Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has launched a month-long program featuring lectures, talks, and workshops at cultural institutions across the UAE. This initiative offers the public an early opportunity to familiarize themselves with the concepts that will shape the museum before its official opening on December 11th.
The program, running throughout September, brings together artists, curators, and visitors at venues such as Manarat Al Saadiyat and Louvre Abu Dhabi. Among the events offering a preview of future happenings are the following three.
From September 25th to October 22nd, Manarat Al Saadiyat will host an interactive installation titled Network of Answers. It was created by artist Agatha Gote-Snaep, commissioned by Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. The installation invites the public to answer a series of questions via a telephone booth, collecting personal memories and reflections to form a collective archive of voices from Abu Dhabi. Registration is not required to participate.
From September 25th to 27th, the same location will host the event Art Appears: Chant Avedissian. This is a series of temporary lectures, workshops, and interactive activities dedicated to the life and legacy of the late Egyptian artist, whose works reinterpreted cultural symbols and the nation's collective memory through a modern lens.
Concluding the September program, artist Rashid Karahi will join curator Abdelkader Damani at Louvre Abu Dhabi on September 29th to discuss the exhibition Abstractions: A Journey Between Islamic and Contemporary Art. This discussion explores abstraction as a universal language between cultures, drawing upon calligraphy, geometry, and contemporary practice.
The museum announced that additional lectures, activations, and public engagement initiatives across the UAE will be announced after the conclusion of the September program as part of a broader calendar leading up to the opening.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by architect Frank Gehry and located in the Saadiyat Cultural District, will cover an area of 11,600 square meters, including 28 galleries, as well as 23,000 square meters of open exhibition space. The museum is a joint project of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.