As the Louvre Abu Dhabi celebrates its fifth anniversary, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to introduce you to the must-see cultural sites during your visit to the United Arab Emirates. Discover them soon!
The Louvre Abu Dhabi
To all lords, all honor. We start our tour with the unmissable Louvre Abu Dhabi, a museum built by the International Agency of French Museums, whose board of directors was chaired by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, chairman of Fimalac. The structure designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, consisting of pristine white geometric buildings wrapped in a colossal dome of crisscrossing aluminum latticework, was an immediate sensation when the museum opened in 2017. Billed as the first universal museum in the Arab world and the first addition to the grand cultural development of Saadiyat Island, Louvre Abu Dhabi seeks to promote historical and contemporary cultural exchange through its extensive permanent collection and temporary exhibitions, including the current Art Here 2022, an exhibition of ten GCC artists shortlisted for the Richard Mille Art Prize.
Abu Dhabi Art: artist commissions in cultural venues
Unveiled at the opening of the Abu Dhabi Art fair on November 16, 2022, public art installations are now in situ at sites of historical significance as part of the fair’s Commissions in Cultural Sites program. On view until January 22, 2023, the project allows leading contemporary artists to occupy sites in the historic district of Al Ain, in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. At Al Jahili Fort, Al Saadi’s Quipu Alphabet is inspired by the Incan writing system of the same name, while Shilpa Gupta’s video StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream uses the artist‘s signature double-flat format, reminiscent of train station billboards. At Al Ain Oasis, Patterns of Absence (Bb36D10) – Desert Beacon by Conrad Shawcross was conceived as a sketchy response to the contemplative power of the desert.