Abu Dhabi Art 2019: Paolo Colombo To Curate Annual Gateway Exhibition

Abu Dhabi Art 2019: Paolo Colombo to curate annual Gateway exhibition

ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 11th Nov, 2019) The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, DCT – Abu Dhabi, announced that its guest-curated Gateway exhibition titled, "Fragments, Yesterday and Today", will be conceived for 2019 by eminent curator, Paolo Colombo, the Art Advisor for the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and former curator of the Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo in Rome Gateway is an annual visual art exhibition that highlights local and international artists through a unique curatorial perspective. This year’s edition will take place from 21st November, 2019, to 29th February, 2020, at Manarat Al Saadiyat, as part of the Abu Dhabi Art programme.

For the first time in the history of Abu Dhabi Art, the exhibition will see generously loaned, precious artefacts from the Al Ain Museum shown in conversation with contemporary art.

Three new commissions will also be included in the exhibition, by artists, Alaa Edris, Nima Nabavi and Lamya Gargash.

"What I hope will be captured from 'Fragments, Yesterday and Today' is how objects of a utilitarian genre – that have shown service to the lives of people – carry valid visual information in today’s life and art. This exhibition will examine how everyday objects have survived long after the lives of the individuals that shaped them, and how they have entered the language of several contemporary artists," Colombo said.

"This is a rare opportunity to exhibit artefacts from the Al Ain Museum collection with contemporary art in a context that is very different from where and how they were originally used, yet in which they are nevertheless relevant," said Sarah Collins, Senior Curator at the DCT – Abu Dhabi.

Dyala Nusseibeh, Director of Abu Dhabi Art, said, "With Gateway this year, Colombo invites our audiences to connect to the rich history of the UAE, to unearth new ways of understanding the past through the present and to engage with contemporary art through a reflective lens."

The 14 contemporary artists who will be featured at the exhibition are Alaa Edris, Bahman Ghobadi, Farah Khelil, Hamra Abbas, Hera Buyuktasciyan, Idris Khan, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Kamrooz Aram, Kiki Smith, Lamya Gargash, Nima Nabavi, Oliver Beer, Salam Atta Sabri and Y.Z. Kami.

During the fair from 21st-23rd November, the exhibition will be open from 14:00 to 21:00, and after the conclusion of Abu Dhabi Art, the exhibition will be accessible daily between 09:00 and 20:00, with free entry.