Frieze is the newest artwork enterprise to increase to the Gulf, revealing right now it’ll launch an Abu Dhabi version. By a deal struck with the Abu Dhabi Division of Tradition and Tourism (DCT), Frieze will take over the prevailing truthful Abu Dhabi Artwork and maintain its personal occasion within the emirate in November 2026. A spokesperson for Frieze declines to touch upon the monetary phrases of the partnership.
The Abu Dhabi truthful might be Frieze’s first present within the Center East and eighth in whole: the model organises two editions in London, and one every in Seoul, New York and Los Angeles, in addition to the Armory Present and Expo Chicago.
In the meantime, Frieze’s rival Artwork Basel will launch its personal Center East truthful this February in Doha, Qatar. Rumours circulated previous to that announcement that Artwork Basel would in truth launch in Abu Dhabi; a spokesperson for Frieze declines to remark as as to whether Frieze impacted this plan.
Information of the Abu Dhabi enterprise comes the identical week because the Hollywood tycoon Ari Emanuel finalised a significant deal, first introduced in Might, to purchase Frieze, together with numerous sporting and reside occasions, from Endeavor, the leisure firm he as soon as led. Emanuel did so by way of his new holding firm, Mari, for which he has raised $2bn in fairness. Among the many traders in Mari is IMI, an Abu Dhabi-based media group. Notably, the Qatar Funding Authority, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, has additionally invested in Mari.
“Stay occasions and experiences have by no means been extra highly effective,” Emanuel mentioned in a press release when the deal was finalised. It’s not but recognized whether or not the Abu Dhabi deal will affect the model’s publishing enterprise, below which it produces the main modern artwork journal Frieze.
This isn’t the primary time Emanuel has struck a take care of Abu Dhabi. Underneath his lead, Endeavor developed longstanding monetary ties to the emirate by way of Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund run by the influential determine Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who was described in a 2021 New Yorker article as a “longtime buddy” of Emanuel. In 2016, Mubadala financially supported Endeavor when it acquired the Final Combating Championships (UFC) for $4.2bn, and UFC started holding occasions on Yas Island, which is being developed because the leisure island inside Abu Dhabi.
The Mari deal additionally consists of the acquisition of Mubadala choices such because the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, a girls’s tennis match.
The collaboration with DCT comes with household ties. Khaldoon Al Mubarak is the older brother of Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, who because the chairman of DCT oversees lots of emirate’s arts and leisure initiatives.
In a press release, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak mentioned Frieze Abu Dhabi “was rooted within the achievements of Abu Dhabi Artwork and can carry them onto the worldwide stage, reinforcing the emirate’s place as a cultural capital whereas providing Frieze a singular gateway to the area”.
A Frieze spokesperson described the Abu Dhabi partnership as “the truthful’s gateway into the International South”.
Frieze Abu Dhabi might be held, like Abu Dhabi Artwork, in Manarat Al Saadiyat, the exhibition and occasion venue inside the Saadiyat Cultural District, and Dyala Nusseibeh will stay because the truthful’s director. Deutsche Financial institution, Frieze’s longtime sponsor, will likewise accomplice on this truthful. The German financial institution has lately deepened its presence within the emirate, whose monetary providers sector is rising.
DCT may have a presence at this yr’s Frieze London, which opens subsequent week (15-19 October), with a lounge to showcase DCT initiatives and work by Lamya Gargash, an Emirati artist who was first to symbolize the UAE on the Venice Biennale in 2009.
The following, and last, version of Abu Dhabi Artwork, might be held 19-23 November. Among the many 140 exhibitors collaborating are Tempo, Leila Heller, Niru Ratnam and Athr.
