Abu Dhabi Art Inauguration, 18 Nov 2009
INTERNATIONAL ART WORLD GATHERS TO CELEBRATE THE INAUGURATION OF ABU DHABI ART
New Annual Platform for Modern and Contemporary Art OffersBoutique-Style Fair, Museum-Quality Exhibitions,Talks with Art Leaders, Live Performance Events and More Taking Place from 19 to 22 November
ABU DHABI, UAE, 18 NOVEMBER 2009 – This week Abu Dhabi will host an audience of international artists, designers, art dealers, collectors, curators, critics and art lovers who have gathered to celebrate the launch of Abu Dhabi Art, a new annual platform for modern and contemporary art in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Taking place from 19 to 22 November 2009, Abu Dhabi Art features an extraordinarily rich roster of special exhibitions, public programmes and cultural events with displays by leading art dealers and emerging galleries.
Abu Dhabi Art is presented under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and is organised exclusively by the government of Abu Dhabi through Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). Abu Dhabi Art’s Principal Sponsor is HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd.
“Abu Dhabi Art is an integral part of the Emirate’s long-term cultural vision of becoming an international hub for arts and culture,” stated His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of TDIC and ADACH. “By bringing together a wealth of modern and contemporary art exhibitions, design events, engaging live programmes and more, drawn from our own region and from around the world, Abu Dhabi Art creates a modern-day equivalent of the cultural and intellectual exchanges of the ancient Silk Road.”
At the core of Abu Dhabi Art is a new-model boutique-style art fair held in the Emirates Palace, featuring an exclusive selection of 50 art galleries from 19 countries representing the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the United States, many of which have never before exhibited in the region. Paintings, sculpture, photography, works on paper and video installations by more than 300 artists are showcased at Abu Dhabi Art with fair prices ranging from thousands of US dollars to tens of millions of US dollars for museum-quality masterworks.
Underscoring Abu Dhabi’s emergence as a new global hub for culture, three special exhibitions are being shown in conjunction with Abu Dhabi Art. Presented by Abu Dhabi in collaboration with some of the Emirate’s most important partner institutions, they are: The Guggenheim: The Making of a Museum (presented in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation); The Funerals of Monna Lisa, a series of monumental paintings by the Chinese-born artist Yan Pei-Ming (presented in collaboration with the Louvre); and Disorientation II: The Rise and Fall of Arab Cities (presented in collaboration with the Sharjah Art Foundation).
As part of the art fair, Abu Dhabi Art is presenting a dual selection of works by emerging artists from the Middle East and around the world shown under the title Signature. The Emirati Expressions Booth, curated by Anne Baldassari, Director of the Musée National Picasso, Paris, features works by artists included in the landmark 2009 exhibition Emirati Expressions. Artists selected for this display are Jalal Luqman, Sumayyah Al-Suwaidi, Abeer Tahlak, Reem Al-Ghaith, Sheikh Salem Al-Qassimi, Fatema Al-Mazrouie, Lamya Gargash, Abdul Rahim Salem, Faiza Mubarak and Alya Al-Sanad. Signature exhibitions of artists represented by galleries participating in Abu Dhabi Art include solo shows by Jason Bereswill (Tony Shafrazi Gallery), Douglas White (Paradise Row), Wu Shanzhuan (Hanart TZ Gallery) and Musab al Rais (Hunar Gallery).
The Beyond section of the art fair creates a sculpture garden on the grounds of Emirates Palace, where the public may see large-scale contemporary artworks. Among the highlights: 1x1 Gallery is showing Ravinder Reddy’s 7-foot, painted polyester resin fiberglass head with a brightly painted woman’s face (Untitled, 2008). Art Sawa Gallery is exhibiting a series of 21 bronze sculptures by Rachide Khimoune, Children of the World. Hauser & Wirth is presenting a monumental skull made from stainless steel and utensils (Mind Shut Down, 2008) by Subodh Gupta, and two granite benches in the shape of eyes (Eye Benches II, 1996-97) by Louise Bourgeois. PaceWildenstein is showing Alexander Calder’s 1969 mobile, Ordinary, and Ayyam Gallery is presenting Nadim Karam’s sculpture Desert Wind (2009), made from super mirror stainless steel sheets and plexiglass cylinders. Bait Muzna Gallery is presenting Corinna Rosteck’s monumental mixed-media work Blend, and Galerie Gmurzynska is showing Robert Indiana’s series of giant, colorful numbers, 1 – 0 (1978 – 2003).
In another special feature, designed to present contemporary Middle Eastern art in dialogue with works from Europe and America, Abu Dhabi Art is providing a showcase for three important and influential not-for-profit cultural foundations from the Arab world: Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art (Jerusalem), Townhouse Gallery (Cairo) and Darat al Funun – Khalid Shoman Foundation (Amman).
In addition, the non-profit organisation Bidoun Projects is launching its Bidoun Library and Project Space as part of the Middle Eastern Platform. Installed in a pop-up space created by the UAE design firm Traffic, this innovative new resource is a place for relaxing, socialising and browsing through an interactive, multimedia archive on Middle Eastern contemporary art, including rare books, exhibition catalogues, films, videos, sound artworks and documentation.
Envisioning Abu Dhabi as a crossroads on a modern-day Silk Road, curator and editor of Beaux Arts magazine Fabrice Bousteau has conceived Abu Dhabi Art, Talks and Sensations: The Wings Party, an evening-long event on 19 Novemberwhere artists, musicians, designers, actors, poets and thinkers from around the world meet and interact in an experimental mixture of performances, discussions, slide shows, film screenings, dining and dancing. (For online registration for The Wings Party, http://www.abudhabiartfair.ae/en/eventregistration.aspx)
In a special series of live programmes, outstanding designers from the Middle East and Europe give audiences a personal glimpse into their ideas and processes, and an opportunity to participate. Design Moment, the first public atelier for emerging Middle Eastern designers, features product designer Ahmad Angawi (Saudi Arabia), partners Huda Baroudi and Maria Hibri of the interior design studio Bokja (Lebanon), furniture and product designer Younes Duret (Morocco), product designer Nedda El Asmar (Palestine, based in Belgium), and graphic designer Reem Al Ghaith (UAE). Design Workshop, organised by Abu Dhabi Art in collaboration with Germany’s Vitra Design Museum, presents three day-long participatory workshops exploring techniques in contemporary design, with Sevil Peach (UK), Max Lamb (UK) and Maarten Baas (The Netherlands). (To register for the Design events, visit http://www.abudhabiartfair.ae/en/Content/venue_dates_and_times.aspx.)
From lectures on modern masters to panel discussions on art collecting, museum patronage, art in the Middle East and design, leading figures from the international art world are sharing their insights and ideas with audiences at Abu Dhabi Art. For example, Reindert Falkenburg, Dean of Arts & Humanities at New York University Abu Dhabi, will discuss the modern masters, drawing on works displayed in the Abu Dhabi Art Special Exhibition in a lecture entitled Looking Twice: The Art of the Double Image on 21 November, and Arnauld Pierre, Professor of Contemporary Art History at Paris-Sorbonne University will examine the work of American sculptor Alexander Calder in a lecture entitled Alexander Calder: Movement, Abstraction and Reality on 19 November. Caprice Horn, founder of Galerie Caprice Horn, will moderate a panel of art experts and commentators in an appraisal and semantic evaluation of art in the Middle East, including editor-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. Other participants in Abu Dhabi Art’s rich array of panel discussions include: Richard Armstrong (Director of the Guggenheim Foundation and Museum), Anthony d’Offay (art patron) Bruce Altshuler (Director, Program in Museum Studies, New York University), Larry Gagosian (owner and CEO of Gagosian Gallery), Dr. Roger Mandle (Executive Director of the Qatar Museums Authority), Deyan Sudjic (Director of the Design Museum, London) and Mariët Westermann (Provost of New York University Abu Dhabi). Additionally, faculty and guests from New York University Abu Dhabi and Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi are providing expert guides for tours of Abu Dhabi Art and offering a daily roster of talks and lectures about the meanings and techniques of modern and contemporary art.
A number of book launches and signings are taking place at the Abu Dhabi Art signature shop Artyfact and the Majlis Theatre, including the launch of the Arabic edition of In Absentia: Photographs by Tarek Al-Ghoussein (Works on Paper by The Third Line) and the launch of Pars Pro Toto II (published by Kehrer Design, Heidelberg) by artist Susan Hefuna and editor-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Exhibitors, collectors and special guests are invited to enjoy the Abu Dhabi Art Majlis: a unique lounge opening onto the beach, featuring views of the Arabian Gulf and a menu developed by three-star Michelin chef Alain Passard.
Visitors wanting to learn more about the host city may participate in an Abu Dhabi Tour, offered in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
Key Artworks at the Art Fair
Highlights of the artworks from the Middle East and India being shown in the art fair begin with the mixed-media collages on paper by Syrian poet and essayist Adonis (pen name of Ali Ahmad Said), generally considered the Arab world´s greatest living poet, presented by Salwa Zeidan Gallery (Abu Dhabi). Pundole Art Gallery (Mumbai) features work by one of India’s foremost abstract painters, Ram Kumar. Mix-media pieces by internationally recognised Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh are featured by B21 Gallery (Dubai). Atassi Gallery (Beirut, Damascus, Dubai) showcases museum-quality work by Syrian painter and modern art pioneer Fateh Moudaress (1922-1999). Four distinguished Indian artists are featured by Nature Morte (New Delhi): Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Thukral & Tagra and Dayanita Singh.
From Asia, the Hanart TZ Gallery (Hong Kong) showcases Man + TV by recognised Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang. From Africa, Galerie El Marsa (Tunis) presents the work of Rachid Koraichi, a Sufi artist whose work marries Algerian tradition with tones of modernity and universality.
Highlights from Europe include a solo exhibition of masterworks by Joan Miró, including Joie d´une fillette devant le soleil (Joy of a Little Girl in Front of the Sun), a work that the Maeght family bought directly from the artist, at Galerie Maeght (Paris). A number of works by Iranian artist Ramin Haerizadeh are offered at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris). Paradise Row (London) showcases a selection of works by Shezad Dawood. Abstract painter Sean Scully’s Helen (1997) is one of two works by the artist featured by the Kerlin Gallery (Dublin). Galleria d’Arte Maggiore (Bologna) offers the work of Spanish artist Antoni Clavé. One of the many masterworks offered by Galerie Patrice Trigano (Paris) is Pablo Picasso’s oil-on-canvas Maisons à Vallauris (1953). From the United States, Tony Shafrazi Gallery (New York) features many photographs and billboard paintings, including Andy Warhol (Smiling Flower), 1963, by Dennis Hopper, American actor, filmmaker and artist.
As a special feature of the art fair component of Abu Dhabi Art, a museum-quality exhibition of important masterpieces of modern and contemporary art is being presented by seven international galleries: Acquavella Galleries (New York), Gagosian Gallery (New York, Beverly Hills, London, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong), Richard Gray Gallery (Chicago, New York), L&M Arts (New York), Galerie Louis Carré & Cie (Paris), Malingue (Paris) and PaceWildenstein (New York). Acquavella Galleries is showing an important early work painted by Francis Bacon for his first solo exhibition; Head III (1949) is one of only a handful of the artist’s paintings that survive from the 1930s and 1940s. L&M Arts presents Paul Cézanne’s Portrait of a Woman (1900), a work that belongs to a series of portraits painted during the artist’s late period, and that is among the few portraits left in private hands. Richard Gray Gallery exhibits Pablo Picasso’s Femme écrivant (Marie-Thérèse), (1934), a portrait of Picasso’s lover Marie-Thérèse Walter that remained in Picasso’s possession throughout the war. PaceWildenstein features an oil-on-wood work by Picasso, Les Jeux (1950).
ABU DHABI ART PATRONS AND COMMITTEES
The Abu Dhabi Art Host Committee is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan. The Abu Dhabi Art International Patrons Committee includes H.E. Dr. Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates; H.E. Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Owais, Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development, United Arab Emirates; François Pinault, Founder of PPR Group, owner of Christie’s, art collector; Norman Foster, Pritzker-Prize winning architect whose firm, Foster + Partners, is designing the Zayed National Museum; Jeff Koons, artist; Fabrice Bousteau, curator and editor-in-chief of Beaux Arts magazine; Subodh Gupta, artist; Anupam Poddar, contemporary art collector; Hou Hanru, art curator and critic; and Peter Sloterdijk, philosopher, and professor of philosophy and aesthetics at the Karlsruhe School of Design. Additionally the Abu Dhabi Board is made up of government and cultural leaders; and a special group is committed to providing guidance to young and beginning collectors.
SPONSORS
The sponsors of Abu Dhabi Art are renowned international organisations that are dedicated to the region and to investing in culture in the Middle East and around the world. The Principal Sponsor is HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd. "As the world´s local bank, understanding different points of view and cultures is central to the way we do business. Our sponsorship of Abu Dhabi Art reflects HSBC´s commitment to cultural exchange and its support of art and culture in the Middle East. HSBC has maintained an unbroken presence in Abu Dhabi for over fifty years, and the emirate remains one of our most important geographies in the region," commented Simon Cooper, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HSBC).
Abu Dhabi Art Associate Sponsors include Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and Audi Middle East. Official Cargo Carrier is Etihad Crystal Cargo, and Host Sponsor is Emirates Palace. Abu Dhabi Art Official Providers are Abu Dhabi National Hotels, Apple, and Sunraysia Five Star. Media Partners include CNN International, Abu Dhabi Media Company (The National), Bidoun, Canvas, The Art Newspaper, ArtNexus, and TimeOut Abu Dhabi.
For full current details on Abu Dhabi Art, please visit www.abudhabiartfair.ae
Follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Abu_Dhabi_Art
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About Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC)
Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) is a master developer of key cultural, residential and tourism destinations in Abu Dhabi. The principal goal of its cultural programme, up to and including the creation of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District – the world’s largest single concentration of premier cultural institutions – is to establish an international platform in the UAE for arts and culture.
Unprecedented in scale and scope, the Saadiyat Island Cultural District will include museums such as the Zayed National Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, all due for completion in 2012/2013. Education is essential to fulfilling TDIC’s mission, and this initiative provides opportunities for the local and regional community to participate in programming of the highest quality and to be engaged in the city’s urban, cultural and artistic development, while enabling Emiratis and UAE residents to develop professional skills and knowledge through a dialogue with representatives from the world’s leading cultural organizations.
Alongside the Cultural District project, TDIC presents a diversified programme of art exhibitions, events and talks aimed at all levels to further engage audiences in the arts.
For more information visit www.artsabudhabi.ae; www.tdic.ae
About Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH)
Established in 2005 as the cultural authority of the Government of Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) has far-sighted aspirations to harness the pride of the people of the UAE through the development of its cultural heritage and to be the leading cultural development organization in the region. ADACH is committing its resources to the preservation of heritage as well as to the development of Emirati, regional and international arts, music, literature, and cinema. This vision is open to everyone in the Middle East, the Arab world and beyond.
Through its major initiative entitled the “ADACH Platform for the Visual Arts,” the Authority will bring together important contributions from contemporary artists from the Gulf and from throughout the Arab world. It will also present a futuristic vision of Abu Dhabi as a place where living traditions and contemporary culture come together in a new dynamic space.
ADACH has already lined up a number of structures and initiatives to fulfill its strategic objectives in fields including green building design, museum development, excellence in curatorial and museum studies, cultural infrastructure development, film industry, translation and publishing, among others. Abu Dhabi Art, organised in partnership with TDIC, serves the objectives of this strategy.
For more information on ADACH, news and initiatives please visit www.adach.ae
HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HSBC)
HSBC is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited has 45 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and the Palestinian Autonomous Area. In addition to the branch network the Bank maintains representative offices in Tehran, Iran and Tripoli, Libya. This extensive regional coverage is strengthened by another member of the HSBC Group, HSBC Bank Egypt SAE; and by its associated companies; The Saudi British Bank; British Arab Commercial Bank Limited; HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited; SABB Securities Limited; SABB Takaful Co.; and Dar Es Saalam Investment Bank.
About HSBC’s Cultural Exchange Programme
As the world’s local bank HSBC aims to encourage and promote the understanding of different cultures across the world through its Cultural Exchange programme. As an international financial services provider, HSBC has to operate across different cultures and knows firsthand how important it is to appreciate and understand the different points of views and values of both its employees and clients, in order to build successful working relationships. HSBC therefore believes that Cultural Exchange can generate important business benefits. HSBC embraces Cultural Exchange in its widest sense; from fine art to cuisine, from language and literature to dance, street arts and all forms of music. www.hsbc.com/culturalexchange
Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA)
Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) was established in September 2004.It has wide ranging responsibilities for building and developing the emirate´s tourism industry. These include; destination marketing; infrastructure and product development and regulation and classification. A key role is to create synergy in the international promotion of Abu Dhabi through close co-ordination with the emirate´s hotels, destination management companies, airlines and other public and private sector travel-related organizations.
About Audi
Audi is a car manufacturer rich in tradition. The company was founded 100 years ago by August Horch in Zwickau on July 16, 1909; he named it Audi after the Latin translation of his surname (“hark!”). The four rings symbolise the fusion of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer in 1932. Today AUDI AG employs 58,000 people worldwide, including 46,500 in Germany, and delivered 1,003,469 cars to customers in 2008. The brand with the four rings invests around €2 billion each year in order to sustain the company’s technological lead embodied in its “Vorsprung durch Technik” slogan. Audi plans to significantly increase the number of models in its portfolio by 2015 to 42. AUDI AG’s commitment to the Middle East region was confirmed through the foundation of its fully owned subsidiary in 2005: Audi Middle East.
For press inquiries and images, please contact:
International Media
Rachel Judlowe / Kate Lydecker
Ruder Finn Arts & Communications Counselors
+1 212 715 1572 / +1 212 715 1602
judlower@ruderfinn.com / lydeckerk@ruderfinn.com
UAE Media:
Mohamed Salhab
Hill & Knowlton
+971 50 554 8209
mohamed.salhab@hillandknowlton.com
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