This article appeared in The Artistic Unity Issue #67 which was dedicated to the art scene in the UAE in which we unravel the threads of unity by exploring the perspectives of various stakeholders within the UAE’s art community. Through insightful interviews with galleries, art institutions, and auction houses, a vivid mosaic emerged, depicting how unity has been woven into the fabric of the art scene.
The art scene in the UAE has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. Can you share your perspective on how it has evolved, and what do you see as the driving forces behind this transformation?
As a whole, I would say the art scene has never been more dynamic or fuller of promise for future generations, not least because leadership in the UAE has placed culture at the heart of their vision for future prosperity, social cohesion and well-being. It is important to consider the UAE as an ecosystem, in which each emirate plays a part in this shared ambition. The opening of important museums, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017, and the now long- standing work of institutions and cultural bodies across the Emirates such as Sharjah Art Foundation, Barjeel Foundation, the Cultural Foundation, Warehouse 421, the Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship, NYU AD and Alserkal Avenue to name a few, have all in turn played a role in achieving this vision, in which the sum is more than each individual part. The influence of work by early artist pioneers such as Nujoom Alghanem, Mohammed Kazem or Hassan Sharif also can’t be understated. A plethora of opportunities exist for aspiring artists including artist residencies, commissions, a considerably sized community to gather with, numerous art galleries and available degrees at universities which perhaps didn’t exist in the past, all of which have helped steer us to where we are today. Overall, these have been seismic changes and a testament to the commitment to and investment in culture in the UAE.
As someone deeply involved in the UAE’s art community, what, in your opinion, are the defining characteristics that set the country’s art scene apart from other global art hubs?
I think the young generation have a distinctive voice and engage with fascinating concepts relating to inhabiting a country that has undergone rapid urban transformations over the last 50 years, coming into age at a time when technology has altered the means through which we absorb information, mining a wonderful cultural heritage that includes poetry, artisan skill, folk tales and maritime song, whilst also being outward-looking in their approach.
Your father, Zaki Nusseibeh, had a significant role as an adviser to the late H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding President of the UAE. How has his influence and passion for art and culture shaped your own journey in the art world, and how has it impacted your role in building the art scene in the UAE?
There is a nice citation I came across the other day that I will refer to here: “I had an inheritance from my father, It was the moon and the sun. And though I roam all over the world, spending of it’s never done”. I think an enjoyment of art is a gift that stays with you for life. Our time as children, my siblings and I, visiting the great museums of Europe with our parents, was formative and we were lucky to be able to do so. Now that the UAE has its own world-class museums, young people here can experience art first-hand without having to travel. I was lucky though, to have parents who took the time to visit museums with me. In turn, I am happy to be able to contribute to others enjoying art through Abu Dhabi Art. I think it’s a way of carrying forward this lovely continually replenishing gift that I was given.
Could you elaborate on your experience at the Saatchi Gallery in London and your role in their Education Programme? How has this experience contributed to your approach to art curation and education in the UAE?
I joined the Saatchi Gallery before it opened in its final location, Duke of York Square in Chelsea and stayed on for several years once it opened. My main role as Head of Education included producing book publications about the collection, organising artist workshops, putting together exhibitions of student art at the gallery, training dozens to do tours for schools (in our busiest period we had ten school groups a day!) and then coming up with new ways to engage students with art, through music and drama, for example. I also organised a satellite exhibition of artworks from the Saatchi Gallery in Ipswich to bring art to areas that had less contemporary art on offer and to broaden our reach as a collection. I have continued to place arts education at the core of the mission of Abu Dhabi Art, whether through our university programmes (Art + Tech, Pavilion Prize) or through commissioning emerging artists to create new works through the programme I launched in 2017 called Beyond Emerging Artists. We are fortunate to have the wonderful Education Department at the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi on side to manage school tours at the fair and artist workshops – they do a marvellous job.
One of your key objectives when you joined Abu Dhabi Art was to connect the art community in the UAE with global art networks. Can you share some of the strategies you’ve employed to achieve this, and what have been the outcomes of these efforts?
Each year I invite guest curators to create exhibitions at the fair and I also invite gallery reps to bring galleries from around the world to Abu Dhabi. This year with 92 galleries participating from 31 countries, we are heading into our biggest edition to date. The fair is a meeting place for professionals from the UAE to network with international peers and this takes on a momentum of its own. For example, we commissioned Christopher Benton to create a work one year as an Emerging Artist and were thrilled when Aicon Gallery decided to show him commercially the following year after having seen his work at the fair. We had commissioned Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath to choose three emerging artists to work with for Abu Dhabi Art and were thrilled when they chose to take one of these artists, Hashel Al Lamki, to show in the Lyon Biennale the year after. These are examples of how the fair can be an enabler for local artists which is one of our aims.
You’ve been instrumental in fostering emerging talent in the UAE. Could you discuss the initiatives and programmes you’ve implemented to support young artists and bridge the gap between university education and professional art careers in the region?
I think Beyond Emerging Artists is really our flagship programme in this field. Each year we invite a guest curator to work with three emerging artists from the UAE whom we commission to create new works for the fair. The curator works closely with the artists, supporting them in the production of ambitious new work. We show the works in Abu Dhabi during the fair and for two months afterwards. We also take the works to an international location for exhibition each year, enabling new audiences to discover their works. This year we have invited Morad Montazami to curate Beyond Emerging Artists, with artists Samo Shalaby, Latifa Saeed and Almhaha Jaralla participating as artists.
In your opinion, what role does art play in building unity and cultural identity in the UAE? How does art contribute to the shared narrative of the country, and how has Abu Dhabi Art been a part of this narrative?
Interesting question! Art plays a key role in building unity because of two things – firstly, it allows for the continual recreation of cultural identity, it plays a role in collective memory and narrative building. Secondly, it creates a space for dialogue and change. Artists are producers of culture and work with living culture – in doing so, they reaffirm it. They continue the shared narrative of the country through their material or performative production, which is understood by all of us because of our commonalities. That said, cultural identity is plural, and artists create understanding between different people that somehow share a future together. Artists can be disrupters that expose, in a positive way, the healthy diversity in any society and help people understand or relate to differences better.
Looking ahead, what can we expect from the future of the art scene in the UAE? What unique opportunities and challenges lie on the horizon, and how do you envision your continued role in shaping this vibrant artistic landscape?
I think the future of the art scene in the UAE is incredibly exciting. My role, as I see it, is to try and enable the artists of today, in whatever ways I can, to reach their full potential through Abu Dhabi Art. It’s also to help build their careers and to support our cultural and creative economy in general, through the commercial aspect of the fair.
About Dyala Nusseibeh
Dyala Nusseibeh has been the director of Abu Dhabi art since 2016. She began her career with a year at the cultural foundation in Abu Dhabi, followed by four years at the Saatchi gallery in London as head of education. In 2013, Nusseibeh became the founding director of Art International Istanbul, a position she held until 2016, when she joined the department of culture and tourism – Abu Dhabi.
