Arts in Motion

From the structural existence and academic experience to the lively events calendar and global outreach, the arts are woven into every corner of NYU Abu Dhabi. Through efforts from our faculty, centers, and galleries, the University places performance, research, and documentation of the arts as one of its key institutional goals. As Abu Dhabi continues to demonstrate its leadership as a cultural hub for the world, the University will serve as the city's stalwart source of rigorous scholarship and modal expression in the arts.

Curating Khaleeji Modern Art

NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery’s new exhibition uncovers a rich history and authors an important chapter in the anthology of Arab art.

Dance, Disability, and Inclusivity

The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels present world renowned CanDoCo Dance Company, leaders of inclusive dance.

Al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art is developing a new model for research and access, and will help change the very manner in which Arab art is situated in the world of academia and in the public perception.

Our partnership with Louvre Abu Dhabi goes far beyond our collaboration in hosting conferences, workshops, and cultural programs. Universities and museums hold unique and related roles in civil societies as institutions of learning, discovery, and the preservation of the world’s cultural heritage.

Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann on the signing of the MOU with Louvre Abu Dhabi

Upcoming Events

NYU Abu Dhabi will be hosting several events in the coming academic year that explore the arts on campus and beyond. Here are a selection of some of the performances, talks, and presentations that showcase the creative energy at the University.

Masterclass with Ravi Coltrane

Learn the structures of modern and contemporary jazz with one of today’s legends. Join Ravi Coltrane, Grammy-nominated saxophonist and bandleader on an interactive, in-depth master class.

Wednesday, October 5, 6:30pm
The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi

Rooftop Rhythms — Opening and Grand Slam Finale Competition

The Middle East’s longest-running poetry open mic night enters its second decade while doing its part to build the performing arts scene of the UAE.

Friday, September 23, 7:30pm
Marketplace, Campus Center (C2)

Khaleej Modern: Pioneers and Collectives in the Arabian Peninsula

Developed from art historian Dr. Aisha Stoby’s research into modern art movements in the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and The United Arab Emirates.

September 6 - December 11
NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery

Research

Even if art shows some traits of the painstaking process used to make it, the research needed to create a body of work is often masked in the final product. Unlike engineering or the sciences, art has no list of annotations or footnotes. Instead, it’s finished and ready for us to experience. Often the pieces NYU Abu Dhabi faculty create are years, if not an entire lifetime, in the making.

Science in Fiction

A biologist-filmmaker with one eye looking through a camera and another looking down a microscope.

Musical Distancing

A band born during the pandemic leads a professor to explore new avenues of artistic collaboration.

The Art of Research

When art speaks for itself it often omits the effort and the rigorous research behind its creation.

Arts Faculty

Our faculty in the Arts conduct research in a range of disciplines and teach classes aimed at empowering students to pursue careers in the field. These classes and their research helped bridge the gap between artists and academia, and often impressed upon students a novel way of thinking, or their global outlook.

Sandra Peters

The Co-Program Head of Art and Art History at NYUAD makes art that engages the architecture of the specific exhibition site in a contrapuntal dialogue, unlocking experiences that call in question preconceived beliefs and entrenched habits of seeing, hearing, and being and moving in a space.

Goffredo Puccetti

The Assistant Professor of Practice of Visual Arts’s area of expertise is in corporate identity and branding. His main interests are in the interactions of visual communications with policy-making processes.

Shamoon Zamir

The Professor of Literature and Art History and Global Network Professor of Literature and Art History works in the areas of literature, photography and intellectual history.

Alumni Working in the Arts Field

NYUAD Graduates engage deeply with difference, take up intellectual, creative, and research pursuits, and prepare to live a life of purpose and leadership. Many of our students have pursued careers as artists, curators, composers, or in the field as administrators. Their work has taken them all around the world as they pursue their talents in the arts field.