Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Art Dubai, the most significant global art gathering in the Middle East, today announced the line-up of exhibiting galleries for its 2025 edition, which will take place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai from 18 to 20 April 2025 (previews on 16 and 17 April).
Exhibitors in Art Dubai's Contemporary, Bawwaba, Modern and Digital sections number over 100, have representation in more than 50 cities, and the upcoming edition of the fair will welcome over 20 first-time participants. The geographic breadth of the exhibitor line-up reflects Art Dubai's role as a gateway for discovery, learning and exchange and its ongoing commitment to showcasing art and artists from less-represented geographies.
The 2025 edition of the fair will see continued strong representation from artists and art centres across the Middle East, the African continent, and West and South Asia. The continued expansion and development of Dubai's cultural scene, and the city's status as the Gulf region's financial and commercial hub is also reflected in the number of Dubai-based exhibitors (over 20) and the growing number of Emirati- and UAE-based artists showing at the fair.
Art Dubai is committed to placing untold regional art histories in dialogue with global art movements, and each year invites international academics and art historians to curate specific sections of the fair. The invited curators for 2025 are Mirjam Varadinis (Bawwaba - meaning gateway in Arabic); Magalí Arriola and Nada Shabout (Art Dubai Modern); and Gonzalo Herrero Delicado (Art Dubai Digital).
Pablo del Val, Art Dubai's Artistic Director commented: 'Dubai is the centre of the Middle East region's art market and the city continues to develop at an incredible pace. Our 2025 galleries fully reflect these energies, the dynamism of the scene here and the rich mix of communities who call Dubai home. The line-up demonstrates the growing interest in this region's art scene whilst staying true to Art Dubai's DNA as a place for discoveries. We are particularly pleased to share details of our curated sections: Bawwaba, Modern and Art Dubai Digital, and their expanded geographic remits. In an increasingly challenging world, these artists and galleries play such an important role in telling the stories of the migrations and exchanges that are shaping the future world around us.'
Art Dubai is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The fair is held in partnership with A.R.M. Holding. It is sponsored by Swiss Wealth Manager Julius Baer. Art Dubai's exclusive Watch and Jewellery partner is Piaget. Culturally driven lifestyle developer HUNA is a partner of Art Dubai. The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) is the strategic partner of Art Dubai and Art Dubai Digital. Madinat Jumeirah is the home of Art Dubai.
View the full line-up of galleries exhibiting at Art Dubai 2025 here.
Further details of Art Dubai's commissioned artists, talks and education programmes will be announced in early 2025.
ART DUBAI CONTEMPORARY 2025
Art Dubai Contemporary presents the very best in cutting-edge contemporary art from around the world, with particular focus on art and artists from less-represented geographies. For its 2025 edition, the fair will welcome 70 contemporary exhibitors from cities spanning five continents, and welcomes significant galleries that are new to the fair, expanding Art Dubai's international representation and reinforcing the fair's role as both the centre of the region's art market and a place of discovery for visitors.
First-time exhibitors in Art Dubai's 2025 Contemporary section will include: Bortolami (New York), Cortesi Gallery (Milan/Lugano), Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art (Lisbon), Don Gallery (Shanghai), La Galerie 38 (Casablanca/Marrakech), Mizuma Art Gallery (Tokyo), Pedro Cera (Lisbon/Madrid), Richard Saltoun (London/Rome/New York), Galería MPA (Madrid), Galeria RGR (Mexico City), and Karpuchina Gallery (Prague).
BAWWABA 2025
Bawwaba - meaning gateway in Arabic - focuses on highly curated solo presentations of artworks made in the 12 months prior to, or specifically for, Art Dubai. Bawwaba 2025 is curated by the writer and curator-at-large at Kunsthaus Zürich, Mirjam Varadinis. Across her extensive curatorial career, many of Varadinis's projects address evolving formats of contemporary curating, asking the question 'How can we imagine new forms of coexistence, both amongst people and with our planet?'. With this, the section will show artists who reflect on their own displacement in our current climate, and imagine new models of living together. Notable solo presentations in Bawwaba's 2025 edition will include Kate Newby (Art: Concept), Gulnur Mukazhanova (Aspan Gallery), and Tomás Saraceno (Pinksummer).
ART DUBAI MODERN 2025
Art Dubai Modern features presentations by the region's Modern masters, reinforcing Art Dubai's commitment to art historical research and under-explored art histories. These artists have been influential throughout the 20th century, and their works play a key role in forming an understanding of the current cultural landscape.
During the twentieth century, migration, Arab diaspora communities, geopolitical challenges and anti-imperial struggles led to strong cultural affinities and solidarities between West Asia and North Africa and other postcolonial regions around the world. Beyond direct relationships, these different countries shared commonalities that resulted from navigating their new realities. In their search for modern and national identities, heritage and the past became instrumental in negotiating the new, and experiments in abstraction and heritage renewal speak of shared concerns and aspirations.
Art Dubai Modern's 2025 edition is curated by Magalí Arriola, art critic, and Director at Museo Tamayo, Mexico, and Nada Shabout, Art History Professor at the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, U.S. Highlights will include
important presentations by New Vision Group (Meem Gallery); Bertina Lopes (Richard Saltoun) and Mehdi Moutashar (Lawrie Shabibi). For the first time Art Dubai Modern will expand its remit to include an artist from Latin America - Venezuelan artist Darío Pérez Flores (Mark Hachem), reflecting common concerns and empathies between Latin America and West Asia and North Africa.
ART DUBAI DIGITAL 2025
Now in its fourth year, Art Dubai Digital is a unique section of Art Dubai dedicated to the pioneering artists, collectives, galleries and platforms who are shaping today's digital art world. Reflecting a broad geographic base and diverse perspectives, and featuring new commissions, talks, educational workshops, and special showcases, the section explores how the most exciting and innovative artists and creative practitioners are working with advanced technologies – including artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual and augmented reality – to interrogate the key environmental, social and political challenges of our time.
Titled 'After the Technological Sublime', in reference to the awe and wonder we experience when encountering monumental technological innovations, Art Dubai Digital's 2025 edition will expand the traditional notion of the sublime — once used to express amazement and fear toward vast natural forces — to human-made creations. From the internet to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, technological advancements inspire admiration for human achievement, yet they also provoke anxiety, as these systems may surpass our control and divert attention from pressing environmental, social, cultural and political issues.
Art Dubai Digital's 2025 edition is curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, an independent curator and a lecturer at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London.
Highlights of Art Dubai Digital 2025 will include presentations by established international galleries in digital art including Hafez Gallery, HOFA Gallery (House of Fine Art), TAEX, Sevil Dolmaci and GAZELL.IO. In addition, the section features collectives and platforms including MORROW collective, Holy Club, Immaterika and an artist-led booth by BREAKFAST Studio.
The growing number of Dubai-based exhibitors in Art Dubai Digital reflects the continued expansion of Dubai as a hub for digital experimentation and innovation. Among the Dubai-based exhibitors are Mondoir Art Gallery, Monada Art Gallery with 10101.art and espace which will feature a solo presentation with sculptor Andrés Anza.
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