Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Wave: How a City Is Reframing Art for Its People
- Gen de Art
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Over the past decade, Abu Dhabi has been quietly but confidently redefining what a cultural capital can be. With a constellation of major museums, an expanding public-art ecosystem, and an international art fair that now draws global attention, the emirate has cultivated a landscape where art is lived. What distinguishes Abu Dhabi’s emergence is how deeply artists themselves—Emirati and international—are shaping this transformation from within.
A City Built on Institutions, Nature, and Public Imagination
Anchored by institutions such as Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Cultural Foundation, and the recently opened teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, the city’s cultural mission—guided by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi)—has long aimed to balance global ambition with community access.
This ethos has crystallised in programmes like Manar Abu Dhabi, the city’s large-scale light and installation initiative. Its first edition in 2023 drew more than 700,000 visitors, revealing the public’s appetite for large-scale sensory encounters set amid the emirate’s islands, mangroves, and waterfronts.
The second edition in 2025 expanded to new sites such as Jubail Island, Souk Mina, and Al Ain, drawing artists who responded directly to the desert and coastal landscape. Emirati sculptor Shaikha Al Mazrou, who contributed a new work, Contingent Object (2025), to this year’s Manar Abu Dhabi, describes this response to site and environment as part of a wider artistic shift:
She explains that many UAE artists today work “beyond fixed narratives,” embracing abstraction, material presence, and spatial perception rather than overt cultural symbolism—reflecting a UAE confident enough to express itself through nuance.
As Reem Fadda, Director of Cultural Programming at DCT Abu Dhabi, notes, this is precisely the point:
“Culture needs to meet people halfway. Public art allows us to reach all sectors of society—across all ages—and engagement has been incredibly strong.”
Abu Dhabi Art 2025: A Fair That Elevated the Region
This year’s edition of Abu Dhabi Art, held from 19–23 November at Manarat Al Saadiyat, brought another layer of momentum. The fair hosted 142 galleries from from 34 countries, but what defined it was its clarity of vision—much of which stemmed from its visual campaign.
A central figure shaping that vision was Shaikha Al Mazrou, taking on a second role this season as Visual Campaign Artist. Her selection signalled the fair’s commitment to spotlighting leading Emirati voices not only within exhibitions but at the level of the fair’s identity itself.
As her gallery Lawrie Shabibi describes, the campaign drew on Al Mazrou’s signature approach: starting from folded paper studies that evolve into stainless-steel forms resembling inflated or origami-like structures, finished in bold colour blocks such as red, yellow, blue, and teal. This distilled visual language informed the clarity and strength of the fair’s campaign identity.
Al Mazrou describes seeing her work define the campaign as “meaningful in a quiet and grounded way,” adding that being entrusted with shaping how audiences first encounter the fair is a responsibility she values deeply.
The fair’s energy was evident. Pace Gallery President and CEO Marc Glimcher, returning after the gallery’s 2011 participation, remarked:
“There’s culture, business, innovation, and so much talent being attracted. The audiences were very engaged.”
For emerging artists from the region, Al Mazrou’s visibility offered a resonant example. She often emphasises that local identity and global relevance are not competing forces, saying:
“Identity is not a constraint, and global relevance is not something you chase. It emerges when you commit deeply to your practice.”
A Cultural Pulse Rooted in Community and Creativity
Across museums, public-art programmes, and major fairs, Abu Dhabi has developed a cultural ecosystem defined by accessibility, experimentation, and public participation. Its strength lies not only in large-scale institutions or international partnerships, but in how effectively it empowers artists to take risks and audiences to participate with curiosity.
Whether it’s a family meandering through a light installation on Jubail Island, a young sculptor exhibiting alongside international peers, or a global gallerist returning after more than a decade away, the message is clear: Abu Dhabi’s art scene is growing because its people are shaping it.
As Reem Fadda reflects:
“We’ve set the bar high—and we have to make it higher. Every edition must bring something new and more ambitious.”
With voices like Shaikha Al Mazrou’s helping define this moment—reflecting a generation comfortable with abstraction, material intelligence, and evolving identity—Abu Dhabi’s cultural horizon feels both grounded and full of possibility.