Abu Dhabi Art 2010

Buoyed by the success of neighbouring emirate’s Art Dubai, November 4 sees the second edition of Abu Dhabi Art, the latest addition to the Gulf’s burgeoning art calendar, which returns to the opulent surroundings of the city’s Emirates Palace hotel for a four-day extravaganza of high-end contemporary art from across the Middle East and beyond.

Abu Dhabi Art was launched last year in a joint effort by the city’s tourism and cultural boards to ramp up Abu Dhabi’s cultural profile in the run-up to the inauguration of Saadiyat Island, the multi-million dollar offshore complex, which will host outposts of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.

The programme includes a startlingly rich line-up of galleries for an inaugural, untested event – including PaceWildenstein, Gagosian Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Thaddeus Ropac, and White Cube – the 2009 event served to reach out to local collectors as well as establishing relationships with key dealers, ahead of the coming decade’s expected boom in contemporary and modern art markets in the city.

"We do want to encourage the art market in Abu Dhabi," says Rita Aoun-Abdo, Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC)’s Director of Culture who, along with Dr Sami al-Masri of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (ADACH), directs the event. "And to create this market and promote interactivity between the artists and audience, the most important thing is to engage the community. One of our challenges is to educate people on why art is important."

To this end, the event promises an auxiliary line-up of ‘community’ events, including workshops, panel discussions and guided tours. “It’s all very well-run,’ observes a new participant, Charles Pocock of Dubai’s Meem Gallery, a repository of blue-chip Arab Modernism. “The focus is on the art, not so much as the event, as with the Art Dubai fair."

With around 50 galleries returning or debuting this year - including White Cube (London), Tony Shafrazi (US), Meem (UAE) and Gagosian (US), - the target audience of local big spenders is more than adequately catered for. Last year, a number of big transactions took place, with local collectors snapping works including Prayer by Jean-Michel Basquiat (Galerie Enrico Navarra) for approximately $3.9 million, and La Douche by Alexander Calder (PaceWildenstein New York) for around $8.5m.

One of the region’s key collectors, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, (founder of the UAE’s Barjeel Art Foundation, a non-profit institution established in Sharjah this year) who purchased work last year, describes the event as being "invaluable" to local collectors. "I was personally pleased with the balance of regional and international artists and galleries at the last Abu Dhabi Art," he said. "And this year’s line-up seems even more relevant and impressive."

With collectors and dealers all anticipating a healthy event this November, the future of the art market, in Abu Dhabi at any rate, is looking decidedly bright.

Arsalan Mohammad is a freelance journalist currently based in Dubai