A group of 10 museum leaders from the United States visited the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) campus on Thursday, April 26 for a national tour highlighting the UAE’s cultural spaces.
The group toured NYUAD’s venues, including the Art Gallery’s exhibition Permanent Temporariness: Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, the Arts Center halls and teaching studios, and the NYUAD Library, after which they met with artists and organizations based in the UAE.
The study tour of the UAE was arranged through a collaborative effort by the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC and Meridian International Center. The organizations are working together to organize cultural diplomacy programs that highlight the UAE’s emerging arts and cultural scene.
Conducting the tour were NYUAD’s Chief Curator Maya Allison; Curator at NYUAD Art Gallery Bana Kattan; faculty Salwa Mikdadi; Executive Artistic Director at the Arts Center Bill Bragin; Associate Dean of Arts David Darts; and Dean of Arts and Humanities Robert Young.
The US delegation included curators and directors from museums and institutions across the US including: Director of Curatorial Affairs in Brooklyn Museum Sharon Matt Atkins; Director of Exhibitions in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Krista Brugnara; Senior Vice President of Education and Public Programs in Los Angeles County Museum of Art Jane Burrell; Curator of Education and Public Engagement in the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit Amy Corle; Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Anna Katz; Assistant Curator at Dallas Contemporary Lilia Kudelia; Board Member at the Detroit Institute of Arts Bonnie Larson; Deputy Director at The Broad Stacy Lieberman; Deputy Curatorial Director at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Matilda McQuaid; Chief Executive Officer Design Miami Jennifer Roberts; Anne Vogt Fuller and Marion Titus Searle Chair and Curator of Prints and Drawings Art Institute of Chicago Kevin Salatino; President and Director Hammer Galleries Howard Shaw; and Acting Matsutaro Shoriki Chair and Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Laura Weinstein.
UAE-based artists included: Jumairy, Cristiana De Marchi, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Mandana Mohit, Hesam Rahmanian, Rokni Haerizadeh, Ramin Haerizadeh, Alaa Edris, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Zeinab Al Hashemi, and Mohammed Kazem.
Art organizations represented from the UAE included: Lana Shamma, Jameel Art Foundation; Laura Metzler, Maraya Arts Foundation; Mahnaz Fancy, Sharjah Architecture Triennial; Smita Prabhakar, Founder of private museum to open in Dubai; Shobha Shamdsani, Executive Director of UAE Unlimited; Alia Al Qassimi, Manarat Al Saadiyat; Hanan Sayed Worrell, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Shumon Basar, Independent writer and curator; Munira Al Sayegh, Independent curator; Laila Binbrek, UAE National Pavilion; and Scott Bolz, US Embassy.