Ezequiel Pini (a.k.a. Six N. Five), Skyward, 2025. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025. Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi. Photo by Lance Gerber
International art fairs have long acted as catalysts for urban cultural ambition. Art Basel Miami Beach reconfigured Miami’s cultural landscape; Paris+ by Art Basel has reshuffled the power map of Europe’s “art capitals”; and Frieze Seoul has magnified South Korea’s soft power on the global stage. The recent announcements of Art Basel’s Doha edition for next February and Frieze’s decision to launch a Middle East fair in Abu Dhabi next November suggest that a region already under intense global attention is poised to accelerate a transformation of the cultural order.
Abu Dhabi appears particularly well placed amid these shifting dynamics. Its art ecosystem is powered by a dual model: openness to world-class international input alongside a sustained effort to unearth, preserve and extend local and regional traditions. The emirate’s commercial sector, institutional network and public programming all operate with a highly international orientation, enabling the cultivation of a plural artistic identity while establishing a durable and scalable cultural infrastructure.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
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It would be simplistic to attribute the UAE’s cultural expansion solely to state support or oil wealth. These factors have certainly allowed Abu Dhabi to establish major institutions at speed, from the Louvre Abu Dhabi to the recently opened Natural History Museum and Zayed National Museum. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is expected to join them next year, turning Saadiyat Cultural District into one of the most concentrated clusters of cultural institutions globally.
The interior of the newly opened Natural History Museum
Yet the city’s real strength is less its architectural grandeur than the sophistication of its strategic approach. Rather than follow China’s dominant model, which focuses on importing blockbuster exhibitions, adapting them locally and measuring success through ticket revenue, Abu Dhabi has prioritised the recruitment of international leadership and institutional expertise. The result is a mature cultural framework that connects easily with global counterparts, reducing scope for cross-cultural misinterpretation and ensuring that the emirate’s own cultural output is framed for an international rather than solely regional audience. The key advantage lies in treating culture not as mass-market entertainment but as knowledge, identity and diplomacy.
Art Abu Dhabi, Efie Gallery booth
Art Abu Dhabi: a polycentric and genuinely global platform
In contrast to Saudi Arabia’s reliance on grand cultural spectacles, Abu Dhabi emphasises long-term institutional development and outward-facing cultural exchange. This ethos is evident at Art Abu Dhabi, a commercial fair that nonetheless embeds collaboration with institutions at its core.
Coming directly from the highly commercialised Shanghai Art Week, with its array of lifestyle branding and retail-driven activities, the distinction felt sharp. At Art Abu Dhabi, stands were hosted by cultural institutions rather than consumer brands. The Italian Ministry of Culture and the Italian Consulate partnered with Mazzoleni to present a booth surveying twentieth and twenty-first century Italian art, including works by Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, Lucio Fontana, Salvo and Michelangelo Pistoletto. Nigeria’s Osahon Okunbo Foundation, supported by national cultural agencies, offered a wide-ranging display of contemporary Nigerian art.
Yet among art professionals a concern repeatedly surfaced. Would next year’s shift from Art Abu Dhabi to Frieze change this unfiltered global breadth. Would Frieze’s selection processes marginalise smaller galleries that represent the creative dynamism of the Global South. Would the fair draw back familiar international players or introduce unsold inventory from the United States and Europe repurposed for the Middle East. Would Abu Dhabi be absorbed into the standard global art-market circuit.
Some of the most vibrant local art scenes are those that have not yet been fully integrated into Euro-American structures. This year’s Art Abu Dhabi included galleries from Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, Japan and Korea, many of which remain little known internationally. The question now is whether this distinctive globalism is enjoying its final flourishing before the arrival of more established market logics.
NOMAD ABU DHABI, powered by Etihad Airways
Photo credit: Ivan Erofeev, Courtesy NOMAD
Where contemporary art meets heritage and turns tradition into a global language
A second pillar of Abu Dhabi’s cultural strategy is its ability to place history and tradition at the core of its narrative, amplified through contemporary art and international partnerships.
One striking example was Nomad Circle, the collectible design fair held in the decommissioned Zayed International Airport. Nomad, known for its travelling fair format in locations such as St Moritz, Capri and Karl Lagerfeld’s former residence in Monaco, transformed the Abu Dhabi edition into a simulated airport journey, complete with check-in counters, boarding passes and exhibition information presented as departure gates.
NOMAD ABU DHABI, Terminal 1, Zayed International Airport (Venue)
Photo credit：Nikita Berezhnoy, Courtesy NOMAD
NOMAD ABU DHABI 25_FORMED, The House of Artisans Design Competition Showcase
Photo credit: Nikita Berezhnoy, Courtesy NOMAD
NOMAD ABU DHABI 25, A2Z. Photo credit: .Ivan Erofeev, Courtesy NOMAD
The fair also reactivated the terminal itself, a modernist Gulf landmark designed in the 1970s and 1980s by Paul Andreu, architect of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte emphasised that the aim was for visitors to experience the terminal as an architectural narrative rather than a passive backdrop.
NOMAD in ABU DHABI 2025,Terminal 1, Zayed International Airport,
Courtesy Zayed International Airport
This approach mirrors the logic of Manar Abu Dhabi, now in its second edition, a public-art initiative under the Department of Culture and Tourism. Artistic director Khai Hori, previously a senior curator at Singapore Art Museum and Deputy Director of Artistic Programming at Palais de Tokyo, positions the UAE within global contemporary discourse while using site-specific installations to animate the country’s cultural memory.
Shaikha Al Mazrou, Contingent Object, 2025. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025.
Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi.
Photo by Lance Gerber
Fifteen artists produced twenty-two interactive and technologically driven works, ranging from artificial intelligence to large-scale light installations, across UNESCO-listed oases in Al Ain, the wetland landscapes of Jubail Island and the port area at Souq Al Mina. Each location’s historical context was integral to the project. In Al Ain’s heritage houses, many still occupied, contemporary installations reframed how visitors engaged with centuries-old domestic spaces.
This contrasts with recent trends in China, where exhibitions staged in Shanghai’s historic villas or Beijing’s courtyards largely serve market interests. Architecture often becomes backdrop rather than protagonist and many grand residences are reduced to decorative sets or social media environments rather than being culturally reanimated.
Across the Middle East, a different strategy is taking hold. International contemporary art is used to revive traditional culture by placing works within heritage sites so that ancient civilisations and present-day narratives speak in the same visual and conceptual language. International artists attract new audiences and media attention and these visitors encounter local history through innovative artistic practice.
China often advocates a similar philosophy of cultural inheritance, yet in practice tradition and contemporary art frequently operate on separate tracks. They could converge, but they lack a cultural director with both vision and institutional authority to bring them into alignment. Other nations are using history to project outward-facing narratives while China still presents much of its cultural output for domestic consumption. The implications for long-term influence are clear.
Encor Studio, Alcove Ltd, 2024. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025. Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi. Photo by Lance Gerber.
Public art as a foundation of Abu Dhabi’s cultural strategy
Unlike many public-art programmes that function as supplements to art weeks, Manar Abu Dhabi is a city-wide cultural experiment designed for residents and visitors alike.
On a Sunday evening at Jubail Island, queues formed long before opening. Families interacted enthusiastically with installations and food stalls contributed to an atmosphere closer to a festival than an exhibition.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Translation Stream, 2023 and 2025. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025. Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi. Photo by Lance Gerber
For Khai Hori, Abu Dhabi’s advantage lies in leadership that engages with culture as an integral element of urban planning. During official walkthroughs, government representatives approached installations with curiosity rather than bureaucratic detachment. Curators collaborated closely with archaeologists to protect heritage boundaries and advised international artists on cultural resonance. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Translation Streams, for example, used interactive projections of Arabic poetry that shifted between Arabic and English as visitors moved. Curators helped identify poems that would hold particular meaning for Emirati audiences.
Kirsten Berg, Compound Eye, 2012. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025. Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi. Photo by Lance Gerber
Public art is central to the emirate’s cultural ecosystem because it is where civic participation takes place. According to Clemence Bergal, who leads initiatives within Public Art Abu Dhabi, audience surveys help determine which temporary works may be acquired permanently.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Translation Stream, 2023 and 2025. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025.
Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi.
Photo by Lance Gerber
Independent organisations such as 421 Arts Campus provide the city’s everyday cultural foundation, offering year-round exhibitions, learning programmes and community-oriented collaborations. Abu Dhabi’s cultural influence rests not only on landmark institutions but also on these future-oriented infrastructures.
Iregular, Faces, 2022. Manar Abu Dhabi 2025. Image courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi.
A half-century of cultural groundwork and a regional renaissance built on collaboration
The UAE is often misrepresented as having turned to culture merely because it does not wish to depend solely on oil wealth.Yet, as Reem Fadda, Director of Cultural Programmes at the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, notes, the emirate’s cultural history spans decades. The Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation was created in the 1970s and Al Ain Museum, recently renovated, was founded in 1969, making it the oldest museum in the country.
The Al Ain Museum, which recently reopened after renovations
Culture is viewed as a cornerstone of nation-building, with major initiatives led by state institutions that regard culture as a means of shaping society and international identity.
Across the Middle East, governments are investing heavily in cultural development. However, Reem Fadda believes that the region’s momentum is driven not by rivalry but by a spirit of openness and collaboration, forming what she describes as a collective renaissance.
In the UAE, for instance, the public-art biennial includes artists not only from the Middle East but from across the Global South, creating a cross-regional cultural network.
Abu Dhabi is establishing a kind of cultural neutral zone, a platform enabling Global South artists to reach worldwide audiences and a node connecting Asian, Middle Eastern and African civilisations. It is also emerging as a model in which art serves as national narrative, cultural strategy and diplomatic tool, without becoming a closed or inward-facing system.
The UAE’s global identity is not built through unilateral declarations of who it is, but through a sharp understanding of who its global counterparts are. Decisions on which intellectual property to import, whom to appoint to leadership roles, which artistic networks to cultivate and which media to partner with all rely on international collaboration to advance local ambition.
For nations and individuals alike, identity is shaped through engagement with others. Without a multi-perspective outlook, identity risks being constructed through a single lens, misaligned with global realities and limited in impact.
A city’s cultural confidence rests not only on financial investment but on its capacity to acquire, transmit and expand cultural depth. Capital can build institutions, culture builds vision. Culture determines how far that capital can travel and how a place is ultimately perceived by the world.
-the end-
Text: Luning
Copyediting: Rosie