The United Arab Emirates, once known predominantly for its oil industries, has been highly successful in reframing itself as a world-class tourist destination.
Increasingly, the country is also building a reputation for its cultural development, with new Louvre and Guggenheim museums opening in Abu Dhabi, the highly-acclaimed Sharjah Biennale now in its 16th edition and Art Dubai, the region’s leading art fair, attracting and encouraging an expanding creative community of both homegrown and global talent.
As the art world descends for this year’s fair, we meet some of the women shaping Dubai’s cultural landscape.
THE FAIR
(Image credit: Courtesy of Art Dubai Group/photography by Zan Wimberley)
As it approaches its 20th year, Art Dubai has announced two more women will join Executive Director Benedetta Ghione in senior leadership roles. Alexie Glass-Kantor, formerly of Artspace, Sydney, will take on the newly created role of Executive Director Curatorial, whilst Dunja Gottweis, formerly of Art Basel, will become the fair’s new Director.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Art Dubai/photography by Peter Ross)
As the region’s largest commercial art event continues to grow, this move affirms the crucial role that women play in culture, both here and internationally.
Art Dubai, 18-20 April 2025 artdubai.ae
THE INSTITUTION
Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist)
Helmed since 2016 by Antonia Carver, Art Jameel is an independent organisation founded by Jameel family philanthropies, on the belief that the arts are fundamental to life and should be accessible to all. Launched under Carver’s leadership, Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai champions work that interrogates the major issues of our time.
A phenomenal example of this is the current exhibition The Peasant, the Scholar and the Engineer, by Spanish artist and researcher Assunción Molinos Gordo, which tackles one of today’s most urgent subjects — the politics of land, labour and sustainability.
The Peasant, the Scholar and the Engineer by Assunción Molinos Gordo, until 21 September 2025 artjameel.org
Assunción Molinos Gordo: ‘Al-Mat’am Elli Mish Masri’
(Image credit: Assunción Molinos Gordo: ‘Al-Mat’am Elli Mish Masri’)
THE CULTURAL HUB
Vilma Jurkute, Executive Director of Alserkal Initiatives
(Image credit: Sueraya Shaheen)
Founded in 2008, Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant community of contemporary art galleries, performing arts organisations, designers, and artisans, housed in a former industrial estate. Under the leadership of Executive Director Vilma Jurkute, the organisation has matured into multi-strand Alserkal Initiatives – a much-admired cultural blueprint for other countries and regions, with a focus on nurturing homegrown talent.
All three of the organisation’s strands are helmed by women, with Basmah El-Bittar spearheading Alserkal Avenue’s evolution into Dubai’s main cultural hub, Fiza Akram launching Alserkal Advisory, and Nada Raza leading Alserkal Foundation’s excellent curatorial programme, which currently hosts Imran Qureshi’s Vanishing Points.
Vanishing Points by Imran Qureshi at Concrete, Alserkal Avenue, until 20 April 2025 alserkal.online
Nada Raza and Imran Qureshi in front of Qureshi’s installation ‘Vanishing Points’
(Image credit: Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue)
THE FOUNDATION
Founded in 2019 by Smita Prabhakar – an Indian entrepreneur, collector and art patron based in the UAE for over four decades – the Ishara Art Foundation focuses on South Asian contemporary art that reflects diverse voices and shared histories from across the region.
The foundation is currently showing one of my favourite artists Shilpa Gupta, whose profoundly moving work highlights and challenges the way society and the state impact the lives of individuals and communities, in ways that might be out of their control and, often, against their will.
Lines of Flight by Shilpa Gupta at Ishara Art Foundation, until 31 May 2025 ishara.org
Shilpa Gupta: ‘There Is No Border Here’
(Image credit: Shilpa Gupta)
THE STUDIO
Maha Eddé in 8th Street Studios
(Image credit: Maha Eddé)
Founded by Canadian-Lebanbese artist Maha Eddé, 8th Street Studios is an independent space in Dubai’s Al Quoz area, that houses five women artists – Ranim Alhalaky, Chafa Ghadder, Solimar Miller, Hadil Moufti and Eddé herself.
The space was created to foster a collaborative, community-based environment with focus on shared learning, and contributing to the wider art community.
THE ARTIST
Shaikha Al Mazrou: ‘Deliberate Pauses’, 2025
(Image credit: Courtesy of Alserkal Arts Foundation)
Emirati artist Shaikha Al Mazrou’s large-scale, minimalist sculptures and installations draw inspiration from modernist principles and industrial aesthetics, geometry and colour theory. Her new work, Deliberate Pauses, is the largest site-specific art intervention in Dubai.
Shaikha Al Mazrou: ‘Deliberate Pauses’, 2025
(Image credit: Courtesy of Alserkal Arts Foundation)
Set against the striking landscape of Leem Lake in Hatta, it consists of five red metallic sculptures, strategically placed along hiking trails, that act as both beacons and portals, encouraging visitors to pause, reflect and connect with the natural environment surrounding them.
Art Dubai 2025 will take place from 18 to 20 April