From brushstrokes to binary: Art Dubai redefines the future of artistic expression

Art Dubai 2023, which took place over the weekend, brought together over 130 artists from six continents, including over 30 first-time participants in its most ambitious and extensive version yet.

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One of the latest additions is Art Dubai Digital. Launched in 2022, it continued to be a part of the conference for the second year. The section provided a snapshot of the digital art landscape, exploring how artists are utilizing new, immersive technologies to collapse the boundaries of the traditional art world.

Meanwhile, as digital technology evolves, artists are beginning to recognize its potential to augment and complement the work of traditional mediums, leading to a growing appreciation of digital art as a valuable creative tool. This was clearly evident at Art Dubai.

Galloire

Edward Gallagher, the Dubai-based Galloire Gallery’s Managing Director, believes that the use of digital tools to produce artwork does not diminish its artistic merit when compared to traditional techniques like paintbrushes and that the creative process should not be limited by the medium used. His stance challenges traditional views on the validity of digital art and encourages a broader perspective on the evolving nature of artistic expression in the digital age.

“Digital art started in the 60s and the precursor to that were people like Sol LeWitt, setting boundaries and standards and lines that the art should operate within and then people could operate within that infrastructure. Generative Art is exactly the same. Artists are setting the boundaries with which the software they write can operate and then all of these generated pieces come from that. So, I think it’s an incredible talent to use and manipulate that.”

Generative art is created using an autonomous system, which is non-human and capable of making artistic decisions that would typically be made by the artist.

Jean-Jacques Duclaux, known as EKO33, is a Swiss generative artist who exhibited at Art Dubai under Galloire, told Al Arabiya English he believes that the future of digital art is a “high growth segment.”

“It’s a very young market,” Duclaux said.

“I don’t think digital art is going to replace traditional art. I think it’s more like a complementary motion, and that we should embrace the two dynamics to help bring a new demographic into the art market, new experiences, a new way for collectors to collect art even though they might not have enough wall space. This is just how life is changing, and we should adapt to it.”

Duclaux, who started experimenting with writing code in 1999, presented two artworks at the event.

Jean-Jacques Duclaux's artwork 'Life Path' at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

The first one, called “Life Path,” was a metaphor about the life path of human beings represented through an animated piece.

The second one, titled “Untitled,” was based on the complementary and contradictory theories of two famous astrologists, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, represented through a box metaphor for the system around us, and 3D musical notes in motion.

Jean-Jacques Duclaux's artwork 'Untitled' at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

“When you’re seeing work by Jean-Jacques and the deeply complex algorithms he’s using, we might be flippant enough to say: ‘Oh, it’s just new tech’ – and I’d say to that person, digital is fundamental in every piece of what we’re doing – the phone that’s in your hand, the way you stream TV, this is you now, you are bionic, you are part machine,” Gallagher said.

Managing Director of the Dubai-based Galloire gallery at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

“So, to think that artists can’t or shouldn’t express themselves in a digital way is foolhardy and if you don’t think that artists should consider this digital world and our growing internet presence for all the pros and cons of it should and shouldn’t they criticize it as well as talk about it. And again, that’s closed minded. I would say.”

Morrow Collective

“I see there are a lot of possibilities going forward, especially the oncoming of artificial intelligence technologies, AR and VR and the convergence towards blockchain,” said generative artist and first-time exhibitor at Art Dubai, Zaben Rasheed.

He added that the potential presented by fusing technology and art was “huge.”

Rasheed is a generative artist who creates artworks in various mediums, from paintings to sculptures. At Art Dubai, he exhibited two pieces being sold as NFTs.

The first piece was made in collaboration with neuroscientist Dr. Medelita Ray Sami to create two sculptures focused on the theme of mental health and healing. Called ‘Knots,’ the sculpture, which also exists in digital form, represents the idea of being held back and weighed down by past traumas and conditioning through a mirror that pulls the person down, symbolizing a burden on someone’s shoulders.

Art Dubai 2023. (Supplied)

The knots are what hold the person to the mirror, and the question is whether someone can release themselves from these knots by facing them head-on.

The second sculpture, called “Memorial,” is a spiritual take on the healing process that Rasheed went through after experiencing depression.

The sculpture features two people that converge into unity, symbolizing the journey from the unhealed to the healed. The gold strip at the top of the sculpture represents EEG recordings of his very own brainwaves before and after his recovery process, evoking the emotion of love and support for those going through a similar journey.

Another artist exhibiting at Art Dubai with the Morrow Collective, Magda Malkoun, returned to the art fair for the second year.

Malkoun uses traditional mediums such as painting, collage, and photography to create her artwork but also enjoys fusing digital elements into her pieces.

“I have been exhibiting digital pieces since October 2021. While my physical pieces came before, my digital journey began with Morrow Collective in 2021, where we showcased our work at Art Dubai and the Museum of the Future, as well as the House of Wisdom in Sharjah,” she said.

“I enjoy working with digital mediums because they allow me to bring my concepts, messages, and emotions to life in a more dynamic way. Movement is a crucial element in my compositions, and it plays an essential role in telling the story. This technique really accentuates the emotions I am trying to convey and helps to breathe life into my work,” the artist told Al Arabiya English.

Artist Magda Malkoun exhibiting her digital artwork 'Storm Rider' at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

Inspired by the concept of destruction and construction, Malkoun presented a piece called “Storm Rider,” which represented how to calmly ride through a storm. It featured the silhouette of a female body, depicting the dance between two states of mind: fear and hope.

The artwork was derived from physical work. Malkoun has a background as a physical artist who works with collages made from photographs she takes herself. She hand-picked photographs from her trips, especially from Beirut, a city with a lot of destruction, and manually constructed them to create the figure of the female body.

'Storm Rider' by Magda Malkoun, at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

“This swaying, the falling into the storm and coming back from it is really a choreographic dance. Going digital was like a natural step to take to add that dimension of movement because it really brought to life this concept and emphasizes more the emotions I want to convey,” she said.

The artwork celebrates the resilience of humanity, with a particular focus on women who face significant challenges and must continuously reinvent themselves, Malkoun explained. The artwork tells their story and serves as an inspiration for others to learn from their experiences and emerge stronger.

Wizara

Artistic Director of Wizara, Adham Hafez, at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

Adham Hafez, founder and creative director of artistic collective Wizara.io, told Al Arabiya English that he, along with several artists in the collective, have specialized in the intersection of digital art and various art forms, including cinema, visual art, performance, and public art for almost 20 years.

“All the artists come from early experiments in digital art. These are people who were playing video games in the early 90s and when the computer was a thing, they started doing web-based art when that was a thing also."

In 2017, the collective created a performance piece called the Extraterritorial Ministry of Arab Culture, which explored the future of the arts economy. This led them to establish Wizara as a company to commission and exhibit work from artists they admire, Hafez said.

“The experience has been transformative, expanding their understanding of new technology, such as Web3, blockchain, metaverse, and holograms, and broadening their artistic scope to collaborate with artists from across the Global South.”

One of the artists exhibiting under Wizara was Australian-Egyptian interdisciplinary artist Omar Hussein who was also a first-timer at the annual art fair.

“I don’t think anything is replacing anything really, even traditional mediums. When photography was invented, painters were freaking out because they were like: “this is going to replace portraits.” Hussein said. “I think it’s just another tool to use.”

“I think this is what’s interesting about it. I mean, paintings still exist. Portraiture still exists, photography still exists, digital art will continue to exist, and there’s probably going to be something else that we’re currently unaware of that’s going to come and there will be another question of: “Do you think this is going to replace digital art? No, it’s just an added tool in the toolbox, and it’s an extra thing to play with basically.”

Although originally a traditional artist, he decided to experiment with digital art, which eventually resulted in his first digital collection ‘The New Gods’ which Hussein presented at Art Dubai.

The ‘The New Gods’ collection re-examines ancient Egyptian deities in a modern light to provide a “more comprehensive view of Egyptian contemporary society within the context of mythology and history,” he said.

Omar Hussein presenting 'The New Gods' collection at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

“Even though it is a digital piece, and they’re all digital prints, they have a very tactile function, and they have a tactile element,” Hussein explained.

The most common question he’s been getting is people asking if the art pieces are painted. “Actually no,” he responds. “These are designed, these are printed.”

He added, “I really love that intersection between materiality to digital and ephemerality of the digital.”

“Now that I’ve done this for a while, I think this is kind of where my comfort zone is. If I’m going fully digital, I’m not super comfortable, if I’m going fully traditional, I’m also not. I like this intersection. It delivers on what I want to do. And there’s always an undo button.”

Another artist exhibiting with Wizara was Mariam Sadik, an Egyptian-American who wears many hats as a painter, designer, and performance artist. She exhibited a digital artwork that sheds light on the issue of early marriage in the Middle East, portraying how families often impose pressure on their daughters. Through her work, Mariam delves into the topic of how dating apps have become a norm for younger generations, unlike her own, who had to adapt to it.

Artist Mariam Sadik presenting her artwork at Art Dubai 2023. (Al Arabiya English / Tala Michel Issa)

Younger generations are “more open to this because they were actually born in the digital age,” she said. “It’s very interesting to see how my generation, the girls that didn’t get married, are now actually open to using these applications and how the digital world really changed this concept of meeting people and how it’s become more accepted.”

Sadik said that she has always dabbled in digital art and that with her background as a painter, “it made sense” to document her work digitally.

“I see everything moving into the digital space. This is just where everything is going.”

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