Frieze Expands to Abu Dhabi as the Gulf’s Cultural Ambitions Accelerate

The global art world’s pilgrimage toward the Gulf continues! No sooner had the ceasefire agreement and Art Basel Qatar’s roster of 87 galleries been announced than Frieze made its countermove, revealing plans for a new Abu Dhabi edition in 2026. For months, whispers swirled that Art Basel was courting Abu Dhabi Art Fair—until its union with Qatar rendered that bit of intel moot. Frieze, ever attuned to timing and terrain, seized the opening, signing a partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi to secure an outpost in the region.

H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi, described Frieze Abu Dhabi as the evolution of a nearly two-decade journey in which Abu Dhabi Art Fair has helped anchor and foster the city’s growing cultural ecosystem. “It is rooted in the achievements of Abu Dhabi Art and will carry them onto the global stage, reinforcing the emirate’s position as a cultural capital while offering Frieze a unique gateway to the region,” he said in a statement. “Combined with the reach of Frieze’s global platform, we can amplify the emirate’s achievements while opening new possibilities for discovery, championing artistic practices from the region, and shaping the fair as a space for conversation and exchange,” added Frieze CEO Simon Fox.

In 2025, Abu Dhabi Art Fair will host its 17th edition as scheduled between November 18 and 21, with more than 140 galleries. The partnership and new name will take full effect with next year’s edition, to be held in November 2026 at Manarat Al Saadiyat.

Although most galleries in the U.A.E. are concentrated around Dubai, Abu Dhabi has been positioning itself as the country’s true cultural capital, with a growing number of museums and institutions already open or under construction—including the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi (which opened in 2016) and the NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery (which opened in 2014). Set to open this December is the highly anticipated Zayed National Museum, a landmark dedicated to the U.A.E.’s history, culture and stories—narratives deeply intertwined with those of its neighbors and shaped by centuries of exchange as a global trade hub. Situated in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s rapidly expanding Saadiyat Cultural District, the museum will present 300,000 years of human history across six galleries on two floors, complemented by temporary exhibitions, an active research center and a slate of public programs. “The Zayed National Museum will serve as an anchor institution of a narrative ecosystem—something that matters not just within the Saadiyat Cultural District, but across Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E.,” museum director Dr. Peter Magee told Observer earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will finally open early next year after years of delays and controversy. Designed by Frank Gehry and originally scheduled to debut in 2012—then postponed to 2017, 2022, and 2025—the project has faced repeated delays due to financial slowdowns, contract renegotiations, labor issues and construction pauses.

Over the past decade, the U.A.E. has strategically made culture and the arts a pillar of its economic diversification strategy, positioning the country as a global cultural hub. As a result, the cultural landscape has been shifting and growing rapidly, along with a new, enthusiastic, and increasingly sophisticated audience for art and culture. “Our national horizon is no longer defined by oil or finance. We are shifting to a knowledge-based economy,” Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), told Observer earlier this year. Acting as a cornerstone of Abu Dhabi’s rise as a cultural capital, ADMAF continues to play a key role in this transformation. According to Alkhamis-Kanoo, sustained investment in culture—both public and private—is reshaping how people in the U.A.E. imagine the future.

Auction houses have also been turning their attention to the U.A.E.—and Abu Dhabi in particular. Sotheby’s Gulf strategy for the region is now unfolding following the global auction house’s $1 billion investment deal last year with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ. Earlier this month, Sotheby’s staged its first November auction preview in the Middle East, presenting a trove of Western masterpieces collectively valued at $150 million at the private Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island Cultural District before sending them to auction in New York. The preview of the marquee November sales in New York preceded Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week—Sotheby’s first series of luxury marquee sales in the emirate—held at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in early December. “With the Middle East—and the U.A.E. in particular—becoming a dynamic force in high-end collecting, this new chapter allows us to bring once-in-a-lifetime treasures directly to a growing audience of passionate and sophisticated collectors,” Josh Pullan, head of Sotheby’s Global Luxury Division, told Observer. These first auctions in the U.A.E. follow Sotheby’s inaugural Saudi Arabian auction in Diriyah, which closed at $17 million last February.

Frieze Abu Dhabi is the latest addition to Frieze’s portfolio, which includes editions in New York, Los Angeles and Seoul, alongside its original London fair launched in 2003 during a very different, buoyant boom in the art market and a wave of internationalization. In 2023, Frieze also acquired The Armory Show in New York and EXPO CHICAGO, expanding its U.S. footprint and cementing its position as the dominant fair operator in the country. Earlier this year, Frieze was acquired by Hollywood mogul and former CEO Ari Emanuel through his newly formed company Mari in a deal valued at $200 million and expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, according to a statement released by Endeavor, which sold it. Despite Frieze’s ongoing global expansion, Endeavor reported a net loss of $253.8 million in Q3 2024, with its events segment—including Frieze—down 20.1 percent year over year.

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