MOUSSE MAGAZINE
Now in its seventeenth edition, Art Dubai has experienced significant growth. Could you share the guiding vision behind the fair, and pinpoint the factors that contribute to its success?
BENEDETTA GHIONE
Many factors influence the success of an event. The first is of course the content and being aligned with a larger vision. Over the last seventeen years, Art Dubai has followed a similar trajectory to the cultural scene here and of the city more widely. Visitors to Dubai see a very different city compared with even five years ago, and it’s the same with Art Dubai. Our ambition was always focused on sustainable growth, and we also have an opportunity here to do something different compared to other fairs in other cities by offering a platform for under-represented voices from the Global South.
We are of course a commercial platform, but we operate more like an institution in that we play a role in building the cultural ecosystem here through our partnerships, education and training programs, talks, and conferences. Any successful event needs to bring people together and bring a moment of focus to a place. Perhaps the most important ingredient is time—the time to develop opportunities for artists, for these artists to gain international recognition, for galleries to build their collector bases and artist rosters, for collectors to establish their own collections, and for institutions to grow. The scene here is maturing, and the results of this are increasingly evident.
MOUSSE
Art Dubai Week extends beyond the fair, with events in more than fifty institutions and art spaces across the UAE. How does this broader engagement contribute to the overall cultural landscape of Dubai, and what role does Art Dubai play in shaping the cultural scene in the city?
BENEDETTA
The programming across the UAE and the wider Gulf region is going from strength to strength, and we’re proud to have been a catalyst for it and to provide an anchor moment and point of convening and gravity. We work in partnership with so many organizations year-round to develop the scene, whether that’s through training and professional development opportunities, shared learnings, or collaborating on programming. An excellent example of this is the Dubai Public Art Strategy, which launched this week. It’s led by Dubai Culture and involves working with institutions across the city to develop a blueprint for Dubai’s public spaces. The commissions are done in partnership with Dubai’s institutions, including Art Dubai, Alserkal Avenue, Art Jameel, and Tashkeel, among others. It’s just one example of the long-term planning and of a city that’s putting culture at the center of its future planning.
MOUSSE
Art Dubai emphasizes collaborations with local and international partners, positioning itself as “the meeting point for the Global South’s creative communities.” How do these collaborations redefine the traditional role of an art fair, especially in supporting local and regional ecosystems?
BENEDETTA
It’s incredibly important to us to be a platform for artistic communities that have long been underrepresented. It’s also important that this evolves over time. We’re increasingly looking at the term “Global South” less in terms of economics and nation-states, and more in terms of the communities and people who create vibrancy. Being an independent art fair, we have the flexibility and opportunity to innovate, whether that’s through our gallery programming, which gets stronger and more diverse every year, the launch of Art Dubai Digital being just one example; the programs we develop with our partners and sponsors, including what has grown to become the UAE’s largest cultural education program in partnership with A.R.M. Holding; or our extensive commissioning programs. It’s about providing opportunities that are relevant and appropriate to our context rather than copying and mirroring what other art fairs are doing.
MOUSSE
The Global Art Forum, organized by Shumon Basar and Nadine El-Khoury, will explore the cultures, technologies, sciences, and initiatives related to extreme weather and change, and it’s one of the key events of the week. How does this summit contribute to the broader conversation around climate change and its impacts? Are concrete actions planned to address these challenges?
BENEDETTA
We now have the largest talks and conference program of any major international art fair. It’s something our audiences love, and demand always outstrips what we can program! The Global Art Forum is the centerpiece of this and something we’re very proud to have launched in the first edition of the fair; it has taken place alongside every edition since. The summit’s remit is really to look to the future and bring the brightest minds together to think about the most pressing issues of our time. Just one example is that we were discussing topics like AI a decade or so ago. Shumon and Nadine’s program this year feels especially relevant in the context of the climate emergency and the contributing forces and the potential consequences.
MOUSSE
Complementing Art Dubai’s Bawwaba section, and curated by Emiliano Valdés under the theme Sanación/Healing, this year’s Art Dubai Commissions gathers a selection of artists whose socially oriented practices engage with local communities. Could you share some highlights of the section?
BENEDETTA
Art Dubai’s Bawwaba—meaning “gateway” in Arabic—section features ten solo presentations of new artworks. Curated by Emiliano Valdés, the section explores the notion of sanación—or healing—and features artists from Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia. Each has a social artistic practice and creates space for introspection, exploring notions of community and belonging, and art as a catalyst for transformation. Through a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, video, and performance, these bodies of work examine the ways in which art can function as a catalyst for transformation and change, comparing how these processes vary from country to country or people to people. Expanding on this theme, this year’s Art Dubai Commissions program includes a series of newly commissioned performances and interventions that will take place throughout the fair. There will be some seriously special moments in the fair for pause and contemplation.
Sadhana is a site-specific performance that suggests the need to return to human touch for healing. Taking place across three open-air public massage stations location within the fair, the performance invites visitors to pause and enjoy a moment of self-relaxation and care. Hashel Al Lamki creates a layered experience, using delicate Japanese fabrics as curtains to create a safe space, and awakening and activating the senses through visual and auditory scapes. The practice draws on ancient techniques to relieve muscle tension in visitors before allowing them to resume and reintegrate into the various art fair activities.
The kundalini is a spiritual life force or energy believed to reside at the base of the spine. It is thought to ascend through the spine like a serpent, symbolizing rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing throughout history. Artist Cecilia Bengolea will lead audiences through her kundalini meditation practice, aiming to connect participants to their higher selves through vibration, dance, meditation, and human touch. Draped in a poncho adorned with poetry from the desert, the artist invites audiences to step away from the frenzy of the fair and take part in this deeply connecting ritual.
A Prayer Unanswered. Period. is a poetry performance by Mithu Sen that explores issues of (un)translatability. The artist will employ a non-language, a language invented from diverse tongues—including elements of gibberish—to engage with visitors, whispering poetry into their ears to call on them to stop and pay attention. Although lyrical and melodic, Sen’s poetry performance is aimed at interrupting thought patterns and questioning seemingly ordinary surroundings. In doing so, the artist hopes to use the loss of voice and language as a potent tool to make a statement about the world today.
MOUSSE
Can you elaborate on the themes of healing, hope, and the power of art in challenging times as reflected in the newly commissioned performances? I am thinking for example of the work Sour Things by Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh.
BENEDETTA
Sour Things is a performance workshop that invites audiences to pay attention to fermentation. In an ever-changing environment, the artist employs fermentation as a metaphor for how time slowly but irreversibly affects our bodies, leaving a lasting change. The workshop commences with a screening of To Jar, a twenty-minute film by the artist, which sets the introspective tone for the subsequent group lemon and spice fermentation workshop. This is followed by a group listening session of Sour Cities, a sound piece collaboration with Isaac Sullivan based on Bamieh’s text “When life gives you lemons over and over again.” Participants will conclude the workshop by sharing small bites, marking the end of the fermentation journey. Through Sour Things, the artist turns to personal mundane activity to tap into a collective spirit, facilitating gradual change and transformation.
MOUSSE
The Art Dubai Digital Summit is set to convene international and local experts to shape the development of Dubai’s digital art ecosystem. What prompted the inclusion of this summit, and what impact do you foresee on the local digital art scene?
BENEDETTA
Dubai is a unique place with a unique spirit—it’s a city of ideas, possibilities, and innovation. We are always questioning what role an art fair might play in this context, and we launched Art Dubai Digital in 2022 to look at the people and forces shaping the cultural conversation in the digital space. We remain the only major fair with a digital art section, and the program is maturing as quickly as the space is evolving. The Digital Summit is a natural extension of this and plays to our strengths in organizing conferences and talks. We wanted to look not just at the current moment, but also at what the future of this space might hold, and what Dubai’s place in this could be. Culture and the digital economy are two important pillars for Dubai, so we’re pleased to be developing this with Dubai Culture.
at Art Dubai
until March 3, 2024