DIFC Art Nights return to Dubai for its 10th edition

The 10th edition of DIFC Art Nights returns to Dubai this week. It will be held at the financial centre this week from November 17-18 and will attract artists, collectors, enthusiasts and galleries scoping the region’s emerging talent.

Admission to the alfresco event held within DIFC’s Gate Village is free and will be open from 6pm-10pm over both evenings.

Event organisers have confirmed that they will maintain all the necessary Covid-19 precautionary measures for both the exhibitors and attendees.

The work of over 40 artists which includes Emirati and international artists, will be displayed alongside the work from reputed galleries.

The galleries include the like of The Empty Quarter which will showcase the work of photographer Mohammad Kamal who photographed remote locations in China and the Arctic Circle; contemporary art space Opera Gallery; Sconci Gallery which specialises in curating pop art and street art; and Tabari Art Space which will come alive with its artwork that provokes social thought and the role of art in society.

The individual artists whose work will be on display include Amanda Ovington, whose three pieces will touch upon the subject of environmental sustainability and the degenerating impact that humans have on nature.

Some of the other top artists who will be participating include Rany Melad’s mosaic painting, and Artezaar who, like Ovington’s work, will also focus on earth and sustainability.

There’s powerful artwork to be witnessed by way of Dima Fatum’s polypatch artwork that consists of three portraits, one each of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former ruler of Abu Dhabi; Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current president of the UAE; and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed has previously said that certain artists will also be eligible for the 10-year golden residency visa, handing the country’s creative sector a major incentive to further develop itself.

Demonstrating that age is no barrier to creativity – or to participating in DIFC Art Nights – six-year-old Elyes Shubailat, will be displaying his abstract artwork. The prodigy has already created over 50 paintings and is sure to attract much attention at the upcoming show.

DIFC Art Nights will also include a Legacy Art platform for emerging art and artists from around the world to have a dedicated space to show their alongside established names.

Also supporting budding artists at DIFC Art Nights is another platform called Emerging Scene founded by Rebia Naim in 2011 to promote the work of emerging visual artists. Naim is the curator for Elevision Media’s digital art gallery, the UAE’s largest digital media broadcast network. Curating the art for Emerging scene along with Naim will be Tina Mcgonagill who has over has over 20 years of experience as an art consultant and curator, in Los Angeles, New York, London, New Delhi, and most recently Dubai, whose work has specifically focused on emerging artists.

With 2020 being a year when the arts and culture sector, like most other sectors, have been impacted by pandemic, DIFC Art Nights pave the way for the return to a semblance of normalcy on the art scene. And, as always, there’s always the hope that art imitates real life.

To find out more, visit www.difc.ae/events/art-nights-nov/