On 20 March 2023, the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) launched Public Art Abu Dhabi, an initiative that aims to integrate the emirate’s cultural heritage into society and contribute to the conservation of the emirate’s major architectural and urban spaces. The same day, a truly mesmerising public artwork was presented to the audience. Collaborating with DCT Abu Dhabi, d’strict, an art collective based in Seoul, South Korea, has brought its most famous art piece titled WAVE to the UAE. It will be on view at Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation until 20 March 2024.
A digital media artwork striking a viewer’s imagination, WAVE is a 2D installation that debuted at COEX K-Pop Square, Seoul, in 2020. It displays a huge 3D wave constantly surging inside a large LED screen: an outdoor billboard. Using the anamorphic effect (when one has to view a space from a particular vantage point to properly see an image, otherwise it appears distorted), d’strict has made its WAVE look like a real water mass contained in a gigantic aquarium and ready to crash the glass and spill over. “It is particularly meaningful to showcase WAVE, a work based on water, in […] a desert city,” Sean Lee, CEO of d’strict, says. “[…] We hope that WAVE will […] bring comfort and solace to the citizens of Abu Dhabi.”
The Public Art Abu Dhabi program consists of three long-term parts which contribute to the city’s cultural landscape. The Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial planned to be held in November 2024 will be curated by Reem Fadda, Director of the Cultural Foundation and Abu Dhabi Cultural Programmes, and Galit Eilat, an independent curator and writer. The second part of the initiative is Manar Abu Dhabi which is to open in November 2023. It will be a platform showcasing immersive light art sculptures and installations in Abu Dhabi’s archipelagos and mangroves. Linking different islands, it will celebrate the emirate’s beautiful nature.
The third part of the Public Art Abu Dhabi program is a series of yearly direct commissions to enrich the emirate’s various public spaces (tunnels, bridges, parks, etc.). Engaging artists to create significant permanent or temporary contributions and this way enhance the public’s daily life, the commissioned works will be inspired by the UAE capital’s distinctive traits and highlight its modern heritage and nature.
To get more information about the program, please visit its official webpage.
You might also be interested in learning about the Dubai Public Art project and Public Art Strategy.
To stay tuned and be sure that you will not miss our latest art news, you can join our Telegram channel.
