Abu Dhabi unveils its first Public Art Biennial: an exploration of "public matter".
This November 15, 2024 marks a decisive moment for Abu Dhabi's art scene with the launch of its very first Public Art Biennale, a monumental event that will run until April 30, 2025. Organized by Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT), the Biennale brings together over 70 local and international artists around a bold theme: "public matter". The aim of this event is to redefine art in the public space, by creating a series of works accessible to all, in a collective reappropriation of public places.
The event unfolds across Abu Dhabi and Al Aïn, offering direct access to art installations that interrogate and magnify urban landscapes, while drawing on the city's unique cultural and environmental realities. The Biennial thus becomes a meeting point between contemporary creations and the everyday lives of local residents, a place for exchange where people are invited to reimagine their relationship with public space.
The theme of "public matter" is rooted in modern urban issues: how can art react to urban dynamics, how can it interact with natural elements and local history? The installations, often in dialogue with their environment, explore how art can unfold in a shared, living space in perpetual transformation. They invite reflection on the artist's place in the city and the role of art in shaping public identity.
Internationally renowned artists such as Oscar Murillo, Farah Al Qasimi and Zeinab Alhashemi were invited to design works specific to Abu Dhabi's emblematic locations. Murillo presents a monumental canvas along the corniche, a creation that stretches like a vast fresco between the sea and the city, creating a visual bridge between art and architecture. Al Qasimi, for his part, has designed sound installations, an invitation to immerse oneself in the noise of the world, where the ocean, that vital link of the Emirates, resonates poetically through sounds and acoustic ambiences that remind us of the omnipresence of the sea in local culture.
Arquitectura Expandida, a creative collective, transforms the ordinary into the exceptional with interactive installations that transform urban spaces into places for dialogue. These works, which pop up in the passageways of everyday life, blur the boundary between the everyday and art, making the latter accessible to all, where people meet, exchange and live. Through these creations, the Biennial seeks to re-establish an intimate and direct link between the artistic work and the public, an art without barriers that can be seen and heard in everyday places.
The Public Art Biennale is part of a strong commitment by Abu Dhabi's DCT to reinforce the emirate's cultural identity, while engaging the community in a lively dialogue about local values and history. Rita Aoun, Executive Director of the Cultural Sector, explains that the event is an invitation to connect with Abu Dhabi's "history, aesthetics and societal values", while celebrating art in all its forms. The Biennale embodies this fusion of art and the city, an exploration of public space as a place for exchange, reflection and reinvention.
By offering free access to innovative works, the Public Art Biennial makes Abu Dhabi an essential artistic crossroads, a place where art lives and breathes with the city. By transforming public places into open galleries, creating spaces for reflection and sharing, this event becomes a genuine invitation to redefine the urban experience through art. Whether resident
Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in a lively artistic universe, rooted in local values but also mirroring global concerns.
With this Biennale, Abu Dhabi is firmly positioning itself as a leading destination for public art, where art becomes a vehicle for encounters, openness and transformation, accessible to all, in everyday life.
Public art biennial
Various locations in Abu Dhabi and Al Aïn (United Arab Emirates)
November 15, 2024 to April 30, 2025
