Dubai Art Week 2015: Navigating UAE’s celebration of art, design and culture

It’s that time of year again.

Firmly stamped as a dynamic cultural fixture on the regional and international art world’s calendar, Dubai Art Week will once again draw and engage artists, academics and art lovers this spring through a wide range of contemporary art and design events, shows and workshops.

Supported by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Emaar Properties, Art Week 2015 is actually a 10-day long celebration of arts and culture, spanning every aspect of the arts from March 14-24, 2015.

Some of the most anticipated events include the popular Art Dubai, Design Days Dubai (DDD), SIKKA Art Fair, the Global Art Forum as well as Arts Nights at Gate Village, Galleries Night at Alserkal Avenue and Al Quoz and a several other gallery events. Celebrating Dubai’s thriving creative industries, Dubai’s Art Week has “established the city as a meeting point for the global art scene for Dubai’s artists, galleries and cultural institutions can build international audiences and patrons.”

Complementing the Dubai Plan 2021 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Art Season shines a spotlight on the city and nation as a global platform for art and culture in a way that has rapidly transformed its reputation from an emerging art event into a powerful wealth of artistic thought, expression and exploration

“Whether art lovers or regular residents, these initiatives are meant to engage everyone in arts and increase their appetite for arts during this whole week of transformation,” said Lubna Ahmad Al Shamsi of Dubai Culture.

Art Dubai

Since its launch in 2007 as the Gulf Art Fair, Art Dubai has established itself as one of the most important cultural events in the region. Returning for its ninth edition from March 18-21, 2015 at Madinat Jumeirah, the global fair include 92 modern and contemporary galleries from 40 countries, a non-for-profit program including a string of residencies and commissioned, curatorial and educational projects.

Split across three distinct sections, Art Dubai includes a Contemporary section, a Modern section, featuring influential artists from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia in the twentieth century, and a Marker section that focuses on a particular theme. Curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, this year’s Marker section focuses on Latin America and the historic, often-forgotten influences and intersections between Latin America and the Arab World.

“I think we’ve really this year achieved that balance between being the international showcase for artists from the Arab world (it’s the largest showcase from the Arab world that takes place anywhere) while also being the most global of art fairs,” said Antonia Carver, who has directed Art Dubai since 2010.

Design Days Dubai

The only fair in the world to focus solely on modern and contemporary design works from six continents, Design Days Dubai will include a global line-up of 44 exhibitors, both emerging and established, from 20 countries – the highest number of exhibitors at DDD to date.

Showcasing rare, collectible and limited edition furniture and design objects, the fourth edition of the fair will take place from March 16-20 at The Venue, Downtown Dubai.

“We definitely want to remain true to our claim to being the most diverse design fair. This specifically reflects the image of Dubai,” said Cyril Zammit, the director of Design Days Dubai. “When we created Design Days Dubai in 2012, we wanted to position it as the fair of discovery. You definitely have that benchmark because you have the big players such as Carpenters Gallery, but at the same time we opened the doors to new talent.”

Global Art Forum

Bringing together artists, academics and art enthusiasts from across the international artistic spectrum, the ninth edition of the Global Art Forum will take on the theme of technologies and its impact on the world of art and culture.

“There’s this impression that the Gulf, or the Middle East more broadly, is disconnected from the rest of the world. But a closer look makes it clear that some of the most connected youth in the world are based in Arab countries,” said Sultan Al Qassemi, a social and political commentator on the Middle East and co-director of the Global Art Forum. “More generally, we have recently witnessed the globalization of Gulf culture. Many cities in the Gulf have become synonymous with world culture—especially Dubai, the home of the Global Art Forum, but also Doha, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah—and technology has played an important role in the globalization of this region.”

For the first time, this year’s forum began in Kuwait, running from March 14-15 at Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, and will continue in Dubai from March 18-20 at Madinat Jumeirah.

“Kuwait was the launch pad for the globalization of Gulf culture over half a century ago,” said Al Qassemi. “Kuwait is where some of the earliest radio, cinema, theater and even political and social movements of the Gulf originated several decades ago. So for the first time, the Gulf had moved from being a receiver of culture—from the West, India and other parts of the Arab world—to being a broadcaster, a publisher, a producer of popular content. This is our way of tipping our hat to Kuwait and recognizing its pioneering role in the globalization of culture.”

SIKKA Art Fair

Held from March 14-24 , SIKKA Art Fair is the quintessential celebration of Emirati and locally-based talent.
Sikka, which means ‘alleyway’ in Arabic, will take place in Dubai’s historical Al Fahidi neighborhood and focus on emerging artists and collectives in music, film, visual and performing arts.

“Sikka fulfils a clear niche in the UAE’s art scene by not only offering artists a platform to demonstrate their creativity. It is also a great way for Emirati and UAE-based artists to interact and exchange ideas, apart from engaging with the public,” said Jamal Luqman, an Emirati mixed media artist and curator for this year’s event. “The arts scene is catalyzed through such initiatives that provide the UAE artists an opportunity to create commissioned works and highlight it to art enthusiasts from around the world, here in Dubai.”

Other Creative Notables

Concurrently with the main events will be the RCA Secret Dubai, a fascinating anonymous postcard exhibition introduced by designer Paul Smith and The Royal College of Art making its debut in Dubai as the first show outside of London.

RCA Postcards will be on display at Art Dubai from 18-21 March.

There will also be the Design Shop by S*UCE from March 14-24 featuring a cornucopia of unusual, regionally inspired design objects at Al Wasl Square and Christie’s Auction from March 15-19 that will include a public viewing followed by two sales, Modern and Contemporary Arab, and Iranian and Turkish art.

For more information about Dubai Art Week 2015, visit Art Week’s website.

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