The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, set to open in 2026, will present giants from the Western tradition, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol, alongside lesser-known contemporary artists from regions as far-flung as Asia, Africa, and the Arab world, the chairman of Abu Dhabi’s department of cultural tourism said at a recent briefing that for the first time revealed what would be on view in the long-awaited museum.
“They’re going to be within that collection, but right next to them, you’ll have amazing contemporary artists that maybe, unfortunately, the vast public don’t know much about,” said Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, promising that the new institution would be “a lot more than a museum,” per a report in the National. “It’s really a civic space. It’s a place that brings people together with music, food, dance and, of course, contemporary art.”
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is designed by Frank Gehry, the starchitect who also designed the Guggenheim’s history-making Bilbao museum; the institution is scheduled to open in 2026 on Saadiyat Island, the “Island of Happiness,” a five-minute drive from downtown Abu Dhabi. The new Guggenheim outpost (adding to locations in New York, Venice, and Bilbao) joins the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened its doors in 2017; the Natural History Museum, which opened earlier this year; and the Zayed National Museum, which opens next month. On the commercial side of the ledger, the longstanding Abu Dhabi Art fair has expanded recently and will next year become part of the Frieze franchise.
It has been a long road to the new museum, as the Guggenheim announced plans for the Gulf museum some two decades ago. It was originally to open in 2012, before the opening was pushed back to 2017 and then, amidst further delays, some of which were due to the Covid-19 pandemic, to 2022–23. (Several artists also signed a public letter in 2011 drawing concerns about the project’s alleged human rights violations.)
The collection, which will span from the 1960s to today, is “truly global,” said Al Mubarak, and will highlight under-recognized artists. “It was imperative for us when we were assembling that collection that it focuses on contemporary artists who have not been given the light they deserve, whether it’s because of their geographical location or their gender,” he said. “We want to be unbiased in that.” He also promises that Indigenous art will be “highly, highly focused.”
Al Mubarak described the planning as looking to the future, saying, “As much as possible, we’ve looked to think about, what does the 22nd-century museum look like?” That will include using augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
“We’re using AR and AI in some cases and human storytelling of course,” he said. “I don’t want a visitor at the Guggenheim to come and say ‘this is a beautiful Warhol,’ with a little panel that tells them this Warhol was painted at this time and that’s it, thank you very much. That’s easy, that’s boring. What I want to know is, what was Warhol thinking at the specific time? Where was he living? What was going on with the environment around him?”
