Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille Announce Opening of Art Here 2026 Exhibition
(MENAFN- Four Agency) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 November 2026: Louvre Abu Dhabi and luxury Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille have opened the sixth edition of the Art Here exhibition, the museum's flagship platform for contemporary art and the annual Richard Mille Art Prize. Featuring six newly commissioned contemporary artworks by shortlisted artists, Art Here 2026 is on view until 28 February 2027 and highlights the museum’s ongoing commitment to championing contemporary artistic practice from the region and beyond.
Now entering the second half of a landmark ten-year partnership between Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille, Art Here has established itself as one of the region's leading platforms for contemporary artistic practice. Over six editions, it has provided artists with the opportunity to realise ambitious new commissions while bringing contemporary perspectives into dialogue with the museum's universal narrative and diverse audiences.
Curated by guest curator Kamini Sawhney, Art Here 2026 continues to widen the exhibition’s geographic scope, welcoming artists from India alongside those from the GCC. Under the theme Confluences, the exhibition explores the histories, exchanges, migrations and cultural connections that have shaped communities across the Indian Ocean and continue to influence contemporary identities and artistic practices today.
Presented beneath Louvre Abu Dhabi's iconic dome, one of the museum's most distinctive and visited spaces, the six installations transform the architectural setting into a site of encounter, inviting visitors to reflect on movement, memory, exchange and the interconnected histories that link the Gulf region with the wider Indian Ocean.
Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: "I had the privilege of being part of the team that launched Art Here and the Richard Mille Art Prize, with the ambition of creating a platform that would support contemporary artistic practices and champion voices from the region. Today, it is wonderful to see how the initiative has evolved into one of the region's leading platforms for artistic exchange and creative experimentation. Contemporary art holds a special place at Louvre Abu Dhabi, complementing the museum's universal narrative by connecting audiences with the ideas and experiences of our time. It shapes the cultural conversations of today while forging new links with the stories of the past. This year's edition presents a remarkable group of artists whose works reflect on movement, memory and belonging, illuminating the human stories that have travelled across the Indian Ocean for centuries.”
Tilly Harrison, Managing Director of Richard Mille Middle East and Türkiye, said: “Six editions in, the true measure of Art Here is no longer its reach but its depth. This year’s artists have chosen materials that shift, fade, travel and endure. Together they ask what a community carries, what it loses, and what it chooses to make permanent. This is precisely the ambition we set out to foster, commissions with the intellectual weight to stand within one of the defining museums of our age. To see Abu Dhabi now drawing new geographies into that conversation, with each edition reaching further than the last, confirms that this partnership is building something of lasting cultural value. At Richard Mille, we measure our commitments in decades, and this exhibition shows exactly why.”
Art Here 2026 features the works of six artists:
Saudi Arabian artist Ahaad Alamoudi’s You Promised the World and the Tide Came In is constructed from mirrored stainless-steel frames and draws on the visual language of the architectural grid, a system associated with planning, mapping and order. Here, the grid refuses stability, fragmenting, folding and dissolving as though a blueprint were endlessly rewriting itself. Through mirrored surfaces that incorporate visitors into the work, the installation continually shifts and reconfigures, proposing confluence as an ongoing process rather than a destination.
Emirati artist Almaha Jaralla’s Daria Dawlat is an installation of sculptures made of cotton futa fabric, each representing the lower body in motion and placed across the shallow basins of Louvre Abu Dhabi, evoking the waters of the Gulf. The work takes its name from a merchant vessel that carried cargo and pilgrims from Calcutta towards the Red Sea before being wrecked off Aden in 1837. Accompanied by a sound piece, the suspended figures appear caught in an unfinished choreography, poised between water and land, survival and disappearance.
Malaysian artist and designer Shamin Sahrum, based in Dubai, suspends woven chatai mats from the museum’s dome in Home is What We Carry. A mat used domestically and in rituals across South Asia, and carried by South Asian workers in the UAE, the chatai becomes a six-metre gateway: a monument to the memories of movement and migration carried in the body. Woven from korai grass, it will slowly bleach beneath Abu Dhabi's sun, ensuring that no returning visitor encounters the same gateway twice.
Indian artist Ravikumar Kashi’s Meghadutam is an installation of suspended cloud forms in handmade paper, cradling messages in a multitude of Indic languages whose scripts interlock to create a delicate jali (lattice) pattern. Developed through research and dialogue with Indians living in the Middle East, the work explores the ties that connect diaspora communities to home, drawing on Kalidasa's fourth-century lyric poem in which clouds serve as messengers between distant loved ones.
Indian artist Reena Saini Kallat’s Shorelines of Longing draws from the Malayalam Kathu Pattu (“letter song”), a tradition that emerged alongside migration from Kerala to the Gulf from the 1970s onwards. Inlaid onto marble panels and accompanied by found objects and audio, the letter at the heart of the work lends permanence to voices often absent from official histories. Part love letter, part social history, part memorial, it reflects the emotional landscape of migration and lives suspended between departure and return.
Indian artist Vivek Vilasini’s Dreamings in Arabia comprises twenty-eight glazed vessels suspended within a lattice of steel rods, each bearing a letter from the Arabic abjad alphabet surrounded by corresponding phonetic consonants drawn from the many languages spoken across the UAE. Historically tied to trade and passage, the vessels carry traces of migration, labour and kinship, while the surrounding grid evokes both pathways and points of gathering, reflecting the movement of people, languages and cultures across the region.
Guest Curator for the edition, Kamini Sawhney, said: “Art Here is a project that seeks to build meaningful engagement between different cultures and communities, discovering ancient relationships and forging new connections. Confluences builds on this intention, exploring how our contemporary world is shaped by overlapping histories, cultures and ecologies. It looks at how these encounters can emerge as sites of exchange, friction, hybridity and transformation.
“The six selected artists bring distinct perspectives that stand alone and yet resonate together. Their works respond both to the theme of Confluences, and to the museum's architecture, drawing on the design of these spaces as sites of encounter and cross-cultural dialogue. Confluences does not seek homogeneity but instead looks at how intercultural exchanges enrich communities allowing us to explore commonalities while celebrating differences.
“The ocean is a constant presence in the exhibition, as archive, artery and witness to the complex relationship between India and the Gulf, and I am eager to see how audiences respond to the stories that we seek to share.”
The finalists for the Richard Mille Art Prize 2026 were selected by a distinguished jury, led by H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, art collector and patron. His institutional engagements include Tate’s Middle East and North Africa Acquisitions Committee (MENAAC), the Centre Pompidou’s Middle East Committee, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. He is also the Founder and Chairman of UAE Unlimited, an initiative that supported emerging artistic practices in the UAE during its years of activity. Joining him are Dr. Guilhem André, Director for Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi and a seasoned museum art historian and curator; Kamini Sawhney, a distinguished museum professional and curator, former founding Director of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, board member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, and guest curator of Art Here 2026; and Maya Allison, founding Executive Director of the Art Galleries and Chief Curator at New York University Abu Dhabi.
This year’s edition welcomed over 300 proposals from artists based in the GCC and India, alongside artists from the MENA region with a GCC connection, from which the six artworks were shortlisted. The winner of the Richard Mille Art Prize, who will receive a USD 60,000 award, will be announced in December.
Now entering the second half of a landmark ten-year partnership between Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille, Art Here has established itself as one of the region's leading platforms for contemporary artistic practice. Over six editions, it has provided artists with the opportunity to realise ambitious new commissions while bringing contemporary perspectives into dialogue with the museum's universal narrative and diverse audiences.
Curated by guest curator Kamini Sawhney, Art Here 2026 continues to widen the exhibition’s geographic scope, welcoming artists from India alongside those from the GCC. Under the theme Confluences, the exhibition explores the histories, exchanges, migrations and cultural connections that have shaped communities across the Indian Ocean and continue to influence contemporary identities and artistic practices today.
Presented beneath Louvre Abu Dhabi's iconic dome, one of the museum's most distinctive and visited spaces, the six installations transform the architectural setting into a site of encounter, inviting visitors to reflect on movement, memory, exchange and the interconnected histories that link the Gulf region with the wider Indian Ocean.
Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: "I had the privilege of being part of the team that launched Art Here and the Richard Mille Art Prize, with the ambition of creating a platform that would support contemporary artistic practices and champion voices from the region. Today, it is wonderful to see how the initiative has evolved into one of the region's leading platforms for artistic exchange and creative experimentation. Contemporary art holds a special place at Louvre Abu Dhabi, complementing the museum's universal narrative by connecting audiences with the ideas and experiences of our time. It shapes the cultural conversations of today while forging new links with the stories of the past. This year's edition presents a remarkable group of artists whose works reflect on movement, memory and belonging, illuminating the human stories that have travelled across the Indian Ocean for centuries.”
Tilly Harrison, Managing Director of Richard Mille Middle East and Türkiye, said: “Six editions in, the true measure of Art Here is no longer its reach but its depth. This year’s artists have chosen materials that shift, fade, travel and endure. Together they ask what a community carries, what it loses, and what it chooses to make permanent. This is precisely the ambition we set out to foster, commissions with the intellectual weight to stand within one of the defining museums of our age. To see Abu Dhabi now drawing new geographies into that conversation, with each edition reaching further than the last, confirms that this partnership is building something of lasting cultural value. At Richard Mille, we measure our commitments in decades, and this exhibition shows exactly why.”
Art Here 2026 features the works of six artists:
Saudi Arabian artist Ahaad Alamoudi’s You Promised the World and the Tide Came In is constructed from mirrored stainless-steel frames and draws on the visual language of the architectural grid, a system associated with planning, mapping and order. Here, the grid refuses stability, fragmenting, folding and dissolving as though a blueprint were endlessly rewriting itself. Through mirrored surfaces that incorporate visitors into the work, the installation continually shifts and reconfigures, proposing confluence as an ongoing process rather than a destination.
Emirati artist Almaha Jaralla’s Daria Dawlat is an installation of sculptures made of cotton futa fabric, each representing the lower body in motion and placed across the shallow basins of Louvre Abu Dhabi, evoking the waters of the Gulf. The work takes its name from a merchant vessel that carried cargo and pilgrims from Calcutta towards the Red Sea before being wrecked off Aden in 1837. Accompanied by a sound piece, the suspended figures appear caught in an unfinished choreography, poised between water and land, survival and disappearance.
Malaysian artist and designer Shamin Sahrum, based in Dubai, suspends woven chatai mats from the museum’s dome in Home is What We Carry. A mat used domestically and in rituals across South Asia, and carried by South Asian workers in the UAE, the chatai becomes a six-metre gateway: a monument to the memories of movement and migration carried in the body. Woven from korai grass, it will slowly bleach beneath Abu Dhabi's sun, ensuring that no returning visitor encounters the same gateway twice.
Indian artist Ravikumar Kashi’s Meghadutam is an installation of suspended cloud forms in handmade paper, cradling messages in a multitude of Indic languages whose scripts interlock to create a delicate jali (lattice) pattern. Developed through research and dialogue with Indians living in the Middle East, the work explores the ties that connect diaspora communities to home, drawing on Kalidasa's fourth-century lyric poem in which clouds serve as messengers between distant loved ones.
Indian artist Reena Saini Kallat’s Shorelines of Longing draws from the Malayalam Kathu Pattu (“letter song”), a tradition that emerged alongside migration from Kerala to the Gulf from the 1970s onwards. Inlaid onto marble panels and accompanied by found objects and audio, the letter at the heart of the work lends permanence to voices often absent from official histories. Part love letter, part social history, part memorial, it reflects the emotional landscape of migration and lives suspended between departure and return.
Indian artist Vivek Vilasini’s Dreamings in Arabia comprises twenty-eight glazed vessels suspended within a lattice of steel rods, each bearing a letter from the Arabic abjad alphabet surrounded by corresponding phonetic consonants drawn from the many languages spoken across the UAE. Historically tied to trade and passage, the vessels carry traces of migration, labour and kinship, while the surrounding grid evokes both pathways and points of gathering, reflecting the movement of people, languages and cultures across the region.
Guest Curator for the edition, Kamini Sawhney, said: “Art Here is a project that seeks to build meaningful engagement between different cultures and communities, discovering ancient relationships and forging new connections. Confluences builds on this intention, exploring how our contemporary world is shaped by overlapping histories, cultures and ecologies. It looks at how these encounters can emerge as sites of exchange, friction, hybridity and transformation.
“The six selected artists bring distinct perspectives that stand alone and yet resonate together. Their works respond both to the theme of Confluences, and to the museum's architecture, drawing on the design of these spaces as sites of encounter and cross-cultural dialogue. Confluences does not seek homogeneity but instead looks at how intercultural exchanges enrich communities allowing us to explore commonalities while celebrating differences.
“The ocean is a constant presence in the exhibition, as archive, artery and witness to the complex relationship between India and the Gulf, and I am eager to see how audiences respond to the stories that we seek to share.”
The finalists for the Richard Mille Art Prize 2026 were selected by a distinguished jury, led by H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, art collector and patron. His institutional engagements include Tate’s Middle East and North Africa Acquisitions Committee (MENAAC), the Centre Pompidou’s Middle East Committee, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. He is also the Founder and Chairman of UAE Unlimited, an initiative that supported emerging artistic practices in the UAE during its years of activity. Joining him are Dr. Guilhem André, Director for Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi and a seasoned museum art historian and curator; Kamini Sawhney, a distinguished museum professional and curator, former founding Director of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, board member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, and guest curator of Art Here 2026; and Maya Allison, founding Executive Director of the Art Galleries and Chief Curator at New York University Abu Dhabi.
This year’s edition welcomed over 300 proposals from artists based in the GCC and India, alongside artists from the MENA region with a GCC connection, from which the six artworks were shortlisted. The winner of the Richard Mille Art Prize, who will receive a USD 60,000 award, will be announced in December.
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