When New York University Abu Dhabi opened on Saadiyat Island in 2014, it also launched The NYUAD Art Gallery, a museum-format space for scholarly, experimental, and envelope-pushing exhibitions. It has since been recognized for its growing contribution to the UAE’s cultural landscape, as museums spring up around it, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017, and more to come.
This dual-language English-Arabic publication tells the origin story of The NYUAD Art Gallery – the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula – giving voice to the founders and collaborators. Mariët Westermann writes about the role of exhibition-making and study of art in a university’s mission; H.E. Zaki Nusseibeh situates the arrival of The NYUAD Art Gallery in the history of the UAE’s cultural sector; while Maya Allison details the origins and development of the mission and vision for exhibition-making at NYU Abu Dhabi in the context of the UAE’s fast-changing cultural landscape.
With elegant cloth binding and slipcase, and extensive color images charting the timeline of exhibitions, this beautiful edition offers a retrospective of the Gallery’s exhibitions, book publications, and projects. Contributors include Sam Bardaouil, Guido Comis, Emily Doherty, Anthony Downey, Till Fellrath, Scott Fitzgerald, Bana Kattan, Salwa Mikdadi, H.E. Zaki Nusseibeh, Alistair Rider, Beatrix Ruf, Slavs and Tatars, and Mariët Westermann.
