Spanish-speaking artists, curators and gallery owners from places as diverse as Montevideo, Madrid, Guatemala or Argentina, among other destinations, gathered at the opening days of the 17th edition of Art Dubai. This contemporary art fair, considered the most important in the Middle East, took place, as it does every year, at the Madinat Jumeirah complex in the emirate of Dubai.
More than 100 international galleries from 40 countries were summoned by this outstanding fair, which in early March puts a special focus on the creators of the so-called “Global South”.
In its 2024 edition, the show was structured around four sectors and thematic spaces: halls dedicated to contemporary art, modern art halls, a large separate block for digital art, which is located in the Mina A’Salam hotel, and the sector called ‘Bawwaba’, whose name in Arabic means “door”. In the latter space were exhibited the works of ten artists from the Global South, who worked during the last year under the slogan of “Healing”, exploring artistic practices related to healing at various levels. The curator of this project was Emiliano Valdés, head of the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAMM) in Medellín, Colombia. Among the artists who participated in this sector was Argentinean Nicolás Janowski, whose works were presented by the Uruguayan gallery Invernizzi Art Lab of Montevideo.
In the sector dedicated to contemporary art, the proposals of galleries like Sabrina Amrani and Albarrán Bourdais from Madrid, which focus on installations and interventions on the physical space, stood out. Among the relevant Spanish-speaking artists were Carlos Aires and Cristina Lucas from Spain, Carlos Amorales from Mexico, Iván Agote from Colombia and Jorge Tecla from Chile.
In the area dedicated to digital art, works by young artists dedicated to video art, augmented reality and artificial intelligence were exhibited, among other proposals curated by Auronda Scalera and Alfredo Creamerotti. This edition of Art Dubai Digital, the third to date, is the only section of an international fair dedicated entirely to technological art, including NFTs and crypto-art.
In addition to the art exhibition, the show also included a series of discussions and forums on climate change, reflecting the fair’s commitment to current issues. Art Dubai’s artistic director, Pablo del Val, highlighted that this edition managed to consolidate the fair as a window to show the world the artistic panorama of the Global South, with artists producing from territories as diverse as Beirut, Cairo or Bogota, as well as those belonging to cultural minorities in diaspora in cities like New York, London, Paris or Los Angeles.