At first glance, it seems like the world has gone back to normal here in Dubai. Though at second, I’d rather say, the (art) world has just entered the “new normal”. The 2021 edition of Art Dubai has been a very special event. Having its final day today, it brought a week of fresh air, lots of inspiration to the art world and beyond. The Art Dubai 2021 has proven this week, that “we can” achieve great things together and “things are possible”, when they are done the right way. It has definitely set an example for a safe and perfectly organized in-person event of international format.

Not only has the art fair re-located this year’s event to the DIFC, Dubai’s Financial centre, it has also completely modernized the way of attending an art fair – very much aligned with the current Zeitgeist.

Masks were mandatory:

Your attendance is handled via registration of the Art Dubai app. There, visitors have to book their specific time slots (which are limited per hour). As a confirmation they receive a QR code, which states the time of attendance, personal date and will be scanned at each entrance – replacing the paper/card tickets.

The artistic installations at Art Dubai’s Sculpture Park are definitely among the most impressive art installations I’ve seen so far in the art world. It’s worth to visit the Sculpture Park multiple times, as the looks of the art installations always change when viewed from several perspectives and at different times of day or night.

A very inspiring, safe and modern way of bringing several decades and nationalities together on the path towards the “new normal” – or let’s call it “the future of exhibiting”.

Here are some of my highlighted artworks of this very special Art Dubai 2021:

“IDEALLY HUNDREDS OF BLUE BUTTERFLIES WILL BE FLYING AROUND YOU FOLLOWING YOU, 2016” by French Artist Laure Prouvost, via Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Bruxelles):

“La Forma Celata, Red 2015” by Umberto Mariani via Custot Gallery (Dubai):

Javier Calleja and Eduardo Balanza’s fun art works via Gallery Justo / Giner (Marbella):

Lying Woman, 2012 by Hussein Madi – Mark Hachem Gallery (New York, Paris, Beirut):

08:01, 11:58, 11:11, 16:38 (2021) by Alesha Sultana via Experimenter Gallery (Kolkata):

JR au Louvre et le Secret de la Grande Pyramide, Diptyque © Pyramide, architecte I. M. Pei, museé du Louvre, Paris, France, 2019 – at Galerie Perrotin, Booth B7 (Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai):

JR’s stunning projects of the artistic transformation of Museé du Louvre in Paris from 2019, have been one of the most sought after artworks at Art Dubai 2021, this week, shown at Galerie Perrotin – which also had one of the most impressive booths, right at the entrance of the fair’s main event tent.

The 2021 edition of Art Dubai felt very relaxed, safe and pleasant, yet very inspiring. There was no stress. Everyone was happy. You could literally see the smiles in peoples eyes (behind their masks), which was a nice experience. The main focus has definitely lied on the art, this year, because due to the masks you could barely recognize the people around you, and social distancing was still in place – so you were less distracted from the happenings and you could really enjoy the art.

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