DUBAI – In the age of Instagram and all digital outlets, it is so  important to see art and appreciate the artist’s work in person. In its 14th iteration, Art Dubai was one of the first institutions in the world to provide the opportunity of attending a physical art fair since the coronavirus outbreak in March 2019.

My name is Stephany Sanossian and I attended this year’s Art Dubai and brought to artmejo my favourite picks from the fair! After seeing over 100 works by artists from all over the globe, I was truly inspired by each and it was tough to pick and choose! Out of everything, here are my highlights of Art Dubai 2021:

What makes you stop and stare at a particular artwork?

For me, it is two things. One, the uniqueness of the work. Two, the artist’s ability to take me inside their thoughts and own world using a simple piece of work.

ATHR Art is a Saudi Arabian contemporary art gallery with a spectacular booth at Art Dubai. Curated by Alaa Tarabzouni, the gallery was representing artists Sara Abu Abdallah, Mohammad Alfaraj and Ahaad Al Amoudi.

‘Salad Zone’

Contemporary Saudi artist Abdallah uses video, installation, poetry, images and conversations to create her work. “Through references to gender roles and the female experience, (she) explores issues of obscurity and value, probing the social and cultural conditions of contemporary Saudi Arabia,” according to Athr Gallery. “Salad Zone” is a 20-minute single-channel video projection that is both funny and alarming.

It was inspired by a story a friend told Abdallah about an argument that took place at her home, the artist told Arab News last year. “My friend was so angry that she took a stick and started smashing the TV,” she said. “I thought it was funny, because the TV room seems to be where a lot of anger develops. It’s also the place in a home where people gather the most.”

The artworks, which encompass a range of media, including music, sculpture and performance, can be found in two main areas: The King Abdul Aziz Historical Center and the King Abdullah Financial District, where visitors can also view “Light Upon Light,” an exhibition of light art from the 1960s to the present, which is on view until June 12.
While the global art community will have to view the artworks virtually, Saudis have already been flocking to the venues in record numbers.
“One of the most critical aspects of Vision 2030 is the flourishing of the Saudi creative economy, which we are trying to foster, and this is one of the main highlights of Noor Riyadh as a program,” Anas Najmi, adviser to the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, told Arab News. “Despite all of the challenges of the pandemic, we managed to give the experience to 15,000 visitors in just one day. Secondly, over 1,200 jobs were created as part of the Noor Riyadh festival, half of which are for Saudis.”

RIYADH — The “Light Upon Light” Exhibition, which is being held at the King Abdullah Financial District as part of the first edition of Noor Riyadh, is the largest group art exhibition that monitors the artistic movement in the lighting arts since 1960s until todate.

It includes 30 masterworks of light art divided into four sectional “rays” that survey light as an artistic medium: “Perceiving Light,” “Experiencing Light,” “Projecting Light,” and “Environmental Light.” Each ray blends time and unites established artists of diverse geographic origin.

From immersive installation to video and sculpture, visitors to “Light Upon Light” will experience a richly illuminated exhibition in all its spatial and sensory phenomena. This historical presentation of light art is a groundbreaking event for culture in Saudi Arabia. Noor Riyadh, one of the world’s most exciting festivals of light and art combining the highest quality of light artworks across the city, began on March 18 and will run through until April 3. Filled with spectacular installations, the fest will light up the night sky of the capital city of Riyadh.

The “Projecting Light,” pavilion presents artworks that use the transmission of light to create the work instead of focusing on light as a medium. In 2019, Saudi artist Sultan Bin Fahd worked on the art piece titled “Once he was a ruler”, which is a collection of photographs, in which ancient sculptures depicting the kings of the ancient Lihyan Kingdom in Northern Arabia are shown, where he modified them by placing layers of X-ray images, and these images were collected, superimposed in illuminated light boxes at the event.

Through his abstract drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations, the artist tackled cultural issues related to his homeland in the Kingdom. The artist also re-narrates historical stories and novels using art, and transmits these narratives through contemporary means to reconstruct them with a personal character.

While Saudi artist Dana Awartani is participating in the event with her work “Divan Al Majhoul 2021, which combined textiles, hand embroidery and poetry.

دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة (CNN) -- شهدت المملكة العربية السعودية، مساء الخميس، انطلاق احتفالية "نور الرياض" والتي تضمنت عرض أعمال فنية تفاعلية تعتمد على الإضاءة في مواقع متعددة بأنحاء مدينة الرياض

وتضمنت الاحتفالية مشاركة 60 من كبار الفنانين في مجال فنون الإضاءة، ينتمون لأكثر من 20 دولة حول العالم، منهم 23 من الفنانين السعوديين، وفقاً لوكالة الأنباء السعودية "واس"

وتشتمل احتفالية "نور الرياض" على 60 عملاً فنياً، تضم جميع أشكال فنون الضوء، من بينها أعمال تاريخية وهندسية وضوئية، ومنحوتات، وعروض للإضاءة، وعروض تفاعلية، وقطع حركية، وتركيبات وأعمال خارجية، ومجموعة من أشكال الفن الخفيف، يتاح لسكان وزوار مدينة الرياض الاستمتاع بها عن قرب في مختلف أرجاء المدينة، مع تخصيص مركزين رئيسين للاحتفالية في كلٍ من مركز الملك عبدالله المالي ومركز الملك عبدالعزيز التاريخي بالمربع

Artissima presents Artissima XYZ, the contemporary art fair's new digital platform that will run alongside the physical exhibitions scheduled to show at the Turin Museum Foundation in Italy. For the 2020 edition, the Back to the Future, Drawings, and Present Future sections will live on the Artissima XYZ digital platform supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation from November 3 to December 9. The XYZ name itself derives from the intersectional approach of the virtual platform, which translates the physical elements into an immersive experience on digital channels. Some of this content will be produced directly by the galleries and artists, while others will be overseen by Ordet's editorial team, consisting of Edoardo Bonaspetti, Stefano Cernuschi, and Anna Bergamasco. 

https://xyz.artissima.art/Sezioni%2520curate/disegni/

DUBAI: The sound of glass and hard metal emanates from a room in Dubai’s Jameel Arts Center. Something is being broken. Step inside the gallery and the noise is revealed to be coming from a video installation by Saudi artist Sarah Abu Abdallah called “Salad Zone,” in which two women in black abayas are repeatedly hitting a large television. 

The work, a 20-minute single-channel video projection in color and sound — originally commissioned for “Rhizoma,” a group show that took place during the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 — is both alarming and humorous. Abdallah herself is a protagonist in the film, and like her other multidisciplinary work, “Salad Zone” oscillates between the real, the poetic and the absurd.

Working across video, painting, text and installation, Saudi artist Sarah Abu Abdullah is known for her intimate and personal reflection on what it’s like to live in the region, especially as a female artist. And for the first time ever, she’s brining her art to Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre with her exhibition, ‘For the first time in a long time’.

A co-production between Jameel Arts Centre and the Kunstverein Hamburg, where the exhibition began in August 2019, Sarah’s work will be on show until 11 April, and combines existing video works with new commissions including a large-scale painting on textile as well as an installation of living plants.

Four Saudi artists have been showcasing their work at a unique traveling biennale that has visited 43 cities in 23 countries, and concludes this week in Riyadh.

Fatima Al-Banawi, Sara Abu Abdallah, Faisal Samra and Ayman Zedani took part in the second BIENALSUR exhibition, which began in Buenos Aires in Argentina in May. Saudi Arabia is its only Middle East venue.