Frank Kane: Art Dubai displays cultural depth of UAE

I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like. And I like Art Dubai, the emirate’s glittering exhibit of all things artistic, funky, or just downright weird, more each year.

The four-day extravaganza is the highlight of the arts and cultural banquet that Dubai lays on each March, and is in its 10th year. Which, by coincidence, is also the length of time I have lived in the UAE. So you could say that Art Dubai and I have matured together.

I recall the first one I attended, fresh off the plane at DXB, as a mind-blowing event, full of unexpected artistic innovation as well as a liberal dose of Dubai glamour. It was a real eye-opener for me, after all the unfounded allegations I’d heard back in London of a lack of cultural “depth” in the UAE.

Here was artistic depth enough to drown in.

Last week was just as interesting, exciting and enjoyable. But a good show should teach you something new with each staging, so here are the four things I learnt at Art Dubai 2016.

1 Abraaj group is still the backbone of the event. Arif Naqvi's investment group has been the main sponsor, as well as prize funder and all-round benefactor, since the beginning. If anything it seems to extend its support for the event with each successive year. In addition to its involvement in the main event at Madinat Jumeirah, Abraaj also puts on a kind of mini-Davos in the days leading up to the event, where experts gather to swap views on crucial global issues. It's a great and rare example of the perfect marriage between art and Mammon.

2 "Modern" art is not necessarily all that modern at all; and what I always regarded as modern art is in fact "contemporary".

I’m almost ashamed to admit to not having known the difference until a chance conversation with a friend on the way into Mina Salaam, where the “modern” exhibition was being staged. “All that stuff over there looks pretty modern to me,” I said, waving in the general direction of the Johara Ballroom, where I’d just browsed some pretty new looking pieces.

“Ah no, that’s the contemporary exhibition,” my friend explained. Roughly, modern is anything from around 1880 to 1970; contemporary from 1970 to this very minute. So now I know.

3 There is plenty of art outside the Madinat complex during Art Dubai week. From the Al Sikka art fair in Bur Dubai, to galleries of the Alserkal district in Al Quoz, it's worth exploring beyond the Madinat.

The Dubai Design District (d3) in particular was a treasure trove of visual delights, as it staged the Dubai Photo Exhibition. It was here that I learnt that both my daughters – Rosie aged 22 and Amira aged seven – have the photography bug.

Rosie, on a visit from college in New York for the event, is already very professional, producing some stunning images on a retro-Polaroid. The youngster was a keen learner, snapping away at the Mario Testino exhibition to the great delight of all who saw her.

4 d3 is accessible after all, in a physical as well as an artistic sense. Having become frustratingly lost on a previous attempted visit, I took no chances this time and followed the Google lady to the finest detail.

In fact, the design district –which will be one of Dubai’s top hipster spots when it is completed in 2020 – is now pretty well signposted. So you can just lose yourself in the art instead.

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