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The inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi will open its doors on November 19 at Manarat Al Saadiyat, a roughly 15,400-square-meter gallery space in the Saadiyat Cultural District, and run through November 22.
The art fair will feature more than 80 galleries from 36 countries including Carbon 12, Lawrie Shabibi and The Third Line from the United Arab Emirates; Athr and Hafez Gallery from Saudi Arabia; Experimenter, Galerie Isa, Jhaveri Contemporary, Nature Morte and Project 88 from India; Dastan from Tehran and A.Gorgi Gallery, Elmarsa Gallery and Selma Feriani from Tunisia.
According to Frieze Abu Dhabi, its first edition will focus on connecting established and emerging artists across the UAE and highlighting the region’s history and contemporary practices. To that end, the fair will introduce In Dialogue, an annual “exhibition pairing”, co-curated this year by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, the Abu Dhabi-based creative incubator founded by Munira Al Sayegh, together with co-curators Hessa Al Nuaimi and Dania Al Tamimi. The first project is called At Another Meeting Pointing, featuring the work of Mohammed Kazem and Alia Zaal.
The fair will also debut the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award, overseen by curator and art historian Nabila Abdel Nabi, who has selected Beirut- and London- based artist Dala Nasser as its first recipient. The prize will support Nasser with a new commission while her piece Qubbat Duris (2023) will be spotlighted at the fair. Qubbat Duris borrows its name from a 13th-century monument near Baalbek, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where fragments of Roman limestone sarcophagi are layered atop eight granite columns from centuries prior.
Dyala Nusseibeh, the director of Frieze Abu Dhabi, said in a statement that the inaugural fair takes shape “within a rich and evolving cultural landscape, and the program for our first edition responds to that context.”
Frieze Abu Dhabi, like its sibling fairs in London and New York City, will feature a sculpture garden that debuts with Zeinab Alhashemi’s The Nut and Bolt, alongside works by Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Imran Qureshi and Kamran Samimi. Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi will be on display from November 16 to December 16 at Mamsha Beach in Saadiyat Island.
Beyond art and sculptures, Frieze Abu Dhabi is curating a talks program featuring artists, curators, museum professionals, and patrons. The two announced talks include Building the Global Museum, with Michael Govan, art historian Eugene Tan, former director of the National Gallery Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum, and moderated by Kate Fowle, director of arts programs at the Hearthland Foundation. The second talk, Curating Across Knowledge Systems, features curator Cosmin Costinas, Kelli Cole, and Claudia Segura, head of collections at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona.