the fair was satisfying as a human experience; great people, great parties and a great spirit.”

“Despite showing an artist with a proven track record in the region, we were overwhelmed by response both in terms of critical reception and sales,” said Mortimer Chatterjee of Chatterjee & Lal (Mumbai).

The international art world turned out to Art Dubai 2011 in record numbers, including museum groups and representatives from Qatar Museums Authority, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation (New York), MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), Hong Kong Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Sotheby’s Institute, Performa (New York) and Cartier Foundation (Paris).

In addition to exploring a range of galleries from 34 countries, guests of Art Dubai witnessed engaging conversations through the Global Art Forum, with speakers including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rashid Rana, Germano Celant, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi and Vasif Kortun. This year’s Global Art Forum Artist-in-Residence, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, devised a trail of bibliographic references for the four days of talks entitled MirrorAudience. The Forum was developed through a partnership between Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (ADACH), Ministry of Culture, Kingdom of Bahrain.

Art Dubai 2011 also saw the launch of MARKER, a new platform for experimental art spaces from Asia and the Middle East, curated by Nav Haq; the third Abraaj Capital Art Prize and Footnote to a Project*, a book project specially commissioned for the prize; Art Dubai Projects, a rich programme of new works and interactive performances; Art Park, curated by Bidoun Projects, which included film screenings, talks, performances and workshops; and Les Voyages Extraordinaires, a museum quality exhibition presented by Van Cleef & Arpels.

For more information, please register at www.artdubai.ae/register-form.php
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Media Queries:
Stephanie Sykes
press@artdubai.ae