Art Market

Art Basel will launch a three-day event in Abu Dhabi in 2020.

Christy Kuesel
Sep 10, 2019 4:08PM, via Art Basel

Abu Dhabi. Photo by Raganesh, via Wikimedia Commons.

Art Basel is expanding to Abu Dhabi with a three-day arts program dubbed “Art Basel Inside” set to launch in the emirati capital next year. In a press release, Art Basel described the event as a “multi-faceted cultural experience offering thought leaders from diverse fields and industries the opportunity to share visions and engage with the issues facing the world today.”

The new program will not only focus on the role of the arts, but will also invite thinkers from science and technology backgrounds to address topics like sustainability and artificial intelligence. It will be curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler, director of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva, and will run from February 14th to February 16th next year. In a conversation with ARTnews, Wahler described the event as “not in an art fair, not in a museum, and also not really a summit.” It will overlap with the second edition of Frieze Los Angeles, which is run by Art Basel’s biggest rival in the art fair business.

“In today’s world it is vital that those in the art world not only speak to each other about the art world, but rather discuss with a wider range of thinkers a broader range of topics,” Marc Spiegler, Art Basel’s global director, said in a statement.

Art Basel Inside will be hosted in partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism. It joins a number of other global cultural projects with outposts in the city, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017, and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which is expected to open in the coming years.

Further Reading: Art Basel’s Parent Company, MCH Group, Cuts Regional Fairs Amid Major Losses

Christy Kuesel