The best examples of art begin conversations. A balance between commercial and didactic activity has always been a strength of Art Dubai’s programming. This is often the case in an emerging market, without established institutional models, and there is so much that has not yet been said–new voices to listen to, trends, movements, styles and influences to identify. It is why Art Dubai has cultivated a culture of discovery, and is a major catalyst in local, regional, and international artistic practice and creative ideologies. It has also consistently been a true connector–leaders and practitioners in the artworld from across continents and diverse art centres come together, often for the first time, and go on to establish impactful partnerships. It has been a unique model for nearly two decades, a space where commercial gallerists, collectors and institutional directors interact, where artists and curators feel at home. Art Dubai has also never only been about a few days in March but extends its reach throughout the year and across the globe.
All these factors and more made it a natural fit for the Art Dubai Group to manage the Dubai Collection, which was launched by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in October 2020. An ever-evolving initiative, it gathers the best artworks from private collections of patrons based in Dubai and the wider region, who have been strong supporters and actively engaged with Art Dubai over the years. The Collection is overseen by a steering committee of UAE cultural leaders, with artworks selected by a committee of experts - again, individuals who have been instrumental in building the art scene, ranging from curators such as Venetia Porter who established the Islamic and Contemporary Middle East Art department at the British Museum to UAE-based curators like Munira Al Sayegh and Maryam Al Dabbagh. It is crucially on view as a digital museum, with artworks loaned for temporary exhibitions. Beginning with the private collection of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai Collection now includes over 50 patrons, and over 700 artworks, ranging from regional modernists to contemporary practitioners working in the Gulf today. The collection gives these artworks both a context: they are in dialogue with one another – and visibility. It is often a concern when artworks are bought by private collectors that they will be hidden from public view, the opposite is the case here. Nada Shabout curated the first exhibition, aptly titled When Images Speak – Highlights from the Dubai Collection which took place at the Etihad Museum in Dubai. Footage from this exhibition and further research and information about the collection is on display during Art Dubai 2023.
Moutea Murad, The Magical Carpet, 2008, from the A.R.M. Holding Art Collection
Throughout history it is common for archival material about artworks and their creators to be slower to materialise than the physical artworks themselves. We often rely on galleries or collectors themselves to keep track of what they are commissioning and buying. Museum collections are arguably better logged, with biographical details and interpretative texts more frequently available online or in printed publications. Louvre Abu Dhabi for example, are building a dedicated documentation centre which will be accessible to the public. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has similar plans. But these log just one institutional collection – the idea of the Dubai Collection is to be an open resource which offers an expansive range of information about artworks and their collectors, which when seen together, can be representative of whole art scenes and generations.
There is a natural synergy between the Dubai Collection and the talk programmes taking place during Art Dubai. This year heralds a welcome partnership for the Dubai Collection with two strands of talks, one connected to Modern (2, 3, and 4 March) and one focused on collectors (2 and 3 March), all taking place in the A.R.M Holding Majlis, Madinat Jumeirah. Art Dubai Modern this year is curated by independent curator Mouna Mekouar based in Paris, and Lorenzo Giusti, Director of GAMeC, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo. Their focus rethinks art-historical canons and expands on the current discourse of global modernisms.
Talks delve into preserving the memory of seminal artists from the recent past, such as the great Marwan Kassab Bachi who passed away in 2016, his legacy preserved by Sfeir Semler Gallery. They also cast a broader eye on new collecting and exhibiting practices across the Arab world and beyond, with speakers including the afore mentioned Nada Shabout, senior fellow 2022-23 at the Humanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World at NYU Abu Dhabi, Karina El Helou, Director of the Sursock Museum in Beirut, which was devastated by the 2020 explosion and is undergoing extensive rehabilitation works with exhibition programming due to start again at the end of May 2023, and Nathalie Bondil, now Museum & Exhibitions Director at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.
Truly global perspectives and discussions of all kinds of artistic mediums and types of commissioning are on offer in the Collectors Talk series, conceptualised by Art Dubai’s Associate Director, VIP Relations, Zain Mahjoub. The connections between luxury retail and art bring speakers such as Thierry Wasser, the in-house perfumer of Guerlain and creator of the exclusive L’Art & La Matière collection to the stage, whilst a panel tackling the pertinent topic of collecting digital art in the crypto winter includes the Web 3.0 and blockchain experts and collectors Qinwen Wang and Fiorenzo Manganiello, and the founder of the 6529 Museum of Art, one of the largest and most valuable NFT collections in the world. A highlight is a conversation between Art Jameel Director Antonia Carver and Han Nefkens, the Dutch writer and collector whose eponymous foundation exclusively supports video artists. The two organisations have collaborated over productions by artists Shuruq Harb and Tekla Aslanishvili.
With the 16th edition of the Global Art Forum and the inaugural regional Art + Tech summit from Christie's also taking place, there are many opportunities to absorb and reflect on the art that is on display at Art Dubai, a fitting time to introduce the Dubai Collection to new audiences.
“What do pictures want?,” is a question on which W.J.T. Mitchell reflected in his 2005 book of the same title. Fundamentally, the question asserts the notion that pictures have agencies that extend beyond their makers’ and receivers’ intentions. Mitchell states that, “The question to ask of pictures from the standpoint of a poetics is not just what they mean or do but what they want – what claim they make upon us, and how we are to respond. Obviously, this question also requires us to ask what it is that we want from pictures.” The claim thus is for a mutual relationship between pictures and people, both with their agencies and desires. In many ways, images tell us about the world we inhabit.
