Art Dubai announces programmes, partnerships and projects for 2025
Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer
Art Dubai, the major platform for art from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, has announced the first details of its programming and partnerships for its 2025 edition. This year's edition takes place at Madinat Jumeirah from April 18 – 20, with invitation-only previews on April 16 and 17. 2025 sees a new series of performances and site-specific interventions by Mexican artist Héctor Zamora, marking the launch of a new multi-year co-commissioning partnership between Art Dubai and Alserkal Avenue. A major new digital commission by leading Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem, presented by Julius Baer, is also on offer. A series of experiential commissions and installations examining the transformation of nature through technology and human experience, including site-specific works by Ania Soliman and Total Arts at the Courtyard, are also in the works.
A series of new site-specific digital installations are debuting at Art Dubai Digital, including by Ouchhh Studio, Breakfast, Jacopo Di Cera and Hybrid Xperience. Art Dubai's flagship transdisciplinary summit, the Global Art Forum titled 'The New New Normal' commissioned by Shumon Basar and curated by Y7, will be presented and the second edition of Art Dubai's Digital Summit, titled 'After the Technological Sublime', will also be on show.
Art Dubai's gallery programme this year comprises more than 120 exhibitors, including dedicated sections curated by Magalí Arriola and Nada Shabout (Art Dubai Modern); Gonzalo Herrero Delicado (Art Dubai Digital); and Mirjam Varadinis (Bawwaba). The A.R.M. Holding Children's Programme, which is the UAE's largest cultural education initiative having reached more than 30,000 children since its launch in 2021, will mark its 5th edition which, for the first time, features a collaboration between two artists: Peju Alatise, a widely recognised contemporary African artist who represented Nigeria at the 2017 Venice Biennale and Alia Hussain Lootah, Emirati artist, educator and co-founder of Medaf Studio in Dubai.
Launching at Art Dubai before expanding in schools across all seven Emirates, their co-produced programme will celebrate local ecosystems, the cultural significance of water in the UAE's landscape and guide children to examine their connection with a crucial resource and its creative applications in art. Following their successful debut in 2024, Ouchhh Studio will return to Art Dubai this year, presenting MotherEarth, a large-scale AI-driven data sculpture that transforms raw climate data — including air quality, CO2 emissions, humidity levels, and temperature changes — into vivid sensory experiences.
New York-based data and kinetic artist Breakfast presents Carbon Wake, a digitally controlled kinetic installation that transforms real-time energy data collected from cities around the world. Further highlights include Retreat, a new work by Italian artist Jacopo Di Cera, reflecting on the urgent need for climate action. Hybrid Xperience, a collective of artists, engineers and creatives based in Dubai, will present a large-scale kaleidoscope inviting audiences to visualise their dreams using artificial intelligence.
Taking its title from the Arabic for 'electricity', Kahrabaa is a monumental site-specific installation by Ania Soliman that traces complex interconnections between technology, nature, and memory. Total Arts at the Courtyard (Fereydoun Ave, Shaqayeq Arabi and Dariush Zandi) will present Reconstructed Landscape, a new site-specific installation. The project transforms fragments of found objects from the mountains and urban environments of the UAE into an imagined terrain.
The work invites reflection on the fragile relationship between humans and their environment. Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem's Julius Baer commissioned digital work titled Directions (Merging) places the coordinates of Dubai at the centre of the space, mirroring the emirate's evolution as a future city and a hub for global communities. The commission marks Julius Baer's 10-year partnership with Art Dubai. Piaget returns with a commission by Kuwaiti artist Alyamamah Rashed, which will feature in a new exhibition titled 'Play of Shape'. The largest arts conference in the Middle East and Africa, Art Dubai's Global Art Forum will this year examine how change keeps changing, often making everyday life feel more unsettling and unpredictable - than science fiction. The Forum will explore cultures and economies that are transforming chaos into progress. Speakers include celebrated architect Rem Koolhaas, artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Postpostpost.
Taking place over three days, the second edition of the Digital Summit at Art Dubai brings together international and local industry leaders to explore the theme 'After the Technological Sublime'. Under the direction of Art Dubai Digital's curator Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, the summit discusses how art and technology address critical environmental, social, cultural, and political challenges. Art Dubai Collector Talks offers a platform for collectors while Art Dubai Modern Talks explores the cultural affinities and solidarities between West Asia, North Africa and Latin America.
Art Dubai's Collector and Modern Talks are presented in partnership with Dubai Collection, the city's first institutional collection of Modern and Contemporary art. Further talks includes a new Conversations with Artists series and a new series of intimate conversations, presented by HUNA, delves into the lives and practices of leading cultural voices in the UAE.
Art Dubai is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It is held in partnership with A.R.M. Holding and is sponsored by Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer; the exclusive Watch and Jewellery partner is Piaget. Lifestyle developer HUNA is a partner of Art Dubai. The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) is the strategic partner of Art Dubai and Art Dubai Digital and Madinat Jumeirah is the home of Art Dubai.
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