Dubai is one of the world’s leading cities in terms of digital innovation—with state-led strategies around the integration of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrencies and the metaverse. But does the art scene in the emirate reflect the same futuristic focus? In 2022, Art Dubai—the Middle East's leading international art fair—launched Art Dubai Digital, a curated section of the fair dedicated to pioneering artists, collectives, galleries and platforms. This first episode of The Art Newspaper In Focus, in partnership with Art Dubai, explores Dubai’s creative and technological scene to find out what inspired this digital art focus at the fair and ask: is Dubai becoming a global hub for digital art?
Art Dubai’s artistic director Pablo del Val joins art writer and editor Aimee Dawson, the episode host, to delve into the city of Dubai itself and discuss how the fair has been changing each year as the digital art scene has been rapidly developing.
With galleries also riding the waves of changes in the digital space, Mila Askarova, the founder of London- and Baku-based Gazelli Art House, shares insights into running GAZELL.iO, the digital arm of the gallery that is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
And finally BREAKFAST, a Brooklyn-based artist known for using real-time data from the natural world to create digitally controlled kinetic artworks, shares how and why he makes his works; his experiences of exhibiting in Dubai; and his giant climate change-themed sculpture for Art Dubai Digital 2025, titled Carbon Wake.
• Art Dubai, 18 - 20 April, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai