(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) 50 galleries and 600 artists exhibiting works; sculptures and installations on show across city
The annual Abu Dhabi Art (ADA) fair is back from today to November 8 at Manarat Al Saadiyat and the Pavilion on Saadiyat Island with over 600 modern and contemporary artworks as well as a busy programme of art talks and performances.
Unlike most international art fairs the ADA remains a “boutique” style event with only 50 galleries participating. As in the previous six years the fair space is booked by art galleries rather than artists which are free to present whichever artworks or artists they consider fit for ADA art buyers.
“There are 50 galleries and 600 artists which are exhibiting in six different sections of the fair” said Rita Aoun-Abdo executive director of the Cultural Sector of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) organiser of the ADA.
The six sections include the main exhibition area for galleries and ‘Bidaya’ an exhibition area dedicated to a “young” less than three-year-old art gallery which this year is Taymour Grahne gallery from New York.
Alongside ‘Bidaya’ ‘Signature’ is back another exhibition space this time dedicated to emerging artists.
First introduced in 2013 ‘Artists’ Waves’ is also returning with works by 14 established and emerging artists who will be present at the ADA along with their artworks ready to interact with the public.
Just outside the main indoor galleries there is ‘Beyond’ dedicated to oversize monumental artworks that go beyond the structural limits of the gallery booth.
For the first time this year the larger-than-life sculptures and installations will be exhibited further beyond than just the front gate of Manarat Al Saadiyat.
“For the first time at the fair the Beyond sections will be extended with exhibits at different locations throughout the city. The public exhibitions will be for six months and we hope this is the beginning of a wider initiative in the coming years to introduce public art in Abu Dhabi” said Aoun-Abdo.
With less than a year before the opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi ADA 2014 has invited the museum’s famous architect Jean Nouvel who will be part of an art talk panel on the topic of ‘Museums as Sites for New Experiences’.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi’s art collection will be another topic of discussion during ADA’s Talks and part of it will be on display during the fair.
The now famous ‘Art Talks and Sensations’ presented every year at the fair a programme of art performances poetry visual and sound installations film and even philosophy is now more. Instead French art editor and curator Fabrice Bousteau is creating at the ADA this year the Hours and Colours show.
Every hour of every day of the fair is associated with a specific colour and its correlating symbols. And for each colour of the hour there is an art performance.
Inspired by the French Gothic manuscript The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry (circa 1410) which references the techniques of illumination and calligraphy that are common in both Islamic and Western calligraphy Hours and Colours programme will include “Blue a true colour in art” a video screening with music by Nils Frahm featuring artworks from the ancient Egypt to modern day.
The full programme of the fair is available on www.abudhabiartfaire.ae. — silviakhaleejtimes.com