Abu Dhabi Art 2017 in Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Art expands beyond the notion of a traditional art fair, in placing strong emphasis on a diverse public engagement programme, including art installations and exhibitions, talks and events that take place in different locations throughout the year. The culmination of this year-long programme is the Abu Dhabi Art event in November, which provides an important sales platform for participating galleries whilst also offering these galleries an opportunity to showcase ambitious installations and site specific works by their artists to an audience of over 20,000 visitors

Beyond: Artist Commissions

The new initiative will introduce artist commissions for both Manarat Al Saadiyat and historic sites throughout the Emirate. For 2017, established contemporary artists, Manal Al Dowayan, Magdi Mostafa and Nasser Al Salem have been commissioned to make works for this initiative.

Gateway

This exhibition centres on a deceptively simple visual element: the line. These artists harness narratives ranging from politics and human experience to travel through space and time, made possible via their profoundly understated, effective use of the line. These include: a line expressing the gesture of the hand and body (Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Saloua Raouda Choucair); physical movement of a body against a line (Ebtisam Abdulaziz); a line that defines national boundaries (Shilpa Gupta); human connection (Mohammed Kazem); lines connecting the passage of time (Tatsuo Miyajima), or of a camera’s perfect line dissecting planes of space and sound (David Claerbout).