Art Travel Experts AN INSIDER’S CULTURAL IMMERSION TO THE MIDDLE EAST January 22 - 29, 2019 Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharjah +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com OVERVIEW Join us on an incredible and unforgettable insider’s journey to the Middle East to explore the arts, heritage and culture in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. This 7-day cultural immersion begins in Dubai, with an exclusive visit to the city and the 13th edition of the Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) putting a spotlight on artists from Asia and the Middle East. Our host Leeza Ahmady (Curator-Director of ACAW) will give you an insider’s look to the region’s foremost creative hub and cultural destination, such as curator-led tours on Alserkal Avenue and studio visits. Paris born and Dubai-based, Cyril Zammit (Founder of Dubai Design Days and Dubai Design Week) – a specialist of contemporary design, leads us on a private tour through the thriving Design District followed by a welcoming lunch. +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com As a global metropolis that is a crossroads for multiple regions and home to a number of expatriates, Dubai yields a special opportunity for ACAW to fulfill its longstanding commitment to promoting a more robust future for inner-Asia collaborations, particularly between the artistic communities of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the MENASA regions. – Leeza Ahmady You will get an intimate look inside top art collectors’ homes, gaining insight into their collecting visions, as well as visiting the studios of established artists, behind-the-scenes tours by galleries such as Third Line Gallery. Venture into an archeological site, a preserved historical city and the desert experience with local native experts. Certainly, our art trip to the UAE must include a VIP tour of Sharjah, recognized as the UNESCO cultural capital of the Arab World, as well as presenting its renowned Sharjah Biennial. +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com With special welcoming from the Department of Tourism and Culture, our guests will have privileged access to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. An interesting contrast to its glitzy neighbor Dubai, Abu Dhabi has a lot to offer to art and culture aficionados including the architectural jewel, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (third largest mosque in the world and home to the world’s largest Swarovski crystal chandelier). Guests will have an exclusive private tour of the Louvre Abu Dhabi led by a Curator with special welcoming by the museum team. Abu Dhabi has come a long way since its humble village beginnings and is fast becoming the hottest cultural hub of the UAE for its eco, art and sporting credentials. Mingle with the team behind Abu Dhabi Art, a platform for contemporary art, over a special meal hosted by the fair. Expect to be immersed in a bespoke insightful journey of art, architecture, culture, gastronomy, and history that makes the Middle East such a vibrant and unique destination. +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS • Get up close with Arab artists with our specialist-led tours and • VIP day trip to Sharjah – a top contemporary art destination in the studio visits region • Curator-Director of ACAW, Leeza Ahmady gives us an insider’s • Dubai architecture and heritage specialist-led tours, including tour to the art weekend in Dubai visit to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building and Hatta • Private VIP events and tour of ACAW in the new “Concrete” Heritage Village, among others cultural complex on Alserkal Avenue • Expert-guided visit to Al Ain, an oasis archeological site and • Enjoy intimate dinners and cocktails with the movers and preserved city shakers of the regions • Dinner, stargazing and belly dancing in the desert in Abu Dhabi • Private collection visits • Night safari nocturnal tour or cocktail river cruise in Dubai • Private tour and lunch with the founder of Design District and • Camel Racing Club (optional activity) Design Days • Experience falconry in Abu Dhabi • Louvre Abu Dhabi specialist-led private tour and refreshments • Optional activities such as calligraphy workshop with a master • Curagenda introduces you to key influencers • Discover local design shops and fashion designers +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com ABOUT: ART EVENTS ASIA CONTEMPORARY ART WEEK (ACAW) is a dynamic platform that brings together leading New York and Asia-based art institutions, museums and galleries to present the largest showcase of cutting-edge exhibitions, innovative projects, provocative dialogues on current topics, and networking opportunities. The first edition of Asian Contemporary Art Week was launched in 2002, presenting the first ever symposium in the United States dedicated to addressing contemporary art and experiences of modernity in Asia. The 13th edition of Presenting Artists & Professionals: ACAW expands to a full season with exhibitions, public programs Amina Ahmed (New York, Tehran & London), Khadim Ali (Sydney & Kabul), Stephanie Bailey (Hong Kong, London & Athens), Burcak Bingol (Istanbul), Bingyi (Beijing), Heman Chong and festivities at leading Consortium Partner museums & galleries (Singapore), Zheng Chongbin (San Francisco & Shanghai), Lara Day & Pi Li (Hong Kong), citywide. FIELD MEETING Take 6: Thinking Collections, Alexis Destoop (Sydney & Brussels), Arahmaiani Feisal (Yogyakarta, Bandung & Tibet), Wang premiering for the first time offsite, will be hosted at Alserkal Haiyang (Shanghai), Nadira Husain (Berlin), Hasanul Isyraf Idris (Kuala Lumpur), Ranbir Kaleka Avenue in Dubai. (New Delhi), Anthony Lee (New York), ST Luk (New York & Tokyo), Bahman Mohammadi (Tehran), Francesca Recchia (Kabul), Chen Ronghui (Shanghai), Bassem Sadr & Edwin Nasr More about ACAW: http://www.acaw.info (Beirut), Sam Samiee (Tehran), Zolaykha Sherzad (Kabul & New York), Sandra Skurvida & Natasha Degen (New York) Ali Wong (Hong Kong & New York), Gao Yuan (Shanghai) & more to be confirmed! +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS Leeza Ahmady Cyril Zammit Paris born and Dubai-based, Cyril Zammit started his career in 1991 at the Institut Français in Prague, Curator and Director of ACAW, Dubai Host before relocating to London, to the Cultural department of the French Embassy. In 1998, Cyril moved to Born and raised in Afghanistan, Leeza Ahmady is an independent curator noted for her foundational Switzerland, to manage the sponsorship for Montreux Jazz Festival, then managed the launch of the UBS research concerning the largely unknown artists of Central Asia. Since 2005, she has led Asia Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra, in addition to the sponsorship of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach as Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), connecting leading New York and Asia-based institutions in the part of the UBS International Sponsorship team. In 2005, Cyril joined HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), as presentation of over 2,000 artists in 9 editions. In addition, she has staged the works of 200 diverse Marketing & Communications Senior Manager, where he signed and managed the sponsorship of Design creative minds in ACAW’s acclaimed annual forum FIELD MEETING, hosted at prominent venues such as Miami/ & Design Miami/Basel until June 2009, until later in the year, when he joined the cultural the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asia Society, Performa, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and SVA department of Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), Abu Dhabi, as Senior Sponsorship & Theatre. Ahmady was a member of the Agents/Curatorial Team for dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany Funding Manager. and Kabul, Afghanistan (2010-2013) and has presented numerous exhibitions, workshops, public programs and lectures across local and international venues, including The Museum of Modern Art, In 2011, Cyril Zammit created the first fair entirely dedicated to collectible and limited edition design in the Independent Curators International, Queens Museum, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Venice Biennial Middle East and South Asia, which launched as Design Days Dubai in 2012. In 2015, he launched Dubai and Istanbul Biennial, The New Museum, Smithsonian Freer Gallery, Art Basel Hong Kong, Sharjah Art Design Week giving this new event a distinctive identity with original content and international Foundation, among many others. connections with other design weeks, regional and local designers and design institutions. +1 917 727 1972 | [email protected] | curagenda.com PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS Hesam Rahmanian and brothers Dr. Michele Bambling Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh Curator, Author, Historian Artists Dr. Michele Bambling is Creative Director of the Lest We Forget initiative recently launched under the Located on a sleepy, residential street in the al-Barsha neighborhood in Dubai, the tan-colored villa that auspices of the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. She received a Ph.D. from Columbia University houses the living and working spaces of Hesam Rahmanian and brothers Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh— in art history and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. long-time friends since their childhood in Iran—appears unassuming. Once inside, however, it becomes Bambling also taught art history and museum studies at Zayed University and other institutions in Abu apparent that this understated exterior is the literal and proverbial entryway into the fascinating life of Dhabi, where she has resided for the past seven years. three illustrious yet private artists, who have called the city their