Art Dubai Announces Galleries Participaiting In Its Tenth Edition

Art Dubai announced today the list of galleries participating in its tenth edition, taking place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, March 16-19, 2016.

Reaffirming its reputation as the most global of art fairs, Art Dubai 2016 features the largest and most internationally diverse line-up to date—with 94 galleries from 40 countries—presenting rare works by Middle Eastern, African and Asian modern masters through to the world’s most notable contemporary artists of today.

Audiences will discover the work of more than 500 artists representing 70 nationalities, whose work is exhibited by the most influential galleries alongside emerging, independent art spaces. Art Dubai 2016 offers the opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary growth of the arts scenes of the wider region as well as the UAE. 

Art Dubai is held in partnership with The Abraaj Group and is sponsored by Julius Baer, Emaar and Piaget. The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority is a strategic partner of Art Dubai, and supports the fair’s year-round community programming. 

“This year marks the tenth edition of the fair, and this anniversary encourages us to reflect on the dramatic growth of the art market and arts scenes of the Middle East, South Asia and Africa over the past decade,” says Antonia Carver, Fair Director. “Art Dubai acts as a catalyst and focal point, locally and for the wider region, and the diverse nature of our programming reflects the central role played by the fair.”

With 17 booths from the UAE alone, the fair exemplifies the development and growth of the local scene, with 1x1 Gallery, Artspace, Ayyam Gallery, Carbon12, East Wing Gallery, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Green Art Gallery, Grey Noise, Leila Heller Gallery, Lawrie Shabibi, Meem Gallery and The Third Line participating in the fair.

Art Dubai’s tenth edition includes galleries that have exhibited continuously at the fair for the majority of the past decade, evolving with and contributing to the growth of the wider market Art Dubai serves: Agial Art Gallery (Beirut), Elmarsa (Tunis, Dubai), Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, Les Moulins, Beijing, Havana), Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna), Sfeir-Semler Gallery (Hamburg, Beirut), Grosvenor Gallery (London), Kalfayan Galleries (Athens, Thessaloniki) and The Third Line (Dubai). 

The 2016 edition of Art Dubai is the most geographically diverse to date, with several new countries represented in the gallery line-up, including Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Oman, Palestine, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. 

Firmly established as the cultural meeting point for the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, Art Dubai will once again represent the world’s largest number of artists from these regions in one place, at one time.

CONTEMPORARY

Art Dubai Contemporary 2016 is the fair’s largest and most diverse programme to date. The fair continues to grow year by year: 2016 includes an exciting line-up of galleries from Europe and North America returning or exhibiting in the region for the first time, including Blain / Southern (London), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York), Travesia Cuatro (Madrid), Carlier / Gebauer (Berlin), Galleria Franco Noero (Torino) and Victoria Miro (London).

The increasing number of galleries from India solidifies the fair’s role as a point of convergence for wider regional markets, with Chatterjee & Lal (Mumbai), Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai), Experimenter (Kolkata), Jhaveri Contemporary (Mumbai) and Gallery SKE (New Delhi / Bangalore) returning for the 2016 Contemporary edition and Lakeeren, Project88 and Sakshi Gallery—all from Mumbai—joining the lineup. 

The Istanbul contingent at the fair includes Rampa, X-ist, Sanatorium and Galeri Zilberman, exhibiting alongside Dastan’s Basement from Tehran, newcomers Gallery One and Zawyeh Gallery from Ramallah, Albareh Art Gallery (Manama), Gypsum Gallery (Cairo), Athr (Jeddah) and Gallery Sarah (Muscat)—all highlighting the significant regional scope of the fair. 

Several galleries in the Contemporary halls have opted to present ambitious solo or two-person shows, including Carroll / Fletcher (London), with works by the 2016 Abraaj Group Art Prize Winner Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, plus Christine Sun Kim; Silverlens (Manila) with Maria Taniguchi; Galeria Marta Cervera (Madrid) with Raha Raissnia and David Diao; while Upstream Gallery (Amsterdam) explores the role of light, colour and virtual realities through works by Frank Ammerlaan and Rafaël Rozendaal. 

This year’s special project space is located in the Contemporary halls: Atassi Foundation for Art and Culture will present a specially commissioned mixed-media exhibition, a tribute to Syrian artists, curated by renowned film director Hala Alabdalla. 

Full list of galleries selected for Art Dubai Contemporary here. 

View the Art Dubai Contemporary 2016 press gallery here. 

MODERN 

Now in its third year, Art Dubai Modern is the only curated programme of its kind in the world, featuring works by masters from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Mashreq Private Banking is the exclusive partner of Art Dubai Modern. 

The 2016 programme was heavily oversubscribed— indicating the increased growth of the market and demand for modern works of the region, and the nurturing role played by this gallery programme. Art Dubai Modern is advised by a committee of eminent art historians including Savita Apte, Catherine David, Kristine Khouri, Nada Shabout and Bisi Silva. 

Audiences will discover rare works from the 1930s onwards by renowned masters— including Yahia Turki (b. 1903-1969, Istanbul) presented by Elmarsa (Tunis, Dubai), Pakistani artists Abdur Rahman Chughtai (b. 1897-1975, Lahore) and Syed Sadequain (b. 1923-1987, Amroha) presented by Grosvenor Gallery (London), and Ali Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937, Iran), whose paintings and rarely seen animation films are presented by Shirin Gallery (Tehran). 

The strong role played by female artists is highlighted by, among others, Galerie Janine Rubeiz (Beirut), with Huguette Caland (b. 1931, Beirut) and Laure Ghorayeb (b. 1931, Deir al-Qamar), and Lawrie Shabibi (Dubai), exhibiting Palestine-born Iranian painter Maliheh Afnan (b. 1935, Haifa).

Other galleries opt to focus on the vibrant period of the 1940s to 1980s, including Lebanese masters Hussein Madi (b. 1938, Chebaa) and Alfred Basbous (b. 1924-2006, Rachana) at Artspace (Dubai), seminal abstract painters Samia Halaby (b. 1936, Jerusalem) and Moustafa Fathi (b. 1942-2009, Deraa) at Ayyam Gallery (Dubai); and sculptor Adam Henein (b. 1929, Cairo) at Karim Francis Gallery (Cairo).

Le Violon Bleu (Sidi Bou Said) presents a dialogue between painters Hédi Turki (b. 1922, Sidi Bou Said) and Rafik el Kamel (b. 1944, Tunis); while Meem Gallery (Dubai) presents works of the Saqqakhaneh school that have not been viewed publicly since their initial exhibitions during the 1960s.

Full list of galleries selected for Art Dubai Modern here.

View the Art Dubai Modern 2016 press gallery here. 

MARKER 

Marker, Art Dubai’s curated gallery programme highlighting a particular theme or geography, turns its focus at the 2016 fair to the Philippines—the first such showcase at any major international fair, and the first such exhibition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Leading Marker 2016 is Manila-based artist and curator Ringo Bunoan, who will highlight a new generation of independent, artist-run spaces.