DUBAI: Abu Dhabi Art on Wednesday announced its list of artists and curators set to take part in the event’s 2021 edition, which will be held from Nov. 17-21.
After being held virtually in 2020, Abu Dhabi Art is returning this year with a physical event at the capital city’s Manarat Al-Saadiyat.
For the 2021 edition, the guest curators will be Paris-based writer Simon Njami and curator and consultant Rose Lejeune.
Each year, guest curators work closely with a number of galleries exhibiting at the fair. This year, Njami’s gallery sector will draw connections between artists through the language of music, while Lejeune will bring together a new performance art program.
One of the festival’s programs is “Beyond: Artist Commissions,” which launched in 2017 and presents new, site-specific installations by established artists in public spaces across the Emirate.
The participating artists for this program include Lebanese-British artist Aya Haidar, Palestinian-Italian contemporary creative Hazem Harb, Emirati visual artist Najat Makki, London-based conceptual artist, sculptor and painter Rasheed Araeen and Uganda-born sculptor Richard Atugonza.
Alongside these creatives, additional artworks by exhibiting artists including Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, represented by Dubai’s Green Art Gallery, and Zineb Sedira, represented by The Third Line in Dubai, will also be featured as part of Abu Dhabi Art’s special installation sector, “In & Around.”
The director of Abu Dhabi Art, Dyala Nusseibeh said in a statement: “We are delighted to be able to bring a physical experience to our visitors this year.”
“It was important to enable our guest curators to bring their exhibitions and research into material form at the fair this year, to enable gallery exhibitors to once again connect first-hand with our audience and show their works in real life as well as to commission new artists to create site-specific works for the emirate,” she added.