New Arts Center to Open in Dubai's Culture Village in 2018

Plans have been revealed for the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, a major new art institution that will showcase artists from the region and beyond.

Due to open in 2018, the Arts Centre will be located at the tip of Dubai's Culture Village, overlooking the Dubai Creek, where it will house more than 1,000 square meters of gallery space as well as a roof terrace, an outdoor sculpture area, a cafe, a restaurant and a bookshop.

Drawing from its own Jameel Art Collection, the venue will also present solo and group shows and undertake collaborations and partnerships with local, regional and international artists.

UK-based firm Serie is behind the new building, which was conceived as a series of boxes joined by a one-story-high waterfront colonnade. A series of courtyards located between the boxes and the colonnade offer spaces for visitors to rest in between galleries, while the colonnade itself serves as a social space meant to enliven the waterfront.

Each courtyard will be landscaped to represent a distinct desert environment, with rare plants sourced from around the world.

The non-profit contemporary art venue comes from Art Jameel, an organization supporting arts and heritage in the Middle East. In addition to announcing the new Arts Centre, Art Jameel also just announced a long-term partnership that will enable that museum to acquire works by modern and contemporary artists from the Middle East.

Ahead of the Jameel Arts Centre's opening, Art Jameel has opened a temporary Project Space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, whose inaugural exhibition features a five-channel video by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme.