Art Dubai’s rescheduled and reshaped 2026 incarnation will return to Madinat Jumeirah from 15 to 17 May. It’s being labelled as Art Dubai Special Edition – to cover the changes, but also to acknowledge that this is the fair’s 20th anniversary.
The basic shape is as before – a fair with Contemporary, Modern and Digital gallery sections – but there are some significant changes. For a start, of course, there are many fewer commercial galleries involved: we count 51 rather than the 120 or so originally signed up. Benedetta Ghione, Executive Director of the Art Dubai Group (right, in genial mood) told The Art Newspaper “there is a constituency of galleries for whom the fair didn’t make sense, for a number of reasons – timing, logistics or the specific projects that they were planning to bring”.
Just about all the UAE galleries are there (24 of them, and there are only a couple of obvious absentees by comparison with the 2025 roster; we have a full list at the end of this piece). And despite the obvious issues with air travel and insurance for people and artworks there are a smattering of Europeans too. In total nearly 20 countries are represented, which isn’t bad.
We understand that galleries that had originally signed up but subsequently dropped out will still be required to pay for their booths, with a spot reserved for them in 2027. Those galleries who are on the Special Edition roster won’t be required to pay booth fees – instead they’ll be charged a percentage of their sales, capped at the booth fee equivalent.
This year there will be free entry for visitors, to our mind a big plus that emphasises Art Dubai’s wider role. Ghione noted in the press release that “current circumstances mean that this may not be what we had planned to mark our 20th edition, but the galleries and wider programmes represent what makes Art Dubai both unique and special”. She also pointed out that Art Dubai has always been more than your usual art fair – it’s also been a flagship and a support system for the cultural scene here. So “this special edition will demonstrate the resilience of the UAE’s cultural scene as well as the power of collaboration, bringing together galleries, artists and institutions at a time when that role of convening feels more important than ever. Art Dubai’s story is Dubai’s story, and producing this special edition would only be possible in Dubai …”
Indeed, this time Art Dubai has more of a festival vibe, with a raft of non-commercial elements like installations, performances, screenings and its daily programme of talks and conversations – plus the always excellent Global Art Forum, which will be on the programme as usual. The installations and site-responsive artworks across the fair include some substantial names from the local ecosystem, with works by Khalid Al Banna, Hashel Al Lamki, Rashid Bin Shabib and Ahmed Bin Shabib, Rami Farook, Kevork Mourad, Yaw Owusu, Neda Razavipour and Sudarshan Shetty.
There are also “expanded partnerships” with local institutions to emphasise “the fair’s role as a platform for collaboration and exchange”. Those include unspecified collaborations with Art Jameel, the National Pavilion UAE, the Ministry of Culture, and Expo City’s House of Arts – but also …
Local (and locally represented) galleries at the fair:
Aisha Alabbar Dubai
AWL Girona / Al Ain / Los Angeles
Ayyam Gallery Dubai
Carbon 12 Dubai
Dom Art Projects Dubai
Efie Gallery Dubai
Foundry Dubai
Gallery Isabelle Dubai
Iris Projects Abu Dhabi
Iyad Qanazea Gallery Abu Dhabi
JD Malat Gallery Dubai / London
Lawrie Shabibi Dubai
Leila Heller Gallery Dubai / New York
Meem Gallery Dubai
Nika Project Space Dubai / Paris
Perrotin Paris / Hong Kong / New York / Seoul / Tokyo / Shanghai / Los Angeles / London / Dubai
Rarares Gallery Dubai
Rizq Art Initiative Abu Dhabi
Shankay Porto / Dubai
Tabari Artspace Dubai
Taymour Grahne Projects Dubai / London
The Third Line Dubai
Waddington Custot Dubai / Paris / London
Zawyeh Gallery Dubai / Ramallah
Other Middle East galleries:
Agial Art Gallery Beirut
Athr Jeddah / Riyadh / AlUla
Bluerose Beirut
Dirimart Istanbul / London
Gallery One Ramallah
Hafez Gallery Jeddah
Hunna Art Gallery Kuwait
Saleh Barakat Gallery Beirut
Galleries from elsewhere:
Ab-Anbar Gallery London
Art Fungible Hong Kong
Galerie Atiss Dakar Dakar
Galerie Frank Elbaz Paris
Galleria Continua San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Havana / Sao Paulo / Rome / Paris
Galleria Franco Noero Turin
GVCC Casablanca / Paris
Iragui Paris
Iregular Montreal
John Martin Gallery London
Labor Mexico City
Lilia Ben Salah Paris
Mark Hachem Lebanon / Paris / New York
P420 Bologna
Pedro Cera Lisbon / Madrid
Pinksummer Genoa
Solo Bucharest
SSK Ukkel
The Rooster Gallery Vilnius
Art Dubai Special Edition runs at the Madinat Jumeirah from 15 to 17 May – public access is 4-9pm on Friday, 2-9pm on Saturday, 12-6pm on Sunday (Thursday 14 May is the VIP-only day). Entry is free on public days, but you need to preregister here and you’ll need the Art Dubai app too. More information is here.
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