As Art Dubai 2025 approaches, the fair marks a milestone partnership—10 years of collaboration between Julius Baer and Art Dubai. Over the past decade, this dynamic partnership has played a key role in shaping the UAE’s cultural landscape. By supporting artists, creating opportunities to foster cultural dialogue, and making space for global exchange, this collaboration has extended beyond financial sponsorship, reinforcing the importance of art in shaping communities and helping expand Dubai’s thriving art ecosystem.
This decade-long commitment is demonstrated through major commissions supported by Julius Baer, which create immersive experiences, create a dialogue, and encourage public engagement. Unveiled each year at the Julius Baer Lounge at Art Dubai, the publicly accessible art commissions invite visitors to explore new creative perspectives and are notable for their focus on emerging themes such as digital consciousness, AI-driven creativity, and the fusion of technology with human experience.
In 2023, Julius Baer, as a part of its inaugural NEXT initiative, collaborated with Refik Anadol, commissioning a new digital work using AI and data-driven aesthetics to create a multi-sensory experience. In 2024, the bank partnered with Krista Kim to debut Heart Space, an installation that transformed participants’ heartbeats into mesmerising digital visualisations, placed at the intersection of art, technology, and wellness.
To mark the 10-year partnership, Julius Baer is excited to extend its commitment to supporting regional talent, collaborating with Mohammed Kazem, a pioneering figure in contemporary Emirati art known for his conceptual approach to themes of space, movement, and geography. The new work, titled Directions (Merging), uses global coordinates—collected from where land meets water—as a metaphor for Dubai’s role as a crossroads of cultures.
For Kazem, the collaboration with Julius Baer offered an exciting opportunity to create an immersive experience for visitors. “This commission allowed me to translate intangible experiences—movement, sound, and location—into something viewers can feel. It’s about navigating space and inviting people to consider their place within a wider, interconnected world,” he says.
Regis Burger, Head of Middle East & Africa, “Our decade-long partnership with Art Dubai has always been about more than supporting the arts — it’s about creating a space for meaningful dialogue and contributing to building a community, connecting our clients, colleagues and partners.
This year we’re proud to unveil Directions (Merging) by Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem – a work that reflects themes of movement and belonging, echoing the relevance of Dubai as a dynamic, global and ambitious city, and its role in driving cultural exchange.
Huge thanks to Art Dubai for sharing this vision with us and for creating a platform that continues to inspire and push boundaries.”
Beyond the gallery walls, Julius Baer’s engagement with Art Dubai underscores the intersection of institutions to drive cultural progress. Art has long been a unifying force, capable of transcending language, nationality, and social divides. By investing in artists, public engagement programmes, and educational initiatives, the partnership has helped bridge the gap between artistic talent and global audiences, making art more accessible and inclusive.
Art Dubai’s Executive Director, Benedetta Ghione, emphasises the impact this partnership has had on the city: “We are pleased to celebrate this milestone of a decade-long partnership with Julius Baer, a collaboration that has expanded on Art Dubai’s capacity-building role, contributing to the fair’s long-term cultural impact and development of the art scene here in Dubai and across the UAE.”
Mohammed Kazem’s new digital work will be launched at the Julius Baer Lounge at Art Dubai 2025, from 18-20 April.
