Broadly Speaking

Art Dubai’s Executive Director, Benedetta Ghione, on how this year’s fair expresses its ever-expanding influence beyond its immediate borders

This page, from top to bottom: Natvar Bhavsar, Ambee, 1993, courtesy DAG; Natvar Bhavsar, Aaswee, 1998, courtesy DAG Opposite page: Maxime Manga, Anarchy, 2022, courtesy Maxime Manga

Si xteen years on from its inaugural staging, Art Dubai will once again occupy a significant slice of the sprawling Madinat Jumeirah this month. But though the venue remains the same, the fair’s size and scope –and, indeed, the region’s art scene as a whole – has grown exponentially.

“Before our first event in 2007, I doubt that many would have considered the UAE a global art centre,” says Art Dubai’s Executive Director, Benedetta Ghione. “Mirroring the economic rise of the region in recent years, and the UAE government’s commitment to supporting art and culture, the UAE has become a key creative and international cultural hub, with more artists than ever calling Dubai home. It is now firmly established as the link between East and West and is a platform for regional artists to receive both international curatorial and art market exposure.”

During previous conversations, Ghione has expressed her passionately held belief that Art Dubai tries to reframe what an art fair can be. In what ways does she think it has achieved this?

“The very essence of what Art Dubai aspires to is to bring together artists and inspirational and creative thinkers from across the global south (broadly Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania) who are underrepresented in the wider global art world that is by default dominated by Western-led geographical scopes and narratives. And that is exactly what we have done and will continue to do.

“The fair is continually evolving each year. We also listen to our audiences, particularly as the world has adapted and changed over the last few years. There is a real desire – and not just in the art world – to bring people together, for live experiences and the exchange of ideas across cultures.

“This sense of collaboration is incredibly important – there’s so much to be gained by sharing expertise and knowledge.”

Such an international outlook extends Art Dubai beyond its physical location and restraint of its five-day timeframe. “We have an extensive yearround education and commissioning programme, working in close collaboration with local and regional partners to deliver ambitious cultural programming,” highlights Ghione. “We believe that we play a role in broadening the narratives that go beyond the fair itself – we’re an institution in our own right, that spreads the word across the art world throughout the year.”

The impact closer to home of this farreaching influence has been marked.

“The thriving art scene in the region is no longer just homegrown – it has become international,” says Ghione proudly. “We have seen a large number of collectors from all over the world base themselves in Dubai, and international galleries opening spaces in the Emirates. For example, the commercial gallery Perrotin, founded by Emmanuel Perrotin, opened its first space in the Middle East in Dubai in November 2022. International contemporary art gallery, Galleria Continua, will also show at Art Dubai this year and they opened an exhibition space inside the iconic Burj Al Arab – their eighth such space globally.

“We are now internationally recognised as a region of creative talent. Our role is to amplify the voice and heighten the vision of all up-and-coming cultural workers who are underrepresented in the wider art world. It is why more than 130 galleries from all around the world will be on show at this year’s event. Today, there is a more diverse mix of artists – we have many female artists exhibiting at this year’s event, for example. They include a significant amount of young female Iranian artists, who have been invited to highlight and uphold their latest creations. We will also have works from the late influential Jordanian sculptor Mona Saudi and Iraqi-born artist Sama Alshaibi, who brings the Arab female figure to the forefront of her diverse multimedia works.

“The tremendous growth we are seeing in cultural investment in the region at a leadership level, particularly in the UAE and KSA, is supporting a thriving art scene and allowing the region and the artists here to gain international attention and recognition.”

Ghione’s point on the influence of locally-based collectors is an important one to understand. “Collectors have a huge impact and influence on driving the development of art scenes across the global south and supporting the redistribution of cultural centres across the world. In many, they set the tone.”

In response to their increasing importance, this year’s Art Dubai will stage a series of high-level ‘Collector Talks’, presented in partnership with Dubai Collection, the basis of which will explore some of the dominant and emerging themes in the art world and debating what it means to be an arts patron in a fast-changing institutional landscape.

One of these themes is of course digital. This year’s event will reflect its growing popularity. “The response to last year’s digital event was hugely positive,” says Ghione. “I think many people will be surprised that our digital section has expanded for 2023 despite the recent challenges in the crypto sector – that points to it being here to stay. Last year we had a good blend of bricks-and-mortar galleries – the more traditional art gallery models – as well as an interesting spread of the organisations leading the way with new digital models.

“We will be working with some of the very best names in digital art including the Lian Foundation, founded by Fiorenzo Manganiello, an expert in blockchain technology, which will showcase a selection of artworks that bridge the gap between physical and digital. It also includes our friends at MORROW collective who will present ‘UAE First Immersion’, featuring new works by artists including Coldie, Colborn Bell, Monaris, Bryan Brinkman, Kirk Finkel and Raphael Torres, some of the leading names in crypto art from the USA.

“We also have the Punk6529 Museum of Art, which has one of the largest and most valuable NFT collections in the world, presenting its core project, the Open Metaverse, while artists from Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka explore the theme of disruption in the format of digital videos, images and NFTs.”

Joining them at this year’s fair will be 30 first-time participants, including galleries from Paris, Buenos Aires, and Harare.

“New exhibitors bring an excitement to the fair,” says Ghione. “Their creativity can offer a new and unexpected viewpoint of the world and reflect new trends in the global art world.”

Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah, March 1-5