Art Dubai Announces Exhibitors For 2025 Edition
Art Dubai, the most significant global art gathering in the Middle East, announces the line-up of exhibiting galleries for its 2025 edition, which will take place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai from 18 to 20 April 2025 (with previews on 16 and 17 April). Exhibitors in Art Dubai’s Contemporary, Bawwaba, Modern, and Digital sections exceed 100, representing more than 50 cities, and the upcoming edition of the fair will welcome over 20 first-time participants. The geographical breadth of the exhibitor line-up reflects Art Dubai’s role as a gateway for discovery, learning, and exchange, as well as its ongoing commitment to showcasing art and artists from less-represented regions.
The 2025 edition of the fair will continue to feature strong representation from artists and art centres across the Middle East, the African continent, and West and South Asia. The ongoing expansion and development of Dubai’s cultural scene, alongside the city’s status as the Gulf region’s financial and commercial hub, is also reflected in the number of Dubai-based exhibitors (over 20) and the increasing number of Emirati- and UAE-based artists participating in the fair.
Art Dubai is dedicated to placing untold regional art histories in dialogue with global art movements, and each year invites international academics and art historians to curate specific sections of the fair. The invited curators for 2025 are Mirjam Varadinis (Bawwaba - meaning gateway in Arabic); Magalí Arriola and Nada Shabout (Art Dubai Modern); and Gonzalo Herrero Delicado (Art Dubai Digital).
ART DUBAI CONTEMPORARY 2025
Art Dubai Contemporary showcases the finest in cutting-edge contemporary art from across the globe, with a particular emphasis on art and artists from underrepresented regions. For its 2025 edition, the fair will feature 70 contemporary exhibitors from cities across five continents and will include significant galleries that are new to the fair, thereby enhancing Art Dubai’s international representation and reinforcing the fair’s position as both the hub of the region’s art market and a place of exploration for visitors. First-time exhibitors in Art Dubai’s 2025 Contemporary section will comprise: Bortolami (New York), Cortesi Gallery (Milan/Lugano), Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art (Lisbon), Don Gallery (Shanghai), La Galerie 38 (Casablanca/Marrakech), Mizuma Art Gallery (Tokyo), Pedro Cera (Lisbon/Madrid), Richard Saltoun (London/Rome/New York), Galería MPA (Madrid), Galeria RGR (Mexico City), and Karpuchina Gallery (Prague).
BAWWABA 2025
Bawwaba - meaning 'gateway' in Arabic - centres on highly curated solo presentations of artworks created in the twelve months prior to, or specifically for, Art Dubai. Bawwaba 2025 is curated by Mirjam Varadinis, the writer and curator-at-large at Kunsthaus Zürich. Throughout her extensive curatorial career, many of Varadinis’s projects address evolving formats of contemporary curating, posing the question, ‘How can we imagine new forms of coexistence, both among people and with our planet?’. In line with this, the section will showcase artists who reflect on their own displacement in our current climate and envisage new models of living together. Notable solo presentations in Bawwaba’s 2025 edition will include Kate Newby (Art: Concept), Gulnur Mukazhanova (Aspan Gallery), and Tomás Saraceno (Pinksummer).
ART DUBAI MODERN 2025
Art Dubai Modern features presentations by the region's modern masters, reinforcing Art Dubai's commitment to art historical research and under-explored art histories. These artists have significantly influenced the 20th century, and their works are crucial in shaping the understanding of the current cultural landscape.
During the twentieth century, migration, Arab diaspora communities, geopolitical challenges, and anti-imperial struggles fostered strong cultural affinities and solidarities between West Asia, North Africa, and other postcolonial areas worldwide. Beyond direct relationships, these diverse countries shared commonalities that emerged from navigating their new realities. In their pursuit of modern and national identities, heritage and the past became vital in negotiating the new, with experiments in abstraction and heritage renewal reflecting shared concerns and aspirations.
Art Dubai Modern’s 2025 edition is curated by Magalí Arriola, art critic and Director at Museo Tamayo, Mexico, and Nada Shabout, Art History Professor at the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, U.S. Highlights will feature important presentations from New Vision Group (Meem Gallery); Bertina Lopes (Richard Saltoun), and Mehdi Moutashar (Lawrie Shabibi). For the first time, Art Dubai Modern will expand its remit to include an artist from Latin America—Venezuelan artist Darío Pérez Flores (Mark Hachem)—reflecting the common concerns and empathies between Latin America, West Asia, and North Africa Africa.
ART DUBAI DIGITAL 2025
Now in its fourth year, Art Dubai Digital is a distinctive section of Art Dubai dedicated to pioneering artists, collectives, galleries, and platforms that are shaping the contemporary digital art landscape. Reflecting a wide geographic range and diverse perspectives, and featuring new commissions, talks, educational workshops, and special showcases, the section investigates how the most exciting and innovative artists and creative practitioners are utilising advanced technologies – including artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, and augmented reality – to address the key environmental, social, and political challenges facing our time.
Titled ‘After the Technological Sublime’, in reference to the awe and wonder we feel when encountering monumental technological innovations, Art Dubai Digital’s 2025 edition will expand the traditional concept of the sublime — once used to convey amazement and fear towards vast natural forces — to encompass human-made creations. From the internet to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, technological advancements evoke admiration for human achievement, yet they also instil anxiety, as these systems may transcend our control and distract from pressing environmental, social, cultural, and political issues.
Art Dubai Digital’s 2025 edition is curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, an independent curator and lecturer at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London.
Highlights of Art Dubai Digital 2025 will include presentations by established international galleries in digital art, such as Hafez Gallery, HOFA Gallery (House of Fine Art), TAEX, Sevil Dolmaci, and GAZELL.IO. Additionally, the section features collectives and platforms including MORROW collective, Holy Club, Immaterika, and an artist-led booth by BREAKFAST Studio. The increasing number of Dubai-based exhibitors in Art Dubai Digital underscores the ongoing growth of Dubai as a hub for digital experimentation and innovation. Among the Dubai-based exhibitors are Mondoir Art Gallery, Monada Art Gallery with 10101.art, and espace, which will feature a solo presentation by sculptor Andrés Anza.
