Art Dubai opens its doors tomorrow with the largest and most diverse edition ever

Tomorrow, the activities of the eleventh edition of Art Dubai, which is held under the generous patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and under the management of the new Director Mirna Ayyad and International Director Pablo Del Val, will begin. This edition will welcome more new participations. For international art fairs as well as more events and premium materials for the exhibition programme.

Art Dubai 2017 will witness the participation of 94 galleries from 43 countries, with 27 participating for the first time, consolidating its leading position among international fairs in terms of the geographical area represented in the exhibition and the largest art platform for arts in the region.

In its two halls, the Art Dubai Contemporary Art Exhibition includes participations from 79 exhibitions, where more than 30 of these exhibitions present individual or bilateral works of art, while the Art Dubai Modern Gallery of Modern Art continues its distinction for the fourth year in a row as the only artistic platform concerned with displaying the works of modernist art masters in The Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region.

The International Director of the exhibition, Pablo Del Val, expressed his happiness at the level of the participating works, saying:
“Visitors will witness works that have been carefully selected and evaluated this year, as the shows are divided into individual or duo works by artists to give visitors the opportunity to focus more on these works, while other shows of joint exhibitions come to give the visitor the opportunity to see various works. This year, we also hosted a number of exhibitions and countries participating for the first time, as most of them came from Latin America in addition to a number of Algeria, Peru and Uruguay.”

The program for this year’s edition of Art Dubai includes unveiling the winning work of the ninth edition of the Abraaj Art Prize, which was won this year by the winning artist, Rana Bagham, in addition to the eleventh edition of the World Art Forum, which is the largest talk show of its kind in the Middle East and Asia under The title “Swap of Places” deals with the trade in merchandise and ideas that shape the world around us every day, as well as a surreal dinner experience for the Lebanese children’s group of events in the Chamber project, while the Moroccan-born and New York-settled artist, Maryam Bennani, presents to exhibition-goers an installation artwork of a bar under the title Art Dubai Bar, in addition to the launch of A Modern Symposium on the sidelines of the Modern Gallery of Modern Art. The symposium will include a series of discussions and presentations that shed light on the lives, works and impact of art giants in the twentieth century in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

For her part, the exhibition director, Mirna Ayad, added:
“Through Art Dubai and its continuous artistic and educational activities throughout the year, in addition to artistic delegation projects, we are trying to redefine the role of the art fair, and we are pleased to host a number of new entries that represent their countries for the first time in harmony with the civilizational and cultural diversity that Dubai embraces.”

The eleventh edition of Art Dubai comes in partnership with the Abraj Group and sponsored by Julius Baer, ​​Meraas and Piaget. The event is also hosted by the Madinat Jumeirah Hotels Land, in addition to Art Dubai’s strategic partnership with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in Art Dubai’s educational programs that continue throughout the year.