It is not a new idea that art can be an instrument of healing and a tool to process trauma. Turning towards art may not alleviate pain or provide tidy answers, but it can go some way to help people cope with loss. Most often these losses are not within our control – everyday sorrows, separations, death of loved ones, pandemics and wars. Expressions found in art can offer solace, or recognition, or simply be a pillar to turn to in our quest for meaning in the complexities of life and in the all-too-often grim realities of the world.
Often, in galleries around the globe, a visitor might sit for several minutes on a bench in front of a Fahrelnissa Zeid painting or a Rothko, tremendous works that might evoke in one feelings that are perhaps otherwise difficult to access.
The permanence of a work of art is especially valuable when juxtaposed with the pervasiveness of social media, the fleeting nature of our digital feeds and the world of "hot takes", where something trending today can disappear tomorrow. A painting, though, follows different rules – its essentially tangible characteristic is at odds with ephemerality.
Which is why the return in physical form of an event such as Art Dubai over the weekend is so important. Back after two years, it has given the people a chance to interact with works, or even a singular work, that can often resonate differently from a social media post, even a post or a story on art, compacted to fit our devices.
Notwithstanding the huge popularity of NFTs, the importance of such physical access to art is highly relevant in a society that values and honours the work of artists, not just locally or in the Middle East, but from around the world.
Over the course of Covid-19 lockdowns, access to art was restricted, as was much else. And despite the availability of digital museum tours and apps and innovations that allowed people access to art on their screens, the experiences often do not really compare with seeing the actual work in front of you.
In facilitating direct access to viewers, events such as Art Dubai enable an important connection between viewer and artist. And the return of such programmes in their physical form is good for not just those associated with the art world, but for regular visitors seeking insights into contradictions that exist in our worlds. Art on display can be an inroad into different ways of thinking, some of which can be difficult to fathom by absorbing mere information. That is the power of art: for something in the work of an artist to speak to something in us, and offer – if not clarity or comfort – a different perspective.
And nor are these new ideas for the UAE, which has been making more room for the arts over the years. Just last year, before the country's Golden Jubilee, the UAE unveiled a National Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries, as part of the goal to increase the economic contribution of the cultural and creative industries to at least 5 per cent of GDP in the next 10 years.
The country continues to make strides in being an attractive place for creatives, through measures that include strengthening copyright laws to protect people working in the arts. Last December, Noura Al Kaabi, the Minister of Culture and Youth, said the UAE had become a "fertile ground to all those who want to innovate, create and live in an open and tolerant society".
In helping societies to have more access to art – and more physical spaces to showcase the variety of art that exists in our world – we allow diversity and a breadth of understanding to reside among us.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More coverage from the Future Forum
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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