Art Week Dubai 2012

Dubai for ten days (15 - 25 March 2012) will be the epicenter of Arts with the second edition of Art Week Dubai. Art Week includes Design Days Dubai, SIKKA and Art Dubai, with a broad range of cultural events across the UAE.

SIKKA is a showcase of emerging Emirati and local talent. A first of its kind initiative by Dubai Culture Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) it celebrates the artworks of Emirati and local artists at Al Bastakiya from March 15 - 25, 2012. Named after the alleyways in a neighborhood, SIKKA is the journey of undiscovered art, the physical route where many artistic inspirations will be showcased to challenge the routes of art and culture, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority introduced Sikka Art Fair to exhibit the advancement of Art in the UAE by providing a substantial platform for emerging artists. The Sikka Art Fair nurtures an appreciation for visual arts through hands-on workshops as well as the exchange of ideas through interactive sessions with renowned artists. Participating artists will be on-site supporting educational activities and tours for the public. The Sikka Art Fair is in line with Dubai Culture's mandate to create robust platforms that further strengthen Dubai's artistic infrastructure, build audiences and drive original content creation by inspiring the creative community.

On Monday, March 19th takes place the Dubai Galleries’ Night where more than 40 galleries across the city will be late-night open hosting new exhibitions and performances by locally-based musicians.

Design Days Dubai is entirely dedicated to collectible and limited edition furniture and objects, presented by a range of international and regional galleries. The pieces on show will be unique, giving visitors a chance to discover a universe of infinite creativity and craftsmanship. A series of public talks and workshops will take place, creating a space for people to share their ideas and their expertise, and engage in an inspirational and constructive exchange.

The sixth edition of Art Dubai takes place March 21-24, 2012, at Madinat Jumeirah, and features 75 galleries from 31 countries, in addition to a new programme of artists’ and curators’ residencies, commissioned projects, performative tours, workshops, the unveiling of the works by Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners and the critically acclaimed Global Art Forum. Art Dubai is part of Art Week, the umbrella initiative that includes Sikka Art Fair (organised by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and taking place in Al Bastakiya, March 15-25), Design Days Dubai, and a range of contemporary art and design events, major museum shows, and new gallery exhibitions and artists’ projects, taking place each March. Art Week positions the Gulf as a place of artistic production and home to multiple cultural centres.

A special event of the Art Dubai is the contribution of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain with the exhibition ‘Cartier Naturellement’ (as seen in the trailer above), a unique high jewellery creation never seen before in the region. Cartier has always been passionate about nature, and motifs derived from nature became a hallmark of the jeweller from the turn of the twentieth century. A dream of nature, the nature of a dream: Cartier captivates with its sumptuously beautiful, thrilling and wild pieces of jewellery.

‘Cartier Naturellement', imagined by the artist Christophe Ponceau, is inhabited by dazzling animals and flowers, where the rarest of substances are used to evoke fur, flowers, feathers and twinkling eyes. It is a magical menagerie and a conservatory of light, soothed by the regal song of a bird in rubies or sapphires, or by the exhilarating scent of an orchid whose heart lulls in the depths of white diamonds.

On this occasion, Cartier and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain present Aquarium, a mobile of precious stones by the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes, staged in this enchanted setting.

Internationally renowned for her paintings and collages, Beatriz Milhazes was commissioned by the Fondation Cartier to create an artwork inspired by Cartier’s collection of precious stones. She has imagined a singular work, a mobile made of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones.

Crafted by the Ateliers Cartier, Aquarium is both a unique installation and a work of jewellery of unexpected dimensions. Composed of 15 rods, with the longest measuring nearly two meters, Aquarium reinvents a new vocabulary, one made of XXL pearls, spheres, and precious discs. It is a veritable celestial and aquatic treasure, both imposing and light, intricate and overwhelming, inviting the spectator to contemplate an ideal purity.