THE ART CIRCLE
دائرة الفن
NEWSLETTER
JANUARY
MARCH
2025
Letter from Barbara Farahnick-Mathonet, Founder & President
Dear Art Circle Members,
As we approach the end of the year, my thoughts are with those affected by the conflicts and hardships that have deeply impacted lives across the Middle East and beyond. These challenges weigh heavily on all of us, especially as our own community is made up of members from diverse nationalities and backgrounds. This diversity is one of our greatest strengths. In moments of division, art stands as a universal platform—a space for dialogue, healing, and mutual understanding that transcends borders and brings us closer together.
MEMBERS GET TOGETHER
9th January 2025
Time: tba
Our dear member Sophie Verschuur, wife of the Italian Ambassador to the UAE, will lavishly open the doors of her residence in Abu Dhabi for an informal gathering of TAC members, a perfect opportunity to mingle and get to know the new members. TAC activities for 2025 will be launched.
So much looking forward to a great start of a colorful season!
ZINA KHAIR COLLECTION
23rd January 2025
Private home visit
THE SUBLIME NATURE OF BEING
23rd January 2025
Private visit
MARRAKECH
29th January - 3rd February 2025
Art trip
A long awaited trip to attend 1-54 Marrakesh edition with its packed VIP program and a lineup of exciting events.
Founded in 2013 by Touria El Glaoui, 1-54 is the first and only international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora.
PUBLIC ART BIENNALE
12th February 2025
time: tba
guided tour
The first edition of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial brings together art installations and performances by more than 70 UAE-based and international artists creating site-specific installations in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in response to the Biennial theme, ‘Public Matter’.
SHARJAH BIENNIAL 16: TO CARRY
18th - 19th February 2025
Exact Program details to follow
An exciting two days trip to Sharjah to discover what the 16th edition of the biennial has to offer this year.
Titled “to carry,” it is curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala, and Zeynep Öz. The theme is meant to be “an open-ended proposition,” allowing artists to examine the various burdens, legacies, and experiences that people and societies have carried throughout history, particularly addressing themes of identity, migration, and collective memory.
“The constellation of diverse methodologies that the five curators have gathered offers audiences the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking dialogues bridging the local context with global narratives about identity, movement, change, and collectivity,” said Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of Sharjah Art Foundation. “By centering the act of carrying, Sharjah Biennial 16 offers a space for imagining new collective futures while recognizing the weight of shared histories and experiences.”
A DAY IN ALSERKAL
12th March 2025
Details to follow
Art Paris returns to the Grand Palais even bigger and better than before
Art Paris 2025 – 27th edition – 3-6 April 2025 – Grand Palais
From 3 to 6 April 2025, Art Paris, the leading spring event for modern and contemporary art, is back with a bang at the Grand Palais, whose entirely renovated nave and balcony spaces will allow the fair to host 170 exhibitors from 25 different countries (34 more than in 2024). At this edition, the fair’s events programme will be even more ambitious with new themes, exhibitions, prizes and panel discussions.
Saudi American artist Sarah Brahim and French artist Ugo Schiavi present the results of their collaborative project, NEUMA, The Forgotten Ceremony. Imagined as a symbolic gesture paying tribute to the ritual practices of the pre-Islamic tribes of AlUla, this installation by Brahim et Schiavi is the result of in-depth research carried out in close collaboration with archaeologists and local communities across the region. Drawing inspiration from the landscape of AlUla, its mythology and heritage, this exhibition fosters a contemplative mood by subtly blending contemporary creation, elements of the site’s ancient history, as well as secular and sacred elements across an ensemble of sculptures, videos and photographic creations.
Niharika Anand Kapur joined Sotheby’s India in March 2016, where she helped expand the auction house’s business in the country. Before her time there, she worked in the London office’s valuations department, contributing to reports for the Duchess of Devonshire’s collection. “The items offered from the Chatsworth Estate achieved a sale of £1.78 million,” she recalled, describing the “unforgettable” energy of auction days.
Letter from our member Carole Nona
In an era of cruelty and injustice, Art can often appear superfluously worldly, trivial and futile.
One might ask, as an observer: What is the point of standing in front of a canvas, looking at its colours and textures, while children are being murdered by missiles or by hunger?
Or as an artist: What is the point of my brush strokes while civilians are being butchered?
CAROLE NONA
Member of the Art Circle