São Paulo – This year’s edition of Art Dubai, the main art exhibition of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, will have an exhibition area totally devoted to Latin America and its connections with the Arab world. The space, called Marker, has the curatorship of Brazilian Luiza Teixeira de Freitas. The event will be held March 18th to 21th, in the United Arab Emirates.
“The idea set for Marker 2015 is to try being the most abstract possible in the connections made between the Middle East and Latin America. The important thing is that the similarities, bridges and breaking points show up in different ways for each person”, explained Freitas in an interview by e-mail to ANBA, about the exhibition’s concept.
“When focusing in different disciplines: sound art, video art, performances, publishing and, finally, a small exhibition, the goal is to bring relevant projects and give a sample of what’s currently being produced in Latin America”, says the curator.
Visitors of the Marker will find paintings, drawings and sculptures from various Latin-American artists. The exhibition also has a partnership to display books from the São Paulo publishing company Tijuana and from the Dubai-based The State, with works from independent authors. The video section will have productions from Videobrasil, an organization based in São Paulo.
The sounds produced by Mexican artist Mario Garcia Torres will be heard in chairs specially designed by Argentinian Nicolás Robbio. The performances by Maria José Arjona, from Colombia, will be at the Marker, which will also bring works from Novo Museu Energia de Arte Contemporânea (La Ene), from Buenos Aires.
To Freitas, the large Arab communities in Latin America countries influenced local cultures and societies, creating important links between the two regions, but ones that still need to be expanded. “Concerning the several arts, I positively think there are several bridges established, but in the particular case of contemporary art there still a long way to go. In truth, they’re almost opposite sides of the globe”, she assess.
The curator states that the important thing is for each person visiting the exhibition to be able to point out their own identification points between the Latin and Arab cultures. “However, we can say, for sure, that there are convergence points: political issues, architectural, cultural and even physical factors, such as meteorology, social habits or even the positive feeling that one feel in both regions”, she points out.
Of Lebanese descent, Freitas had already participated in Art Dubai in 2013 and was assistant curator of the Marrakech Biennale in Morocco, in 2009. Born in Rio de Janeiro, she also travelled to Syria and Lebanon, always keeping in touch with art galleries, curators and projects in the region.
In its ninth edition, Art Dubai will present works from 90 galleries from the UAE and other countries. The exhibition is divided in three different programs: Contemporary, Modern and Marker, which focus, each year, in a specific region or theme.
More information about the Marker 2015 at http://artdubai.ae/marker/2015
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
