Art Dubai has evolved alongside this transformation, not as an observer but as an active participant. It has grown with the artists, collectors, institutions and communities that have shaped cultural life across the UAE and the wider region.
Since 2007, the fair has provided a platform for artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia to enter international dialogue on their own terms, while building connections across the wider Global South. That exchange remains central.
Art shapes how societies understand themselves. It reflects change and anticipates it. Over the years, artists and galleries presented at Art Dubai have gone on to shape museums, biennales and collections worldwide. At the same time, the fair has responded to the realities and ambitions of this region, engaging with its energy, its communities and its expanding global networks.
Each spring, Art Dubai Fair convenes around 120 galleries from more than 35 countries. It has become one of the most significant global art gatherings for the Middle East and the Global South, shaping dialogue between regional and international art ecosystems. Emerging voices sit alongside established practices, and new forms of artistic production find space to unfold.
From the beginning, Art Dubai combined entrepreneurial energy with institutional thinking. It operated independently while building partnerships across government, business and the cultural sector. This work has been sustained through long-term collaboration with our partners who share a commitment to artists and cultural development. That hybrid approach positioned the fair not only as an event, but as a catalyst within the region’s cultural ecosystem.
Education, professional development, thought leadership, commissioning and innovation have remained consistent priorities. The Global Art Forum has convened leading thinkers. Campus Art Dubai has supported artists and curators working in the UAE. The A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme has reached more than 30,000 young people. Conversations that begin at the fair continue throughout the year.
At twenty years, the structure of that work is clearer.
Art Dubai now operates across two aligned platforms: Art Dubai Fair, the annual flagship gathering, and Art Dubai Projects, our year-round cultural arm. While the fair remains the central moment of international exchange each spring, Art Dubai Projects extends the organisation’s curatorial and strategic work throughout the year, building on two decades of experience.
Through Art Dubai Projects, we are launching adaptive initiatives grounded in place, developed in collaboration with public and private partners. From education and public programming to digital strategy and curatorial collaboration, the focus is sustained cultural growth.
A refreshed visual identity accompanies this evolution, marking the next chapter of the organisation as it moves into its third decade.
Looking ahead, our commitment is firm.
We will continue to champion artists and galleries shaping contemporary art.
We will strengthen partnerships that support long term cultural development.
We will expand digital and interdisciplinary platforms as artistic production evolves.
We will build programming that anticipates where art, design and innovation meet next.
Twenty years on, the opportunity is to build on what has been established with clarity and intent. To apply the experience gained over two decades with independence and entrepreneurial drive.
Based in Dubai and active across the region, Art Dubai remains globally engaged in how we think, collaborate and exchange ideas.
We look forward to welcoming you this April and to shaping the next chapter together.
Benedetta Ghione, Executive Director, Art Dubai Group
Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director, Curatorial, Art Dubai Group
Dunja Gottweis, Director, Art Dubai Fair
