This year, from March 14 to March 23, the famous art festival will be held in Dubai for the seventh time, the main event of which, according to tradition, will be the Art-Dubai-2013 exhibition. This year, 75 galleries from 30 countries will be displayed at the Madinat Jumeirah complex, which will exhibit works by more than 500 artists. The project, which is being implemented under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president, prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, also has an extensive non-profit program. It will include educational seminars, an exhibition of sand sculptures, art projects for children, awarding of winners of art competitions and much more.
We invite our esteemed readers to get acquainted with the main events of the upcoming art week:
75 galleries from 30 countries
Inspired by the success of 2012, many key exhibitors will come to it again. Among them are At hr gallery (Jeddah), Chantal Cruzel gallery (Paris), D Gallerie (Jakarta), Experimenter (Calcutta), Alexander Gray Association (New York), Gray Noise (Dubai), Gallery Rudolf Jansen (Brussels), Krinzinger Gallery (Vienna), China Platform (Beijing / Hong Kong), Third Line (Dubai), The Pace Gallery (London / Beijing / New York) and Shfeir-Zemler Gallery (Hamburg / Beirut) . Among the newcomers to the show will be presented GAGProjects (Adelaide / Berlin), Yvonne Lambert (Paris), Victoria Miro (London), Almin Rech Gallery (Paris / Brussels), Schneider / Lange (Berlin / Paris) and Tanya Wagner (Berlin).
This year, Art Dubai will more than ever reflect the growth trend of creativity in the Arab world: a record number of works by Arab artists will be exhibited here, and the total number of works of art will exceed 500.
Marker
This year, the curatorial project will be dedicated to West Africa, and it will be led by Bizi Silva from Lagos. She will emphasize the rapidly changing nature of cities in the region and the impact of these changes on the life of modern society. The following artists will illustrate the trend: Sali Cisse (Senegal), Ablade Glover (Ghana), Abdoulay Konate (Mali), Boris Nzebo (Cameroon) and Thaye Idahor (Nigeria). The event will once again demonstrate the role of Art Dubai as a place of cross-cultural exchange.
Art prize from the Abraaj Group
The fifth time at the exhibition will be the awarding of prize winners from the Abraaj GROUP. This year they were Vardan Avakyan (Lebanon), Iman Issa (Egypt), Huma Mulji (Pakistan), Hrayr Sargsyan (Syria) and Ryan Tabet (Lebanon). Their new creations will be presented during the show, and Murtaza Vali will be the curator of the exhibition.
Sculptures on the beach
For the first time this year, the exposition will unfold on the beach of the Mina A'Salam resort, a five-minute walk from the gallery halls. The curator of the project was Chus Martinez. At the moment, there is a selection of future participants.
Global Art Forum
The global art forum, a leading platform for cultural discussions and debates, will dissect the theme of "Definitionism" this year. Over six days of work, the forum will bring together artists, musicians, museum leaders, writers and philosophers - more than 40 representatives of the elite. Speakers will include: writer and artist Douglas Kupland, director of the Ramallah Cultural Center Lara Haldi, geostrategist and head of the Hybrid Reality Institute, philanthropist Sultan Saud Al Kassimi and many others.
Among the non-profit art projects the following are planned:
Annual program Resident Artists, in which artists will work in studios in the cultural district of Al Fahidi in Dubai from March 7 to March 31. In parallel, from March 14 to March 24, an exhibition of young emirate authors SIKKA-2013, prepared by the Dubai Committee for Culture and Art, will be held.
Children's educational program Little artists will be launched this year for the first time for children aged 3-14 years. It will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Manal Bint Muhammad Al Maktoum. Seminars for children will be conducted by the Zid Zid Kids Center from Morocco, and fascinating excursions will be held by adult Emirate artists.
Radio: Fairy Bradley, a London-based producer and presenter, is hosting a live broadcast from Art Dubai. Sound will be distributed through web feeds, helping a global audience better understand the events taking place at the exhibition. He will also interview artists and curators participating in the exposition.
"Night of Performance" March 21: it will be full of performances by local and international artists who will present their work in the genres of performance, music, films and installations.
"Mobile art gallery": in an attempt to convey contemporary art to the masses, an art truck will travel again in Dubai. The wandering gallery will present the works of Azim Al Hussein, Shamsa Al Omeira, Rami Farouk, Rania Jilsey, Karim Mortad, Sharmin Saed and Sarah Al Haddad. On different days, the truck will visit different areas of the emirate.
Laz (Hatch)
This year, the space under the stairs will turn into a cinema and video zone. Four participants in the project, whose visual work will be displayed on the days of the exhibition, are undergoing competitive selection.
Sheikh Hamdan International Photo Award
This year, the art exhibition of Dubai will feature the works of photo artists - laureates of the award established in 2011 by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai. It aims to support talented photographers and reflects Dubai's desire for cultural and artistic development.
The Art Dubai exhibition is traditionally held with the support of the Abraj Group, the jewelry company Cartier, the Madinat Jumeirah resort complex, and the Dubai Committee for Culture and Art.
