Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Bassam Freiha Art Foundation (BFAF) is ushering in a new season with a dynamic programme of new exhibitions.
The Saadiyat Island-based private gallery, founded by philanthropist and art collector Bassam Freiha, is unveiling four new collections that combine history, contemporary voices and leading modern Arab artists.
Each exhibition will be accompanied by a revolving programme of community events, art workshops and interactive art experiences.
Main Gallery Highlights:
Nja Mahdaoui: the Choreographer of Letters
October 24 - January 25
This landmark exhibition explores the work of Tunisian multimedia artist Nja Mahdaoui, one of the most influential figures in Arab modern art.
Co-curated by Dr Michaela Watrelot, head curator and director of exhibitions at Bassam Freiha Art Foundation and Nja Mahdaoui’s daughter, Molka Mahdaoui, this focused retrospective surveys over six decades of practice by the Tunisian master who transcends Arabic calligraphy into a visual and abstract contemporary art form.
The exhibition bridges both tradition and modernity and explores how Mahdaoui’s calligraphic abstraction has shaped global perceptions of Arab art.
Drawing on identity and heritage, it celebrates Mahdaoui’s enduring legacy.
“Internationally renowned as a ‘choreographer of letters,’ Mahdaoui is widely recognised for his pioneering role in the development of calligraphic abstraction, freeing the letter from its linguistic constraints, to reveal its endless creative potential,” said Dr Michaela Watrelot.
“As one of the leading modern Arab artists, it is an honour to bring his retrospective to Saadiyat Island to celebrate his artistic legacy, and cement our commitment to giving local audiences access to private art collections, with this collection from the Nja Mahdaoui Foundation. This is an unmissable exhibition for anyone interested in the MENA region’s culture and heritage.”
Molka Mahdaoui added, “The Nja Mahdaoui Foundation is truly honoured to collaborate with the esteemed Bassam Freiha Art Foundation on an exhibition celebrating both Mahdaoui’s remarkable 60-year artistic journey and his long-standing connection with the UAE. Especially as the exhibition, presented in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s cultural district, is designed to coincide with the launch of the first-ever catalogue raisonné project dedicated to a Tunisian artist, to be published by Rizzoli.”
Constructing the Orient: Fragments of a Western Dream
October 24 – May 31
Drawn from the private collection of Freiha and key loans from the Ary Jan Gallery, this exhibition of Orientalist works includes outstanding paintings by Jean-Léon Gérôme, one of the most celebrated Orientalist artists of the 19th century.
The exhibition unfolds across five thematic sections, each focusing on a central motif within Orientalist visual language and examining how artists shaped their subjects into recurring archetypes.
From imagined interiors and bustling marketplaces to archetypes of men and women, the works on view invite audiences to reflect on how the “Orient” was constructed through Western eyes and how these images continue to shape perceptions today.
Annex Gallery Highlights
The Art Circle Award: Story of a Dot
November 3-12
Hosted in collaboration with The Art Circle, the fifth edition of the annual awards takes inspiration from Bauhaus principles and Arab modernism, inviting artists to explore the transformative power of the dot.
The group exhibition will showcase finalists alongside previous winners, underscoring the award’s important role in nurturing regional talent.
The Shape of Meaning - Al Burda Exhibition
November 18 - January 25
In response to Nja Mahdaoui’s retrospective taking place in the main gallery, this exhibition presents loans from the Ministry of Culture, UAE’s Al Burda exhibition from 2008 to 2023, an annual exhibition where contemporary artists engage with the cultural and semantic power of the written word while experimenting with form and medium.
This exhibition stages a dialogue between calligraphy as an abstract form and as a linguistic tradition, showing how artists today both inherit and reinvent tradition.
