The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has introduced its curatorial vision to visitors at a preview exhibition ahead of the opening of the museum’s latest franchise in 2017, Art Daily reports.
The show, entitled “Seeing Through the Light: Selections From the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection,” includes new acquisitions made specifically for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi as well as two key loans from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The show included a selection of contemporary pieces based around the theme of light from international art stars such as Larry Bell, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Douglas Wheeler, Keith Sonnier, Otto Piene, and Yayoi Kusama.
According to a statement published on the Guggenheim website “This group of artworks illuminates the creative vision of the future museum, offers the first glimpse of what is to come, and represents a significant milestone in the evolution of the new museum.”
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi aims to contribute a Middle Eastern perspective to the international contemporary art scene. Designed by the renowned architect Frank Ghery, it is set to become the largest Guggenheim in the world with 450,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The Guggenheim project is the most recent example of Abu Dhabi’s vast cultural investment, which has also included a $520 million deal with the Louvre to build a branch of the French museum in the capital of the UAE, scheduled to open in December 2015).