I’m staring up at the 67-metre tall Al Wasl Plaza as elaborate video works slide across the steelwork panels; a call to Prayer echoes through the air. The structure, which designers Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture revealed for Expo 2020 Dubai, is the perfect centrepiece for Dhabi Dubai.
This small-scale light and arts festival is hoping to breathe some life into this nascent part of the world’s most futuristic city, which hasn’t seen much life post-Expo. Aside from large thematic exhibitions exploring the key pillars of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability, Expo City is limp and lacks the skyscraping modernity many outsiders have come to associate with the Middle Eastern city.
Yet there’s a real sense that this right here is the heart of Dubai’s future. As I’m told by Dhai Bubai’s co-curator Anthony Bastic, Expo City will become an integral part of Dubai over the next few years. “It’ll be like the new CBD.”
So I guess it’s perfectly reasonable for Dhabi Dubai to be posted around here rather than in a more touristy area of Dubai. For starters, the festival is highly localised so has less to do with tourism and more to do with allowing Emirati artists to tell intimate stories using modern technology.
Bastic, who curated the light component of Vivid Sydney for a decade, seems to be unhurried with growing Dhai Dubai to its full potential. At least, for now. “I learned to take it slow; too much growth, too quickly, is a bad thing for arts festivals as it creates expectation and undue pressure,” the founder of AGB Creative when I ask him what lessons he has brought from Vivid over to Dhai Dubai.
“We’re doing something truly special here.”
To see what he means I just need to look up. When the sun sinks into the desert landscape, the Al Wasl Plaza begins an elaborate projection called Sisters of the Desert. The show was inspired by late Emirati artist, Dubia Juma Lamlah, and also features work from Australian artist Rene Kulitja and South African artist Dr Esther Mahlangu. Anchored by the ideas of resilience and cross-cultural connectivity, the intricate projections are unlike anything I’ve seen at similar festivals.
It’s an appropriately big and impressive display, far more impactful than Dubai’s showy architecture.
In many ways, the Al Wasl Plaza is like the Lighting of the Sails at Vivid Sydney, which sees the Sydney Opera House spring to life with moving projections each night of the 23-day festival.
With just 10 days at Expo City Dubai, Dhai Dubai is less than half the length of Vivid Sydney and is nowhere near the level of scale Australia’s most renowned arts festival has managed over the years. Again, Anthony is pacing things here so there are only seven major light installations scattered around the plaza.
Yet there’s an important distinction between Vivid Sydney and Dhai Dhabi I want to make, and Anthony confirms that it’s by design.
Where Vivid Sydney brings in artists from around the world, Dhai Dubai is focused on telling Emirati stories. The strong sense of place and commitment to local-first gives Dhai Dubai a unique footing in the growing world of large-scale light festivals and it helps me understand the city and its people so much better.
I can’t claim to be intimately familiar with the Middle East. There is so much more of the UAE I’m yet to explore, and yet I get the impression, from visiting some of the country’s major museums, that the art scene here is very much focused on the big picture. Major institutions like Louvre Abu Dhabi and Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood tend to ask ambitious questions and examine the history of ideas, exchange, globalisation and trade. The latter, the fascinating Al Fahidi, features galleries that study powerful symbols like jewelry and perfume.
But Dhai Dhabi was the first time I’ve seen Middle Eastern artists tell deeply personal and smaller, more modest stories. Reem Al Ghaith, for example, had an incredible site-specific work with large, ornate Arabic doors telling the stories of nostalgia and community through illuminating Middle Eastern architecture. Distinguished artist Mohamed Yousef paid tribute to the women in his life with a visually impactful work. And one of the most popular installations, a larger-than-life depiction of powerful women by artist Dr Najat Makki, recreated the wondrous feeling of being a child looking up a world written large.
Reem’s work was the one that stuck with me the most. The decorative motifs and distinctive shapes that characterise Arabic doors was used to great effect, glowing with futurism while an auditory element kept things grounded in the past.
All works were sensory and played around with cutting-edge technology to find new ways to tell stories. I’ve only been to Dubai a handful of times beforehand, but it was only through this trip that the city’s stories really started to resonate with me. And I guess, that plays further into the idea that the world simply needs more festivals like this.
As long as sustainable practices are at its core, a light festival is a fantastic, creative and engaging way for these artists to tell their stories in new ways that gallery art wouldn’t afford. The intricate light and colour effects on display unlock new ways to communicate ideas.
“[It] was an opportunity to showcase a range of authentic expressions, inspired by the story of Dubai and its gradual development,” Dr. Najat tells me.
“[Dhab Dubai is about] encapsulating environmental and local characteristics through light art.”
Given Dubai has grown from a small fishing village to one of the most modern cities in the world, I would imagine there are so many more local stories hidden between all that history. I look forward to seeing Dhabi Dubai continue to seek those stories out and find new ways to tell them.
Next time you plan on visiting Dubai, time it for the free-entry Dhai Dubai. Having an outdoor light festival of this scale will help you find those more intimate stories of Middle Eastern culture that you may not find at those big museums.
Dhai Dubai ran from 26th January 2024, to 4th February 2024. It will return in 2025 with dates to be confirmed.
Chris Singh flew to Dubai to experience the festival as a guest.
