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Art Dubai 2009 unveils 68 participating galleries
DUBAI — The most anticipated art fair of the year, Art Dubai 2009, opened on Tuesday unveiling an unprecedented line-up of 68 participating galleries at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena.
Running successfully for the third consecutive year, Art Dubai has an impressive line-up of 2,000 artworks by 465 artists and more than 20 hours of video art installation.
The art fair opens to the public today and will continue till March 21.
International galleries as well as the best emerging galleries from the Middle East and South Asia are participating in the event, which coincides with the Sharjah Biennial 2009 and the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.
Art Dubai is seeking to attract more than 5,000 overseas visitors, double the number of international visitors from last year.
John Martin, Co-founder and Director of Art Dubai told Khaleej Times that 28 new galleries were participating
this year.
“The sheer quantity of the participating galleries proves that the fair is gaining greater international and regional attention.
“Since Art Dubai’s inception, we’ve observed that Dubai has an incredible potential for the art market and the hunger for good art work is growing continuously in the emirate. Added to that, the Government is extremely supportive of all initiatives. The younger generation of UAE has unbelievable energy, and the market for art here is very young.”
He said that Dubai is emerging as a meeting point for artists.
“A lot of talent used to move to art hubs like Berlin, New York and London to study art.
“But now with the upsurge of many non-profit organisations and initiatives, Dubai is turning into a meeting point for artists.”
Martin said Dubai is fast turning into a cultural hub because it is very receptive to new ideas.
“There is a healthy mix of cultural heritage and contemporary art.
“The fear of Emirati values being threatened by contemporary art is very limited. A lot of artistes within the region are also drawing inspiration from Islamic Art.”
Cristiana Perrella and Kutlug Ataman, Carol Solomon and Zoulikha Bouabdelleh, and Leyla Fakhr and Nazgol Ansarinia were selected as the three curator-artist recipients of this year’s Abram Capital Art Prize.
A highlight of this year’s Art Dubai is the unveiling of the works of the recipients of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize of $200,000 each, one of the highest prizes in the world.
The prize provides the winners an opportunity for creative collaboration with international curators and artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region.
Russian artist Zoulikha Bouabdelleh’s and American curator Carol Solomon’s ‘Walk the Sky, Pisces’ is an installation piece that recreates the night sky illuminated by a discernible astrological constellation. Curator-artist duo of Italian Cristiana Perrella and Turkish Kutlug Ataman have put up Strange Space, an intense video installation, in which the artist is filmed while crossing the desert land bare-footed and blind-folded.
‘Rhyme and Reason’, a Persian carpet woven by Iranian Nazgol Ansarina and presented by curator Leyla Fakhr, explores the patterns and structures of modern day life.
Mapping Palestine
An added attraction to Art Dubai this year is Mapping Palestine, a project created by Samar Martha of Art School Palastine, a non-profit organisation founded in 2005. Mapping Palestine takes place in three different locations of the Art Dubai venue in Madinat Jumeira.
A series of video programmes entitled ‘Tamam’ (everything is fine), located in the Art Park, features the work of Khalil Rabah, Sharif Waked, Larissa Sansour, Mohanad Yaqubi amongst others.
The Art School Palestine pavilion ‘Achier al Layl’ (at the end of the night), derived from a poem by the late poet Mahmoud Darwish, exhibits a two dimensional work by artists living and working in Palestine and the Diaspora.
The third edition of Mapping Palestine introduces several Palestine art organisations such as A.M. Rattan foundation, Palestinian Art court- Al Hash and the International Academy of Art Palestine contributing presentations to the project.
‘Mapping’ is an initiative by Samar Martha that tries to find answers for question of survival of art in a politically volatile atmosphere.
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