Frieze Abu Dhabi has unveiled the full programme for its inaugural edition, set to run from November 19 to 22 at Manarat Al Saadiyat, bringing together more than 80 galleries from 36 countries and territories.
Running alongside the main fair, Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi will present outdoor works at Mamsha Beach from November 16 to December 16, featuring pieces by Zeinab Alhashemi, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Imran Qureshi and Kamran Samimi.
At the centre of the fair sits a new commission by Lebanese artist Dala Nasser, titled Qubbat Duris. Born in Tyre in 1990 and now based between Beirut and London, Nasser is the first recipient of the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award. Her installation is a timber framework inspired by a 13th-century Lebanese monument, combining textile paintings, charcoal rubbings and natural materials such as ash and clay.
Emirati artists Mohammed Kazem and Alia Zaal also feature in the programme. Fair director Dyala Nusseibeh is leading the event alongside a curatorial team including Nabila Abdel Nabi, Munira Al Sayegh, Hessa Al Nuaimi and Dania Al Tamimi. A talks programme will bring in speakers such as Michael Govan, Eugene Tan, Kate Fowle and Claudia Segura.
Organisers describe the fair as a step toward positioning Abu Dhabi as a new hub on the contemporary art map of West Asia and North Africa, aiming to build bridges between regional and international artists. The choice of Nasser's commission, rooted in a historic Lebanese structure yet built from fragile, weathered materials, reflects the fair's stated ambition to foreground artists engaging with memory, displacement and regional heritage rather than purely commercial market darlings.