Lebanese artist Dala Nasser has been named the first recipient of the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award, with a new installation inspired by a historic monument near Baalbek set to form the centrepiece of the fair’s inaugural programme.
Taking place at Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 19 to 22, Frieze Abu Dhabi will also feature an exhibition pairing Emirati artists Mohammed Kazem and Alia Zaal, a month-long sculpture display at Mamsha Beach, and discussions with artists, curators and museum leaders.
The fair’s gallery line-up will feature more than 80 galleries from 36 countries and territories taking part. Organised by Frieze in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the event builds on Abu Dhabi Art, which ran for 17 years before its rebranding.
Nasser, who lives and works between Beirut and London, was selected by curator and art historian Nabila Abdel Nabi. The award will support her new work, Qubbat Duris, which takes its name from a 13th-century monument in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
The structure incorporates fragments of Roman limestone sarcophagi resting on eight granite columns from earlier centuries. Nasser’s installation will evoke the monument through a timber framework in the fair’s atrium, draped with textile paintings bearing traces of the surrounding landscape.
These will include charcoal rubbings of the ruins, with ash, raw clay and terracotta used to paint the textiles. The work will explore how materials carry memory across generations and questions of collective responsibility towards landscapes facing destruction.
Born in Tyre in 1990, Nasser has exhibited at the Sharjah Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh. Her work is held in collections displayed by Tate Modern in London and Qatar Museums, among others.
“Frieze Abu Dhabi takes shape within a rich and evolving cultural landscape, and the programme for our first edition responds to that context,” fair director Dyala Nusseibeh says.
“Spanning generations and geographies, it reflects the artistic histories, ideas and practices that connect Abu Dhabi to a wider scene. From Dala Nasser’s new commission to In Dialogue and Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi, the programme puts artists and their ideas at the centre of Frieze Abu Dhabi.”
The new annual In Dialogue exhibition will pair an established artist with an emerging artist from the UAE. Its first edition, titled At Another Meeting Point, will bring together works by Kazem and Zaal.
The exhibition is curated by Abu Dhabi’s Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, founded by Munira Al Sayegh, alongside co-curators Hessa Al Nuaimi and Dania Al Tamimi. Kazem’s practice spans video, photography and performance, often exploring ways to give tangible form to sound and light. Zaal works across painting and photography, drawing on archives and personal images to examine memory and perception.
Beyond Manarat Al Saadiyat, Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi will bring large-scale works to Mamsha Beach on Saadiyat Island from November 16 to December 16. Presented by Aldar, the exhibition will feature four artists whose works engage with landscape, materials and the built environment.
Emirati artist Zeinab Alhashemi will present The Nut and Bolt, which draws on an everyday component of construction. Joining it will be Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim’s The Form, Imran Qureshi’s Water Bodies and Kamran Samimi’s Voyagers (Traveling Stones).
The talks programme includes Building the Global Museum on November 19, with Michael Govan and Eugene Tan, director of the National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum. Kate Fowle, director of the arts programme at the Hearthland Foundation, will moderate the discussion.
A second session, Curating Across Knowledge Systems, takes place on November 20, with curators Cosmin Costinas and Kelli Cole, alongside Claudia Segura, head of collection at Barcelona’s contemporary art museum, Macba. The full schedule will be released in October.
Frieze Abu Dhabi’s invitation-only preview takes place on November 19, with public admission from November 20 to 22. Opening hours are 2pm to 9pm daily. Early-bird tickets are available through the fair’s website.
