As the 11th edition of Art Dubai progresses, the Saudi nonprofit Art Jameel has announced the launch of a new ambitious art space in Dubai and a partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The 10,000-square-meter Jameel Arts Center Dubai, designed by British firm Serie Architects, is slated to open in the winter of 2018.
The space will host exhibitions, talks, events, and other projects. Its first exhibition, a video work by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme is currently on view as part of a series of shows focused on single works from the Jameel Art Collection.
“We are delighted to be embarking on a new phase of development for Art Jameel, strengthening our programs in Saudi Arabia, across the Arab World and internationally, as well as founding our first permanent space, the Jameel Arts Center Dubai,” Fady Mohammed Jameel, president of the organization, said in a statement.
Rendering of the entrance to Jameel Arts Centre Dubai. Courtesy of Serie.
The UAE-based nonprofit’s new space will also have an open access research center. There will also be a café, bookshop, roof terrace, cinema, and an outdoor sculpture area.
Art Jameel is also putting together a curatorial council which will advise on the space’s exhibition program and permanent collection. Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Beacon Art Foundation, and the writer and curator Murtaza Vali have been tapped to be part of the council.
Meanwhile, the Art Jameel Fund established in partnership with the Met Museum will support the New York museum in the acquisition of contemporary Middle Eastern art. Its most recent purchase was a video work and photographs by the Egyptian artist Maha Maamoun.
“Art Jameel’s support allows the museum to put the most exciting contemporary practices and influential modern works from across the region in conversation with its rich collections and diverse audiences,” Clare Davies, the Met’s assistant curator of modern and contemporary Art, Middle East, and North Africa, said in the statement.