Art Dubai
Art Dubai is the UAE’s leading international art fair, offering a unique proposition of commercial and non-profit cross-disciplinary platforms, and a commitment to cultivating a culture of discovery, education and thought leadership.
Over the past 13 years, Art Dubai has cemented its role in being a major catalyst in the local, regional and international conversations on art from the Middle East and surrounding region (MENASA – Middle East, North Africa & South Asia), and putting art from these territories onto the global map.
As the world’s most international art fair, Art Dubai has further expanded its commitment to cultivating a culture of discovery, offering exciting new global perspectives and broadening conversations about art from diverse geographies, often not exposed to the global art fair landscape.
Featuring four gallery sections (Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and Residents), the fair drives meaningful engagement with the rich cultural heritage and contemporary art practices of the region and extending to territories across what is known as “The Global South”, including South East Asia, the African continent, Latin America and Australasia.
In its role as talent incubator, Art Dubai has been the launch pad and development platform of the successful careers of artists, curators and art professionals, and we continue to celebrate art excellence through our extended fair Programming, our artist Commissions and initiatives such as the Ithra Art Prize, while platforms such as Gulf Now highlight community building and promote grassroots perspectives by showcasing the Gulf’s emerging, independent, self-organized art communities. We also work very closely with our Partners in producing innovative art programming and supporting the cultural community.
Art Dubai’s mission extends to cultivating an ecosystem of not only art, but also education, mentorship and thought leadership, through programmes such as the celebrated transdisciplinary conference The Global Art Forum, Modern Talks, focused on narratives around Modernist Masters from the MENASA, and the unique mentorship platform Campus Art Dubai. Through one-of-a-kind professional platforms such as the International Curators Programme, we aim to foster cross-continental dialogue and exchange, enhancing the international curatorial landscape.
Art Dubai is part of a vibrant and dynamic local art ecology, and operates in close collaboration with institutions that are the heartbeat of artistic production in the UAE, such as the Jameel Art Center, Ishara Foundation, the Sharjah Foundation, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sheikha Salama Foundation, Tashkeel, and NYUAD among others.