Abu Dhabi Art: day three

The 16th edition of Abu Dhabi Art has 102 galleries, the largest number to date. It has five principal sectors:

Modern & Contemporary: for established galleries (who have been operating for at least seven years) with curatorial framework for booth presentations. This is the main section, with more than 30 galleries showing

Special Projects: solo or dual artist presentations by individual galleries – we count 28 of these

Emerge: for artworks priced under $3,000 – nine participants this year

Bidaya: for emerging galleries (operating for less than three years) who are first-time participants. There are two exhibitors

Focus: galleries invited to participate with specific artists chosen by a guest curator. There are Focus sectors for Hong Kong, Latin America, Women Artists and Sustainability (some very interesting selections here, curated by Riccarda Mandrini)

This year there’s also a new regional section called Something Bold, Something New; eight participating galleries – most of them regular participants in Abu Dhabi Art – will present works by modernist artists “whose practices and legacies are long overdue recognition and appreciation”.

Silk Road; Drifting Identities is another new section, this one for artists and galleries from Central Asia and the Caucasus. “These seem important debuts, because they open long-forgotten discussions around the Silk Road, which has come to represent a journey of self-discovery for travellers, a search for identity, and a time of metamorphosis”.

The Collectors Salon is perhaps the most interesting innovation. It’s described as a response to the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s lead in exploring connections between civilisations and cultures across time; so eight exhibitors will present manuscripts, astrolabes, historical objects, rare books and 19th century Orientalist paintings.

As well as the conventional art fair, Abu Dhabi Art places a lot of emphasis on its public engagement programme – installations, commissions, exhibitions, talks and events throughout the year. Worth catching are the Beyond Emerging Artists exhibits at the Manarat (this programme provides three emerging artists in the UAE – Dina Nazmi Korchid, Simrin Mehra Agarwal, Fatima Al Ali – with a platform from which to realise ambitious art projects) and installations in Al Ain (site-specific artworks at Al Ain Oasis and Al Jahili Fort)