The Arab region’s biggest art fair will be returning from 3rd-5th March 2023, and is expected to feature over 100 contemporary, modern and digital art galleries from over 40 countries, as well as 30 first-time contributors.
Coming up to its 15th edition, the four gallery sections will include: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and Art Dubai Digital. In a released statement, Pablo del Val, Art Dubai’s Artistic Director, said, “Art Dubai is a global fair, and the strength of the applications we received for our 2023 edition reflect Art Dubai’s increasing importance as the region’s premier art event, the gateway to the Global South and the maturing of the art market here in Dubai.”
Art Dubai Contemporary will be presenting works from 72 galleries from 33 countries, with a specific focus on work from the Global South. Sixteen first-time exhibitors will also be making their debut at the fair, including Art: Concept (Paris), Barakat Contemporary (Seoul), First Floor (Harare) and kó (Lagos), Piedras (Buenos Aires), Shrine Empire (New Delhi) and Barbara Thumm (Berlin).
2023’s edition of Art Dubai will see the return of Art Dubai Digital, and is set to be curated by Singapore-based educator and arts writer Clara Che Wei Peh. This part of the art fair conveys an annual, overview of the digital art landscape. Next year’s showcase will include: Quantum Art (Los Angeles); Window Project (Tbilisi); Afrofuturism (Ikoyi, Lagos); Gallery Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, Havana, Rome, São Paulo, Paris, Dubai); NFT Asia (Singapore); Unit London; and Dubai-based UAE NFT and Morrow Collective.
Meaning “gateway” in Arabic, the Bawwaba section, will be curated by Bangkok-based Vipash Purichanont. This section will solely exhibit artworks created in the last year or specifically for Art Dubai and is made up of solo presentations by 11 artists from across the Global South.
The Art Dubai Modern section is curated by Paris-based critic and curator Mouna Mekouar and Italian art historian Lorenzo Giusti. The full program for Art Dubai 2023 will be announced in December 2022.
