Art & Culture

Everything You Need to Know About the Inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi

BYKhaoula Ghanem

September 7, 2026

For almost two decades, November in Abu Dhabi has meant Abu Dhabi Art. This year, visitors arriving at Manarat Al Saadiyat will find something different waiting for them. The fair has a new name, a significantly expanded international profile and, for the first time, one of the biggest brands in the global art market behind it. From Nov. 19 to 22, Abu Dhabi Art officially becomes Frieze Abu Dhabi, marking Frieze’s first fair in West Asia and the beginning of a new chapter for an event that has spent 17 years building a collector base and art community in the UAE. The inaugural edition will bring together 84 galleries from 64 cities across 37 countries and regions, spanning everything from antiquities and rare manuscripts to major 20th-century names and contemporary artists working today.

So, while the Frieze name may be new, this isn’t exactly a fair being built from scratch. Abu Dhabi Art’s longtime director Dyala Nusseibeh remains at the helm, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi remains a partner and Manarat Al Saadiyat remains its home. Several longtime regional exhibitors are returning too.

More than 60 galleries from 56 cities and 32 countries and regions will participate in the main Galleries section, with works dating from the mid-20th century through today. Some of the UAE’s most established galleries are represented, including Carbon 12, Lawrie Shabibi, The Third Line, Tabari Artspace, Green Art Gallery, Gallery Isabelle, and Iris Projects. Saudi Arabia is represented by Athr and Hafez Gallery, while Lebanon brings Saleh Barakat Gallery, Mark Hachem, and Galerie Tanit. Tehran’s Dastan and Istanbul galleries BüroSarıgedik and Galerist are also among the participants.

North Africa has an especially strong presence. Tunisia alone sends A.Gorgi Gallery, Elmarsa Gallery, Selma Feriani, and Le Violon Bleu Gallery, joined by Cairo’s Gypsum and ArtTalks | Kanafani Gallery and Casablanca’s Loft Art Gallery. South Asia is similarly prominent, with Indian galleries Experimenter, Galerie Isa, Jhaveri Contemporary, Nature Morte, and Project 88 among those taking part.

One of the questions surrounding Frieze’s arrival was whether a major international fair operator might gradually dilute what made Abu Dhabi Art distinctive in the first place. At least from the inaugural exhibitor list, Frieze appears to be doing the opposite: keeping West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia at the center while using its name to bring in galleries that previously had less of a presence at the Abu Dhabi fair.

That includes some serious art-world heavyweights. Gagosian, Pace Gallery, Perrotin, Thaddaeus Ropac, Victoria Miro, and Vito Schnabel Gallery are all participating. London has an especially sizeable contingent, with Ab-Anbar, Pi Artworks, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Timothy Taylor, Vigo Gallery, Voena, and Waddington Custot joining Ropac and Victoria Miro. There are galleries coming from Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, alongside Johyun Gallery from Busan, Pearl Lam Projects from Shanghai, Gajah Gallery from Singapore, Rossi & Rossi and Hanart TZ Gallery from Hong Kong, Proyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala City, and kó from Lagos.

Several booths will be devoted to individual artists, and the list stretches across generations and geographies. Established regional figures including Sudanese modernist Ibrahim El-Salahi, Iranian artist Farideh Lashai, Saudi pioneer Mounirah Mosly, and Egyptian surrealist Samir Rafi will receive solo presentations, alongside internationally recognized artists such as Emily Kam Kngwarray, Francesco Clemente, and Sheila Hicks. A younger generation comes through names including Chonon Bensho, Tahir Karmali, and Marigold Santos.

Female artists also have a notable presence across the main fair. Richard Saltoun Gallery will show Juliana Seraphim, Bertina Lopes, Everlyn Nicodemus, and Rina Banerjee; Pi Artworks is bringing work by Susan Hefuna, Gülay Semercioğlu, and Nancy Atakan; Lawrie Shabibi will present Hamra Abbas and Emirati artist Shaikha Al Mazrou; while Waddington Custot’s presentation includes Etel Adnan, Sophia Vari, and Fabienne Verdier.

Frieze Masters Comes to Abu Dhabi

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi, curated by independent curator Marika Sardar. Rather than limiting the fair to modern and contemporary art, the section pushes its timeline considerably further back, presenting objects and artifacts dating from antiquity through the early 20th century.

For its first edition, Sardar has organized the section around the Indian Ocean and the centuries of movement that took place across it. Trade, migration, collecting and intellectual exchange become a way of connecting West Asia with East Africa, South Asia and other regions that have historically been treated as separate chapters of art history.

The section will also make Frieze Abu Dhabi considerably broader than your standard contemporary art fair. Specialists including ArtAncient, David Aaron, Daniel Crouch Rare Books, Peter Finer, Eqtna Rare Books, Peter Harrington, Antiquariaat Forum, and Inlibris Rare Books & Manuscripts will bring antiquities, manuscripts, rare books, maps, and other historical material into the mix.

Global Futures Looks at the Region From the Present

At the opposite end of the timeline is Global Futures, curated by independent curator and writer Tarini Malik. The section consists of solo presentations by artists whose practices engage with histories and ideas connected to the UAE and the wider region, without restricting participation to artists who were born or live here.

Among them is Jordanian artist Ala Younis, presented by Taymour Grahne Projects; Emirati artist Abdullah Al Saadi with Aisha Alabbar Gallery; Tania Candiani with Vermelho; Palestinian artist Mohammed Joha with Zawyeh Gallery; Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai with Chatterjee & Lal; and Seta Manoukian with Beirut gallery Marfa’.

Focus Puts Smaller Galleries on the Same Floor

Another familiar Frieze format making its Abu Dhabi debut is Focus, the fair’s section for younger galleries and experimental solo or dual-artist presentations. Frieze is offering bursaries to participating Focus galleries, lowering some of the financial barrier that comes with showing at an international fair.

The early lineup includes New York’s Management presenting new textile and installation works by Kenyan-born artist Tahir Karmali, whose practice examines migration and systems of exploitation. Solo will present Vietnamese artist Thuy Tien Nguyen, including automated music-box sculptures that reference furnishings from the Independence Palace of the former Republic of Vietnam. Other presentations include Chonon Bensho with W-galería, Marigold Santos with Patel Brown, Jawad Al Malhi with Iyad Qanazea Gallery and Dala Nasser with Commonwealth and Council.

There Is Plenty Happening Beyond the Booths

Frieze Abu Dhabi will extend beyond buying and selling art. The first edition will introduce the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award, although further details on its inaugural recipient and resulting project have yet to be announced.

Frieze Sculpture will also make its Abu Dhabi debut, bringing large-scale work beyond the traditional gallery-booth format, while a new annual initiative titled In Dialogue will pair an established UAE artist with an emerging one. A talks program will run alongside the fair, covering collecting, artistic practice and the changing institutional landscape.

Deutsche Bank, Frieze’s global lead partner, will meanwhile present an installation by UAE artist Omar Al Gurg in its fair lounge. Al Gurg’s practice examines overlooked narratives and environmental change, adding another locally based artist to the program.

Perhaps more important than any individual booth, however, is where all of this is happening. Manarat Al Saadiyat now sits within a cultural district that looks very different from the one Abu Dhabi Art entered 17 years ago. Louvre Abu Dhabi is firmly established, Zayed National Museum is part of the district’s expanding institutional landscape, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is still forthcoming. Frieze is therefore arriving at a point when years of cultural investment are beginning to coalesce into something much larger.

For decades, much of the international art calendar has required artists, galleries and collectors from this part of the world to travel to established centers in Europe and North America. Frieze Abu Dhabi reverses some of that traffic, asking Gagosian, Pace, Ropac, Perrotin, Victoria Miro and dozens of others to come here instead.

Main image: Hassan Sharif, Slippers, 2016 (Detail). Courtesy of the Estate of Hassan Sharif and Gallery Isabelle, Dubai

Everything You Need to Know About the Inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi

Frieze Masters Comes to Abu Dhabi

Global Futures Looks at the Region From the Present

Focus Puts Smaller Galleries on the Same Floor

There Is Plenty Happening Beyond the Booths

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