Art Culture in Dubai
Well, by the time you read this last Dubai post, I’ll be on my way back to the greyness of UK. Staying here in Dubai for over 2 month and before that in Sharjah, has been the best thing I’ve done so far in my life. I’ve learned so much and I’ve really enjoyed the exposure to the diversity of international art. It’s so bizarre that it took me a few weeks to actually find an Emirati artist, but now that I have, they appear to be everywhere. The art cultural sector has been so phenomenally interesting. It has grown tremendously in the past two years and the art that has developed has become a kind of nationalism because of the absence of any other type of overt political statement.
When I arrived in Dubai in May, and checked into one of the best hotels Dubai UAE offers, which says a lot for Dubai, anyway it was during the final week of the Sharjah Biennale, so I didn’t get to see or participate much. But, it seems to have been the key year to be there, because Dubai finally held its first international Art Festival and a Fringe Fair. Abu Dhabi, not to be outdone, also followed up with the Art Paris-Abu Dhabi later that year. So many art Galleries started up, they were becoming prolific to where three distinctive art districts emerged in Dubai. There’s now a plan for a Museum of Modern Middle Eastern Art.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi is getting a well know architect to design something on the scale of the Guggenheim, Maritime, Louver museum and performing arts center. It’s all such an exciting time here in Dubai and Adu Dhabi. So, it’s a shame I’ll never get to exhibit anything here, but there was a highlight to my 2 month stay, I got to work on the Sharjah Beinnale catalogue, which was an honor and I got to meet so many interesting artist. So, going back to the UK, I’ll know that I got a rare opportunity to see art spring up everywhere in Dubai. I look forward to see what Dubai can do in the next few years. It should be phenomenal.