Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority Announces Second Exhibition of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection: The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence will offer a transcultural perspective on art since the 1960s Exhibition: The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence Venue: Manarat Al Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates On View: March 8-July 29, 2017 (ABU DHABI, November 7, 2016)—Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) announced today the second exhibition of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi collection, The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence, at Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island. The exhibition, which will run from March 8, 2017, will bring together artists of different nationalities and generations who have emphasised performance, process, and human presence in their practice, offering a transcultural perspective on these defining aspects of contemporary art. The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence follows the 2014 exhibition Seeing Through Light: Selections from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection, which welcomed more than 90,000 visitors and presented artworks from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi collection for the first time. HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General of TCA Abu Dhabi, said: “Abu Dhabi has become a vibrant cultural destination through unique public engagement programmes establishing an interactive dialogue between Abu Dhabi and the world, and creating its own cultural characteristic around its urban and contemporary landscapes. The Creative Act exhibition will emphasise intertwined histories among countries, within regions, and across continents, consistent with the curatorial vision of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and echoing TCA Abu Dhabi’s strategic endeavours to transform Abu Dhabi to a hub for world cultures. This exhibition will highlight connections between contemporary artists revealing common sources of inspiration, lines of influence, and distinctive contributions.” Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation said: “As with Seeing Through Light, The Creative Act presents some of the dynamic, original curatorial research underway for the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and draws back the curtain on the creative process through the work of a diverse group of artists featured in the growing collection. Many works in the exhibition focus on particular locales, among them Abu Dhabi, London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Both individually and collectively, they reveal a sense of wonder and magic that can be found in the everyday.” The Creative Act exhibition will feature more than 25 works in a variety of media—installation, painting, photography, sculpture, video, and works on paper, representing more than 18 artists. The exhibition will focus on the related themes of performance, process, and presence, which frame the exhibition’s curatorial narrative: Performance Performances can unfold in a given time and place, remaining afterward as recordings and documentations, and they can serve primarily as the means for creating discrete objects. Since the 1960s, many artists have adopted performative practices, sometimes serving as the central protagonist and undertaking carefully choreographed or spontaneous actions, and other times functioning as directors by providing instructions to participants. These aspects will be explored in The Creative Act, through works by artists such as Rasheed Araeen and Mohammed Kazem. Process The exhibition will bring together artworks that emphasise the act of creation and will feature photographs, films, videos, and archival documentation that will animate the methodology, inspiration, and innovation of the included artists. Many of the artists stress the importance of process, producing works that reveal how they were made, that forefront materiality, and that allow for transformation over time or in response to viewer interaction. Their art and related archival materials will bring to life the dynamic working methods of artists such as Shiraga Kazuo and Tanaka Atsuko, who were associated with the Gutai Art Association (Japan, 1954–1972). The Creative Act also will feature another group of 1960s pioneers, among them Niki de Saint Phalle and Günther Uecker, who are known for their development of experimental approaches that involve the use of ostensibly destructive techniques and everyday materials to comment on contemporary society. The section will also feature an artwork by Anish Kapoor who is known for his large-scale geometric and biomorphic sculptures reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Presence The Creative Act also will delve into the theme of human presence, manifested by the appearance of the artist or others in the artworks as well as visible traces of the physical acts undertaken to realise them. Three immersive installations particularly exemplify this aspect. Works on paper and a video installation by Susan Hefuna examine similarities between the choreography of dance and people’s everyday movements as they traverse city streets. The Creative Act: Performance • Process • Presence is curated by Valerie Hillings, Ph.D., Curator and Manager, Curatorial Affairs, Abu Dhabi Project; Sasha Kalter-Wasserman, Assistant Curator, Abu Dhabi Project; with Sarah Dwider, Curatorial Assistant, Abu Dhabi Project, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; and Maisa Al Qassimi, Head of Programmes - Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, with Muneera Al Sayegh, Programmes Officer - Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. About Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority conserves and promotes the heritage and culture of Abu Dhabi emirate and leverages them in the development of a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction, which enriches the lives of visitors and residents alike. The authority manages the emirate’s tourism sector and markets the destination internationally through a wide range of activities aimed at attracting visitors and investment. Its policies, plans and programmes relate to the preservation of heritage and culture, including protecting archaeological and historical sites and to developing museums, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. TCA Abu Dhabi supports intellectual and artistic activities and cultural events to nurture a rich cultural environment and honour the emirate’s heritage. A key authority role is to create synergy in the destination’s development through close co-ordination with its wide-ranging stakeholder base. http://tcaabudhabi.ae/en About Guggenheim Abu Dhabi The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi museum will promote the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art, architecture, and other manifestations of modern and contemporary visual culture from an international perspective. A curatorial programme with a transcultural perspective on art and visual culture from the 1960s to the present will have a strong focus on art from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia, exploring the specific identity derived from the cultural traditions of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. The future museum, and its growing collection, is owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi. Surrounded almost entirely by water, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will have spectacular views of the Saadiyat Cultural District and the Arabian Gulf. Galleries, many unprecedented in scale, are distributed around the central atrium on four levels connected by glass bridges above. Open to the elements, the museum cones housing contemporary art commissions, recall the region’s ancient wind-towers, which both ventilate and shade the exterior courtyards in a fitting blend of Arabian tradition and modern design. The museum will also feature a 350-seat theatre, education workshops and classrooms, an onsite conservation lab, as well as a retail store, cafes, and a restaurant. The museum will be a catalyst for scholarship in a variety of fields, chief among them the history of art from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries. A dynamic programme of changing exhibitions will explore common themes and affinities among the work of artists across time and geography. An ambitious programme of commissions created for the collection and exceptional spaces of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will reinforce the museum's commitment to working with artists and the art of our time. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is being developed in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has since expanded to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (opened 1997), and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (currently in development). The Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international collaborations that celebrate contemporary art, architecture, and design within and beyond the walls of the museum, including the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative. More information about the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation can be found at guggenheim.org. #1447 November 7, 2016 Media Contacts Amna Sakher Saif TCA Abu Dhabu 971 2 599 5809 [email protected] Tina Vaz Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation 1 212 423 3840 [email protected] .