Art Highway: Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Interactive Billboard Gallery

Through mid-March, motorists driving along the Dubai to Abu Dhabi highway will be privy to explanations of famous artworks by tuning into the radio guides offered on 100.5 FM, 91.6 FM and 95.8 FM

Along 100 kilometres of the E11 is the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s latest initiative, the Highway Gallery, organised in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Media. With billboards featuring art works currently exhibited at the Louvre placed at 10-kilometre intervals, approaching drivers will be able to access free guides to the works available on Radio 1, 100.5 FM; Classic FM, 91.6 FM; or Emarat FM, 95.8 FM. The initiative takes the recently opened institution’s presence to the next step, offering a pioneering approach in engaging the public.

The first project of its kind on a global level, it is a cultural – and educational – reprieve to the hour-plus long stretch of road. Featuring unintimidating 30-second audio explanations in Arabic and English, courtesy of museum curators in accessible language, both familiar and rarely seen works are included. A car journey will allow insight into 9×6 metre reproductions of works such as Piet Mondrian’s 1922 Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow and Black; Leonardo da Vinci’s 1495-99 La Belle Ferronniere; Vincent van Gogh’s 1887 Self Portrait; a 200-year-old Emirati coin; and a Neolithic two-headed figure found in Ain Ghazal, Jordan, from around 6500 BCE.

This marks continued efforts, programming and innovation on the behalf of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s Month of Innovation. Striving to reinforce art’s role in elevating everyday life in the Emirates, the Highway Gallery also actively reaches out with a social conscious – the car-triggered billboards and their anecdotal stories run partially on solar energy.

The Highway Gallery runs until mid-March on the E11. Louvreabudhabi.ae