Future Foundations: Reem Fadda On The Success Of The Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation And Her Creative Inspirations

The noted curator and art curator explains how the Cultural Foundation is a special place for many

Channeling the city’s creative zest, this community hub that was founded in 1981 showcases all art from dance and music to painting and installation. Its reach and aspirations are vast. The recent programme’s sheer scale and diversity is reflected by the fact that the stage commanded by Emirati star Fayez Al Saeed was later taken over by the equally charismatic Spanish flamenco singer, the great Miguel Poveda.

Meanwhile, three very different exhibitions opened simultaneously. The first shone a light on Moroccan artist Mohammed Chabâa – the first posthumous retrospective on the artist’s vibrant, graphic work presented outside his home country. The second showcased the unique relationship between Germany and the Arab world with From Cinderella to Sindbad: German and Arab Timeless Tales, while the last looked at Murals of History, created by UAE artists gaining inspiration from their regional history. And let’s not forget this was all done against the backdrop of a pandemic.

This stellar, innovative line-up of events, performances and workshops is what the Cultural Foundation is known for. Cross-cultural exchange is fostered, thought-provoking concepts and ideas are brought to fruition and presented in a manner that is accessible yet challenging. Visitors go to the Cultural Foundation to have their spirits lifted, preconceptions confronted, and view of the world expanded.

Although its foundations are in the past, its outlook is – and always has been – firmly towards the future. That was the centre’s mission at its conception, laid out by His Highness the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan to not only promote a cultural awakening, but to also protect the country’s heritage for generations to come.

The building itself sets the scene. A seamless mix of modern and traditional Islamic design, it encapsulates the forward-thinking tone that drives the foundation without compromising on, or forgetting, its past. Function is also at the forefront. The low-key façade leads to beautifully lit spaces that put the emphasis on what’s being displayed, with an overriding sense of calm letting viewers truly take in their surroundings with the pieces providing the stimulus.

The multipurpose art space, which underwent a decade-long refurbishment and reopened its doors at the end of 2018, is now under the directorship of noted curator and art historian, Reem Fadda. Her tenure kicked off just as COVID precautions started shutting down public institutions, but despite those limitations – and in many cases, perhaps because of them – the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation has continued to flourish and provide a place for creatives to convene. The Palestine-born former associate curator at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi took time out of her schedule to explain why the Cultural Foundation strikes such a chord when it comes to locals and visitors alike.

While it’s considered such an integral part of the fabric of life in Abu Dhabi, how do you measure the success of the Cultural Foundation?

I think the first marker of its success, that we were able to gauge, was when we reopened. When we welcomed visitors back after the renovations, pre-COVID, we saw our audiences return with such an appetite. Our events were very well attended and the feedback was extremely positive. At the end of the day, this is a place that pulsates with its people.

Another thing that really made a big difference, I think, was the impact that we were able to create in terms of support for the artists, both in the UAE and regionally. We’re not just speaking about visual artists, but also performing artists, designers, various people from across the Arab world and the entire area. We continued to commission and support the community. It’s especially pivotal for such an institution that prides itself on being the backbone of the artistic community, that it is also a place for the production of that kind of knowledge.

This has always been an institution that is ahead of its time. What’s great about the Cultural Foundation is its very inception – I really appreciate the idea of it.

His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan’s mission was to create a place that would be a cultural centre in a meaningful sense. To think that I’m taking the reins of something that has that kind of legacy gives me a sense of pride, because he never thought of this place as being as trivial. He thought about it as a building block for the country. He thought about it as a place for civic engagement. Many of his political meetings happened in this place. We rarely think of a coupling of culture and politics in that progressive way. That happened in the 1970s and 1980s. So the formation of this institution was very progressive, and that is really the major source of pride for me.

Are there any other such institutions around the world that you would draw parallels to?

I can’t think of any that have that kind of magnitude. In the many, many institutions I’ve personally been involved with across the world and been privy to their way of operating, none had such a key holding in the making of their national identity. The Cultural Foundation has been able to do that and retain that for quite a long time.

How do you decide who deserves to have a platform at such a prestigious place?

I think we’re a very inclusive institution. We pride ourselves on the fact that we reach a very wide range of communities of artists. Last year and during COVID, we probably commissioned more than a hundred artists. The fact that we are very inclusive is something that we feel very strongly about. At the same time, it’s very important for us that the qualitative knowledge production, the art level and the discourse, is something that we are elevating; and that we are doing so in partnership with these artists.

So this is something that we’re hoping to constantly push and promote. It happens in tandem with everything else. It happens in conversations between expert programmers that we have, in our relationships with other institutions and sometimes in jury panels that we have. We are part of The Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) so we tap into a multiverse of resources of professionals and curators and people who are involved with the community and elsewhere. So that’s something that we also rely on.

You commissioned many exhibitions, even during last year. are there any showcases that you were particularly looking forward to?

I was extremely proud that we opened with Mohammed Chabâa’s exhibition last year, which we managed despite Covid and all the restrictions that happened. We’ve been working on the retrospective for two years, alongside the curator Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa from Morocco, and Zamân Books, who have helped us in the production of this show. The team within the foundation itself, led by Noor Al Mehairbi, our assistant curator on this exhibition, has done a remarkable job. This has been all done in-house, from the exhibition design to the production of all content. Everything you see is basically the work of these teams.

The show is stellar in terms of the fact that this is one of the major lone shows that is now featured in Abu Dhabi. It’s one of the first retrospectives for Mohammed Chabâa who had a deserving and illustrious career until he passed away in 2013. He’s one of the formative people that created an art group – rather, an entire art movement – in Morocco from the ’60s onwards.

Alongside people such as Mohamed Melehi and Farid Belkahia, they’ve really transpired to be the pioneers of modern and contemporary art in the Arab world at large. It’s wonderful to do such an immense, historical deep dive into the legacy of such pioneers and to present it within the Cultural Foundation. It’s a conversation about the relationship of popular arts, crafts, architecture, placement, relationship with communities, people – all of the beautiful things that Mohammed Chabâa was representative of. I feel those themes echo within the building itself too.

How has the pandemic affected the plans you had originally laid out when you took over in December 2019?

Of course, everything has been affected. It also helped us revise and question everything. We’ve only just returned to working on the premises. The foundation pretty much reopened and because it’s such a cavernous building, it’s safe for receiving audiences in certain capacities. It reopened in July 2020. We weren’t closed entirely; some sections were, of course, closed off, such as the library and the theatre, but the COVID era really helped us to rethink and reshape the way we wanted to reach our audiences.

So there were upsides to it?

It launched a big initiative for us to go virtual, especially for certain platforms such as the performing arts and the library, where their physical premises were shut down. Even creating walk-throughs for the exhibitions in a virtual realm has meant wider audiences were suddenly able to see our contents. That’s quite amazing, you could receive a couple of thousand visitors to your shows, but via a screen, you have a much wider reach geographically. At the same time, the content is still retained and safely delivered.

So in one respect, it really opened us up as an institution and we hope to continue to deliver on both platforms. This is something that we’re committed to at this stage. Having said that, we’re also very happy to now be back to opening live in our theatre. Fayez Al Saeed is our opening concert and it’s just so exciting to think that we’re going to go back to a theatre with people, with the breaths of people and just people being around us. That kind of sensorial, experiential thing is important and will make a difference.

We’ve been able to reopen Children’s Library for the use of children and families; seeing them back really elevates the spirits. The library is the foundation’s pride and joy, because it’s one of a kind, I believe, in the entire region.

Do you see the Cultural Foundation as having a particular emphasis on Abu Dhabi, on the UAE or on the Middle East? Or do you see it as a very global institution?

I see it as being really committed in this sequence: to the UAE and to the region at large. So these are the two main scopes, but of course, we’re open and in conversation with the world. This is something that remains very important for us. If we didn’t do it that way, I think we would not be that grounded. Thankfully, we are a grounded institution.

Are there any genres or creative forces that you feel are under-represented and you wish to put a spotlight on?

Yes, we are hoping that maybe we will tap more into publishing within our institution, or work with other supportive publishing houses, so that we are able to produce more literary work and at the same time, critical content on visual and performing arts. That’s something which is definitely needed and lacking. We’re hoping that we will have a hand in being able to establish something of that sort. The legacy of this institution has long been tied to literature. Now, there are many caveats within the DCT on that front, but I think there’s still a role for the Cultural Foundation to look into literature as well. We did try to restart the discussion on the presentation of moving image, or the film industry within the Cultural Foundation, but we’ve not been able to. COVID really hit us hard on that front. However, that’s probably something that the foundation can tap into.

Is there a piece that you’d love to take home with you?

I’d like to own a Mohamed Melehi painting. He was a dear friend and I think one of the most fabulous visual artists out there. I would now also like to own one of Mohammed Chabâa’s works as well, but they’re above my pay grade!

You must have met so many incredible creative forces. Has anyone really surprised you or made a massive impression on you?

There are many people who did that in my lifetime. I have to say that I’m blessed that way. I’ve met a lot of fantastic, philosophical and poetic thinkers. Two artists have had a big impact on me. One has been Kader Attia, the Algerian-French artist whose work I would love to have a show for within our institution. He’s such a creative force, has beautiful philosophical thinking and has created the practice that really reflects that. Even his writing has deep emphasis.

With the other group, I’ve had a personal relationship with, worked with for long periods of time and retained long conversations with. I think Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, the duo that run DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research), have been extremely impactful on their communities. They are people that I just feel a big affinity with in terms of their ideas, practice, and with whom I would love to work again or commission on a project because I think they can do something meaningful.

Are there any trends that you are seeing when it comes to exhibitions that your audience particularly responds to?

We are obviously working with a huge community, but a lot of the newer, immersive installations and work that use technology and multimedia seem to resonate. That’s something for us to take note of. I think it’s important for us to contend with that.

Just on that note, apart from running the Cultural Foundation, I’m also overseeing three other institutions in Abu Dhabi. They are Manarat Al Saadiyat, Bait Al Oud and Berklee Abu Dhabi – the Abu Dhabi sites, as we call them. So for example, we are thinking more about youth projects and immersive installations for a place like Manarat Al Saadiyat. Multimedia and technology are featured prominently there. Where we might be shorthanded in the Cultural Foundation, because of the nature of the building, we could be a little bit more experimental in places like Manarat.

Which aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?

Interacting with my staff. I like the people around me, and I enjoy having an extended family and friends through them. It’s the same as how I feel about the art community that is around me that inspires me and gives me a sense of deep belonging and at the same time, inspiration and a deeper sense of existentialism.

Lead image caption credits: Mohammed Chabâa. Untitled. 1965. Acrylic on canvas. 150x120cm. Courtesy of Nadia Chabâa

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s December 2021 issue