The Development of Art and Art Audiences in the UAE

Region: Online
Type: Talk
Cost: Free

Wednesday, September 18 · 11am-12pm GMT+1 / 14:00-15:00pm UAE

Art is Not Made to be Understood: Learning from the Development of Art and Art Audiences in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has rapidly earned its place on the international museum and art market landscape over the last decade.

Join leading women art world leaders from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah to learn more about the development of an art history in the United Arab Emirates in recent times.

This free, online panel discussion features key figures in the country’s art ecosystem:

Manal Ataya is a Senior Advisor and was previously Director General of Sharjah Museums Authority
Asmaa Shabibi is the co-founder and Director of Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai
Munira Al Sayegh is an independent curator and founder of Dirwaza Curatorial Lab in Abu Dhabi.

It is led by Sophie Kazan Makhlouf, author of Art Is Not Made To Be Understood: The Development of An Art History in the UAE and a member of hte Association for Art History’s Higher Education Committee.

This promises to be an interesting and lively presentation with perspective from the country’s three largest emirates.

This event is part of Art History Festival 2024 organised by the Association for Art History.

Speaker biographies

Manal Ataya

In 2006, Manal Ataya was appointed as the founding Deputy Director of the Sharjah Museums Authority, established by His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah. During her two-year tenure, she played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for the organization’s growth and success and was later promoted to the position of Director General in 2008. As the Director General of the Sharjah Museums Authority, Manal Ataya led a diverse team of over 700 staff, overseeing operations and programming across Sharjah’s extensive network of 16 museums. These museums encompass a wide range of dedicated collections, including modern and contemporary Arab art, Islamic art, Gulf heritage, science, marine life, and UAE archaeology. As of June 2023, she was appointed as advisor for museums to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, focusing on cultural policy-making and the development of new museum projects.Ataya was awarded the Order of Arts & Letters by the Republic of France in 2018 and the Order of Merit from the Republic of Germany in 2022 in recognition of her significant contributions to culture.

Munira Al Sayegh, an Abu Dhabi-based independent curator and cultural instigator, founded Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, focusing on grassroots initiatives and narrative reclamation in the Gulf. Her work spans various platforms, including NYU Abu Dhabi’s FIND project and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi team, where she co-curated The Creative Act: Performance, Process, Presence. Notable solo projects include Bayn: The In-Between and The Cup and The Saucer. She has curated exhibitions for Art Dubai, including the Residents section, and initiated the Now series. Al Sayegh’s international presence grew with exhibitions like Between the Sky and Earth and Leadership Pavilion Project. She continues to lead Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, curating diverse exhibitions such as Zemanna, Hair Mapping Body; Body Mapping Land, and A Return to the Ground. Recent showcases include Evaporating Suns, Evident Presence, and Gauze.

Asmaa Al-Shabibi Bio

Asmaa Al-Shabibi is the director of Lawrie Shabibi, a contemporary art gallery in Alserkal Avenue Dubai that she cofounded with William Lawrie in 2011. Born in Baghdad but raised from birth in London, Kuwait and Bahrain, she is also the founder of Unit 21 Consulting which provides advisory work for private and public art spaces. Lawrie Shabibi, founded in 2011, works with a multi-generational group of artists with a focus on the Middle East and broader region– artists either from the region or engaging with it. In 2015 and 2016 the gallery was listed by Modern Painters as among the world’s leading 500 galleries, and it has participated in fairs worldwide including Art Dubai, Abu Dhabi Art, The Armory Show in New York, Art Basel Hong Kong, Artissima in Turin and Untitled in Miami Beach. Working with a cohort of artists from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe she has put together over fifty exhibitions both locally and internationally. Prior to this she was the Managing Director of Art Dubai from 2007 to 2010, initiating the Abraaj Capital Art Prize and overseeing the fair’s initial stages.

Sophie Kazan is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Museum Studies at Leicester University, she is a lecturer at the University of Falmouth and the University of Notre Dame USA in London. Sophie’s undergraduate degree was in Art & Archaeology (Asia and Africa) from SOAS, University of London, she has a Master of Studies (Mst) in Art History from the University of Oxford and completed her doctoral research at the University of Leicester in 2021. Sophie is a committee member for the Higher Education Committee for the Association for Art History (AAH) and she also organised two Global New Voices Conferences in 2022 and 2023, with speakers and attendees from all over the world.

Sophie’s book, The Development of An Art History in the UAE: An Art Not Made To Be Understood, comes out in October 2024. Sophie also hosts a 60 second art documentary, Art Minute on Youtube.