FEBRUARY 2022 – Fiker Institute, a Dubai-based multidisciplinary think tank, has partnered with Global Art Daily to explore the United Arab Emirates’ growing cultural ties with Asia and Africa through artistic and curatorial practices. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah have evolved into contemporary art hubs for the West Asia, North Africa and South Asia (WANASA) region, which has resulted in a burst of curatorial activity and groundbreaking institutional initiatives in recent years. Investments in the country’s creative infrastructure have attracted a new generation of international artists migrating to the UAE, and led to the founding of a number of interdisciplinary art collectives. Looking beyond the country’s immediate neighbors in the Arab world, this partnership, through three research essays, aims to highlight the contemporary networks that link the UAE with other countries through institutional exhibitions, gallery initiatives, and independent curatorial practices.

Read the research essays on The Fiker Institute.