Feature
Art Dubai 2018 explores automation and inaugurates new gallery, Residents
by AROMA KUMAR
April 19, 2018
Love Art? Come join us explore Art Dubai 2018
To establish Dubai as a creative and sustainable city of arts, literature, culture and heritage, the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority came up with an annual initiative that is instrumental in accomplishing the Dubai Plan of 2021 – a vision of a city full of empowered and innovative people.
Celebrating its fifth successful edition this year, the Dubai Art Season kicks off with numerous cultural events starting with the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature followed by the very famous Art Week that includes the Sikka Art Fair and the prestigious Art Dubai.
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Back at its home in Madinat Jumeirah from the March 20-24th; the 12th year of Art Dubai stays true to its commitment to deepen the conversation on art by featuring novice artists and galleries from around the world alongside already established centres of art.
Presenting a line-up of 105 galleries from 48 countries; this year’s edition proves its cosmopolitanism again and seems to imitate its multicultural home city, Dubai.
While Sikka Art Fair is believed to be the most significant art-related event in Dubai; Art Dubai is not so far behind and is immensely popular in its own right. Find out why in a short tour of Art Dubai hosted by The Flare and hear some galleries explain their beautiful installations and art pieces showcased.
“This is my 9th time attending Art Dubai, and I continue to be overawed by how different and innovative it is every year.” – Elena, a loyal attendee of Art Dubai.
The fair begins with Gallery Halls 1 and 2 that both showcase contemporary art from artists around the world. This part of the event draws the maximum crowd as it features around 70 galleries from 40+ countries. We spoke to several artists regarding their work and found that most of them brought inspiration from domestic households, current world affairs and war-impacted nations. Mohsen Gallery of Tehran featuring Sara Abbasian and Majid Biglari drew inspiration from the “concept of war and how it affects society and human beings”.
“This is a small part of something bigger that remained after a disaster. He tries to de-familiarise it, and he tries to convey the message that this piece out of it concept doesn’t have the identity it used to have. Like people who survive an incident but are no longer the person they used to be.” – Mohsen Gallery Assistant on Majid Bigalri’s ‘The Experience of Dishevelment’.
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Next comes Art Dubai Modern, that is credited with being the only exhibition that showcases museum-quality 20th-century modern art from the MENA region. This year’s modern gallery broke all its previous records by showcasing 16 galleries from 14 countries and included the annual Art Dubai Modern Symposium that presented talks on the work and lives of 20th-century artists.
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Another important section of Art Dubai was Reframe Saudi – the regional preview of an international film directed by Matteo Lonardi. What’s interesting about it is the fact that it is a virtual reality film based on now-evolving Saudi Arabia shown from the perspective of new generation artists.
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The 2018 edition inaugurated a new gallery section called Residents that welcomed artists who completed a 4-8-week residency in the UAE. The purpose of the programme was to broaden and develop their practice through the experience of living in the UAE and showcasing the works produced during this period. Poonam Jain, an artist from Mumbai, talks about how her residency inspired her to create the project titled, ‘Burden of Proof’. The muse for her work was the migration of immigrants to the UAE in search for jobs.
“I knew I’m going to be here for a month. So all the people that I know who come to Dubai; look for work. I said, for this month, I would be an employee, and my job is to collect stones; wash them, weigh them and number them.” – Poonam Jain on her work, ‘Burden of Proof’.
The Global Art Forum is an annual live summit that combines contemporary topics with original ideas, bringing in a varied list of participants that include writers, curators and artists. This year’s edition explored the theme, ‘I am not a robot’ – a topic that discusses the potential and problems of automation. Wanuri Kahiu (pictured in the video) along with other futurists and artists examine the issue through lectures, discussions, presentations and screenings. Kahui, director of the Global Art Forum-screened documentary – Pumzi, discusses the concept of automation in relation to Pan-Afrofuturism.
Check out a short video of the tour below and follow to get information and updates on the upcoming Art Dubai 2019.
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