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Forbes
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Art Dubai 2025 Opens With A Bold Vision For The Future Of Culture
Dubai artist Paris Alshafar's works at Art Dubai 2025 The preview days of Art Dubai 2025 (officially open 18-20 April) have begun, and the energy at Madinat Jumeirah feels both elevated and expansive. Now in its 18th edition, the fair continues to evolve as more than just a commercial art platform. It positions itself as a cultural catalyst—blending exhibitions, commissions, and talks with a city-wide sense of movement, experimentation, and global dialogue. Over 120 galleries from around the world are showing this year, alongside large-scale site-specific works, digital installations, and performance-based pieces. The Global Art Forum returns under the theme The New New Normal, curated by Shumon Basar and Y7, exploring how technology, politics, and aesthetics continue to redefine the pace of change. Meanwhile, the second edition of the Digital Summit delves deeper into AI, posthumanism, and the environmental impacts of emerging technologies—topics that feel less speculative and more urgent with each passing year. The curated gallery sections offer a panoramic view of the art world in motion: Art Dubai Contemporary highlights cross-cultural dialogue and new voices; Bawwaba focuses on solo projects from the Global South; Art Dubai Modernrevisits post-war histories and the legacy of Cold War-era exchanges; and Art Dubai Digital pushes the boundaries of perception with AI, blockchain, and immersive media. The result is a fair that not only reflects the present moment but also questions it, visually, politically, and emotionally. It's clear from the preview alone: Art Dubai isn't simply keeping pace with global discourse, it's actively shaping where it goes next. Here are my personal highlights from this year's preview days: Art Dubai Digital FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Among the standout sections this year is Art Dubai Digital, which explores the theme After the Technological Sublime. A series of new digital artworks debut at the fair, responding to the duality of technological progress: on one hand, a testament to human achievement, and on the other, a source of growing unease as these systems evolve beyond our grasp and distract from urgent ecological and social issues. Returning after a successful debut in 2024, Ouchhh Studio unveils MotherEarth, a monumental AI-powered data sculpture that transforms live climate data, air quality, CO₂ emissions, humidity and temperature shifts, into an immersive sensory experience. It's a striking meditation on the fragility of our environment, rendered in code and light. Ouchh, MotherEarth 2025, Art Dubai New York-based kinetic artist Breakfast presents Carbon Wake, a real-time energy-driven installation powered by data from cities around the world. Every minute, the piece pulls energy usage statistics from a different location, creating motion and visual shifts that reflect the impact of collective energy choices. The result is both hypnotic and sobering, a reminder of how data can be poetic, political, and deeply human. Breakfast's Carbon Wake at Art Dubai 2025 Anindita Bhattacharya's 'When The Sky Swam Beneath The Sea, 2025' In collaboration with Threshold Gallery form New Dehli, Artist Anindita Bhattacharya presents one of the most poetic and quietly powerful works at this year's fair, a haunting reflection on water as a vessel of memory, collective consciousness, transformation, and survival. Referencing the Anthropocene, the piece captures a landscape marked by human excess and environmental collapse. It balances beauty and devastation, creation and erosion, reminding us of water's ancient wisdom and its central role in shaping life. Deeply layered and emotionally charged, the work reads like a visual lament, for what's been lost, what still remains, and the unresolved stories that continue to flow beneath the surface. Anindita Bhattacharya's 'When The Sky Swam Beneath The Sea, 2025' Aicon New York Brings Monumental Voices to Art Dubai Aicon Gallery returns to Art Dubai with a powerful presentation at Booth E5, featuring works by Victor Ekpuk, Rachid Koraïchi, Veer Munshi, Natvar Bhavsar, Sheetal Gattani, Sujith S.N., Shehnaz Ismail, Sana Arjumand, Safdar Ali Qureshi, and Sadequain. A standout is Peju Alatise's monumental piece If Nigeria will not Wear her Own Cloth, She Deserves to go Naked (2019), which anchors the booth in narrative depth. Aikon New York Booth at Art Dubai Alatise also co-leads this year's A.R.M. Holding Children's Programme alongside Emirati artist Alia Hussain Lootah, an initiative launching at the fair before expanding to schools across all seven Emirates. Clinique La Prairie's Longevity Lounge Clinique La Prairie returned to Art Dubai with its immersive Longevity Lounge, offering a moment of calm and science-led wellbeing at the heart of the fair. Highlights include a Detox Bar, SENAPTEC assessments for cognitive training, and a curated series of talks featuring artists like Pooya Aryanpour, Diana Al Hadid, Deekay Kwon, and Alymamah Rashed. Each session explores the intersection of art, identity, and holistic living. With insights from CEO Simone Gibertoni and a look ahead to the brand's upcoming resort at AMAALA, the Lounge remains a standout space for reflection and future-thinking. Clinique La Prairie Longevity Lounge at Art Dubai 2025 Ruinart's Conversations with Nature Ruinart returns to Art Dubai with the latest chapter of its Conversations with Nature series, inviting artists to explore the Maison's enduring connection to the natural world. This year, Franco-Swiss artist Julian Charrière joins the program with a new body of work reflecting on biodiversity, climate, and how we inhabit fragile ecosystems. Known for blending performance, video, and field research, Charrière's work offers poetic yet pressing reflections on environmental change. Alongside artists Lelia Demoisy and Sam Falls, the Maison reaffirms its nearly 300-year commitment to sustainability, using art as a bridge between nature, science, and cultural consciousness. Julian Charrière at Ruinart's Lounge at Art Dubai 2025 Ruinart is inviting artists to explore the Maison's enduring connection to the natural world. This year, Franco-Swiss artist Julian Charrière joins the program with a new body of work reflecting on biodiversity, climate, and how we inhabit fragile ecosystems. Known for blending performance, video, and field research, Charrière's work offers poetic yet pressing reflections on environmental change. Alongside artists Lelia Demoisy and Sam Falls, the Maison reaffirms its nearly 300-year commitment to sustainability, using art as a bridge between nature, science, and cultural consciousness. Héctor Zamora's Terracotta Rituals Known for his powerful site-specific interventions, Mexican artist Héctor Zamora presents a striking new performance series at Art Dubai 2025. In Gathered in me they once again become life, a single performer interacts with a monumental, raw clay vessel, carving, entering, and reshaping it from within. The act becomes a meditation on vulnerability, transformation, and rebirth. Alongside this live performance, sculptural works like Kaminrot (2024) anchor the space with symbolic presence. Through gesture, material, and ritual, Zamora explores the cyclical tensions between creation and collapse, body and earth, personal memory and collective myth. Héctor Zamora's Terracotta Rituals Tomás Saraceno: Rethinking the Atmosphere Berlin-based Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno presents a poetic and political exploration of life beyond Earth at Art Dubai. Known for his interdisciplinary work with spider webs, air ecosystems, and the Anthropocene, Saraceno's projects challenge dominant systems of knowledge and extractive practices. His Aerocene project, which achieved the most sustainable human flight in history, speaks to his broader vision of co-creating with the planet. Whether working with scientists or spiders, Saraceno blurs art, ecology, and activism, reminding us that new ways of living, sensing, and relating are not just possible, but necessary. Tomás Saraceno at Art Dubai 2025
Emirates Woman
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Emirates Woman
Art Dubai plays a pivotal role in transforming the region's art scene
Benedetta Ghione, Executive Director at Art Dubai, on how Art Dubai creates high-impact art. Can you elaborate on the initiative that is Art Dubai? Art Dubai is the most significant global art gathering in the Middle East, and for the 2025 edition, the fair will spotlight around 120 galleries from over 40 countries across our four distinct gallery sections including Contemporary, Digital, Modern and Bawwaba. From performances, installations and experimental commissions from the likes of Mohammed Kazem, Héctor Zamora and Ania Soliman to talks as part of the Global Art Forum and the Digital Art Summit, there's so much to see and experience during the fair from April 18 to April 2025 and preview days on 16 and 17 April. Plus, we support the arts and culture community year-round with many initiatives including the A.R.M Holding Children's Programme and our professional development programme Campus Art Dubai, where we support aspiring art professionals. How has Art Dubai evolved since it first began? From our beginnings nearly 20 years ago, we have evolved into more than a week-long art fair. Art Dubai is now a major meeting point for the global art community of artists, collectors and institutions. As an incubator for a new generation of artists, we embrace an institutional responsibility to lead in innovation and thought leadership with arts and culture. Since we launched, we remain committed to giving a platform to artists from lesser represented geographies of the world, and approximately 76 percent of this year's programme is drawn from MENA / South Asia. Can you expand on the key highlights from this year's programme? Art Dubai is always evolving, and 2025 marks an evolution of the fair. First up, we're launching a new programme with Alserkal Avenue, kicking off with renowned Mexican artist Héctor Zamora. Known for his bold, site-specific works, he's bringing to Art Dubai a powerful performance exploring transformation and liberation; the performances at the fair will be complemented by a site-specific installation at Alserkal Avenue. We are also continuing to place strong emphasis on digital art and the impact of new technologies on creative practice. In the Digital Summit, themed 'After the Technological Sublime', under the direction of Art Dubai Digital 2025 curator Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, we will unpack how AI and digital art are pushing creative boundaries. We're expecting one of the most dynamic editions yet, with bigger ideas, deeper conversations and even more ways to experience Art Dubai. Our Modern section offers something quite different than anywhere else in the world and this year sees its expansion to Latin American for the first time. Venezuelan artist Darío Pérez Flores' (Mark Hachem) work will reflect common concerns and empathies between Latin America and West Asia and North Africa. 'Art Dubai has established itself as an important institutional platform and a catalyst for Dubai's cultural economy' 'The New New Normal' is a thought-provoking theme for this year's Global Art Forum. What key discussions and ideas will it explore? This year the Global Art Forum will examine how constant change reshapes our world, making everyday life feel as unusual and unpredictable as science fiction. Throughout its nearly 20 years, the Global Art Forum has always been ahead of its time and is a hub for cultural dialogue and innovation. This year, it's commissioned by Shumon Basar and curated by Y7 – the UK-based post-disciplinary duo Hannah Cobb and Declan Colquitt – so expect sharp insights and big ideas from some of today's leading thinkers, technologists, artists and forecasters. In an era of rapid digital transformation, how does Art Dubai ensure that technological innovation is balanced with artistic integrity? From early digital art pioneers to new emerging names, Art Dubai Digital has shown the evolution in this art form over the years. We are seeing huge growth in digital art with the artists expanding our very understanding and definition of contemporary art and culture. You will see pieces examining how artists and creative practitioners are working with advanced technologies particularly AI, virtual reality and augmented reality, interrogating the key environmental, social and political challenges of our time. How does Art Dubai play a pivotal role in the UAE as an incubator for creative talent? Art Dubai is a catalyst and anchor point for the rapid growth of the UAE and the wider region's art scene and creative economy which has evolved into a meeting point for international art collectors and the creative community. The development of Dubai's cultural scene, the dynamism of the city and the rich communities of artists and creatives that call Dubai home, is reflected in the eclectic line-up at this year's fair. We have 23 Dubai galleries and some inspiring local artists including Sara Al Haddad, Sara Ahli and Faris AbdullaAlshafar at Aisha Alabbar; and Hassan Sharif and Mohammed Kazem at Gallery Isabelle. Outside of the fair, the Dubai Collection, an initiative of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and managed by Art Dubai, is the first institutional art collection for the emirate of Dubai and is an initiative that further enhances Dubai's artistic influence and reach. Containing over 1000 pieces of work, the Collection includes artwork from private collections based in Dubai and the wider region. Whilst maintaining focus on the Middle East, the Dubai Collection is an international collection with no geographical restrictions, and artists from more than 40 countries are currently represented. How will this year's summit change the way we think about art and technology? From early digital art pioneers to new emerging names, Art Dubai Digital has shown the evolution in this art form over the years. When we launched this new gallery section four years ago, Art Dubai was the first and only major international fair with a dedicated digital section. This year's Art Dubai Digital Summit will offer thought-provoking conversations on ecological activism in media art, the hidden biases in artificial intelligence, and what the future holds for museums in an increasingly digital world. Through public talks, lectures and breakout sessions, museum directors, curators, artists and tech innovators will share insights on where we're headed and what's at stake. This year we have several digital installations and hybrid works – phygital or works that are digital but in contemporary sections – showing how artists are integrating digital elements in traditional art pieces and changing how we think of the two mediums. For example, Egyptian/Polish/American artist Ania Soliman and her work Kahrabaa, takes its title from the Arabic for 'electricity'. As a large-scale, site-specific installation, it traces complex interconnections between technology, nature, and memory and presents five-metre-high canvases that blend technological and organic motifs captured in a series of performative acts involving artificial and real plants being thrown onto the canvases. Pioneering kinetic sculptor BREAKFAST will debut a large-scale interactive installation, Carbon Wake, and this first-of-its-kind kinetic artwork will take centre stage at the main entrance of the Digital gallery section. Alfred Basbous, Le mysterieux, Ed.8, 1991, Bronze, 46.5 x 21 x 16 cm, Courtesy of Alfred Basbous Foundation How do you see blockchain, AI, and immersive technology influencing the future of Art Dubai Digital? Curator Gonzalo's theme for the 2025 Art Dubai Digital section 'After the Technological Sublime', brings together artists and creatives who are using digital technologies to address the challenges that humanity and the planet are facing today. Through their pieces, the artists raise critical questions and demonstrate the role digital technology has today and in the future. This year we have focused on artists active in artificial intelligence, virtual, and augmented reality, and other technological advances to interrogate some of the key environmental, social, and political challenges of our time. How is Art Dubai shaping the region's role in the global art conversation? Art Dubai remains the most significant global art gathering in the Middle East, and our regional and international reach providesartists and galleries a global platform to connect with international audiences, fostering dialogue and new opportunities on a global scale. This year, we have 67 cities represented from across 39 countries. Over the years, Art Dubai has established itself as an important institutional platform and a catalyst for Dubai's cultural economy, playing a key role in shaping its artistic landscape. This is The Design Issue – tell us more about art that has design appeal? The presentations for this year will encompass a diverse variety of mediums – from textile-based art, marble and resin sculptures, to glass wall pieces. French artist Joana Vasconcelos, whose textile sculptures are part of an ongoing series wrapping animals in handmade cotton crochet and five needle lace, is inspired by the ceramic's artwork of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846 – 1905), one of the most renowned Portuguese artists of the 19th century. Thomas Brambilla Gallery is bringing American sculptor, Bryan Hunt, and his series of wall pieces to this year's edition of Art Dubai. – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram Images: Supplied
Gulf Today
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
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.
