ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi Festival 2018 (ADF18) launched its diverse Visual Arts Programme with the inauguration of a landmark exhibition on Feb.1, in the presence of Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Tolerance, Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder, Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) and Founder and Artistic Director of Abu Dhabi Festival, and Antonio Alvarez Barthe, Ambassador of Spain to the United Arab Emirates alongside Ainhoa Grandes, President of MACBA Foundation. From Barcelona to Abu Dhabi – Works from the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) in dialogue with the Emirates, features pioneering works and artforms from the 20th and 21st centuries – presented in the Arab world for the very first time – exploring the universal themes of our common human existence.

The exhibition showcases works by 70 artists, over nine decades from MACBA, including 20 Emiratis, brought together in a pioneering exhibition curated by MACBA’s Director, Ferran Barenblit, in partnership with co-curator Nasser Abdullah, Chairman of the Emirates Fine Arts Society. The exhibition is open to the public until March 17, hosted at Manarat al Saadiyat.

Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder of ADMAF and Artistic Director of ADF, said: “Art and culture build a bridge towards openness, tolerance and understanding. Through creative expression, artists claim and shape spaces of beauty where ideas converge and minds intertwine; in these spaces of contemplation and expression, we encounter ourselves and others. Dialogue is the very essence of cultural diplomacy. This dialogue between artists and cultures requires both expression and understanding: we celebrate our own cultural identity as we encounter, listen to and hear others. It is only through such exchange that awareness, appreciation and knowledge grows. As the UAE’s cultural renaissance continues, our development depends on this openness. As we listen, expression strengthens, as we express ourselves, we draw closer to others.”

Ainhoa Grandes, President of MACBA said: “The dialogue offered by this exhibition expresses the importance of expanding the knowledge of our worlds, of the East and the West, of working together to bring art closer to broad audiences.”

The exhibition features artworks by some of the most prominent artists of the modern and contemporary eras, including Alexander Calder, Sol LeWitt, Anthony McCall, Lawrence Weiner, Piero Manzoni and Antoni Tàpies, in dialogue with artworks by pioneers of UAE contemporary practice, including Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Kazem and Ebtisam Abdul Aziz. The artworks on display are united by their exploration of the questions that define us: What makes us human? Where and how do we live? What is art?

Antonio Alvarez Barthe, Ambassador of Spain to the United Arab Emirates said: “It is only natural that the MACBA has chosen Abu Dhabi as the venue for its first major exhibition in the Arab world. The masterpieces from MACBA’s permanent collection will be greeted by the works of 20 contemporary Emirati artists, thus establishing a dialogue that will renew and deepen the ties between Spain and the UAE, between the Western and the Arab world.”

Inviting visitors to embark on a journey to explore the role of art in contemporaneity, From Barcelona to Abu Dhabi features artworks across diverse media: film, sculpture, painting, installation, drawing, photography, light works and conceptual pieces. The exhibition brings together universal themes that explore our human and social condition, through significant artworks across continents, decades, schools of thought and artistic movements of the last ninety years.