Dala Nasser Named First Recipient of Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award as Inaugural Programme is Unveiled

Lebanese artist Dala Nasser has been named the first recipient of the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award, featuring a new installation inspired by a historic monument near Baalbek as the centrepiece of the fair’s inaugural programme. Taking place at Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 19 to 22, Frieze Abu Dhabi will also showcase an exhibition pairing Emirati artists Mohammed Kazem and Alia Zaal, a month-long sculpture display at Mamsha Beach, and engaging discussions with artists, curators, and museum leaders.

The fair’s gallery line-up will feature more than 80 galleries from 36 countries and territories taking part. Organised by Frieze in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the event builds upon Abu Dhabi Art, which ran for 17 years before its rebranding.

Nasser, who lives and works between Beirut and London, was selected by curator and art historian Nabila Abdel Nabi. The award will support her new work, Qubbat Duris, which takes its name from a 13th-century monument in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The structure incorporates fragments of Roman limestone sarcophagi resting on eight granite columns from earlier centuries. Nasser’s installation will evoke the monument through a timber framework in the fair’s atrium, draped with textile paintings bearing traces of the surrounding landscape.

These creations will include charcoal rubbings of the ruins, with ash, raw clay, and terracotta used to paint the textiles. The work will explore how materials carry memory across generations and examine questions of collective responsibility towards landscapes facing destruction. Born in Tyre in 1990, Nasser has previously exhibited at the Sharjah Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh, with her work also held in collections displayed by Tate Modern in London and Qatar Museums.

“Frieze Abu Dhabi takes shape within a rich and evolving cultural landscape, and the programme for our first edition responds to that context,” says fair director Dyala Nusseibeh. “Spanning generations and geographies, it reflects the artistic histories, ideas and practices that connect Abu Dhabi to a wider scene.”

The new annual In Dialogue exhibition will pair an established artist with an emerging artist from the UAE. Its first edition, titled At Another Meeting Point, will bring together works by Kazem and Zaal. The exhibition is curated by Abu Dhabi’s Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, founded by Munira Al Sayegh, alongside co-curators Hessa Al Nuaimi and Dania Al Tamimi.

Beyond Manarat Al Saadiyat, Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi will bring large-scale works to Mamsha Beach on Saadiyat Island from November 16 to December 16. Presented by Aldar, the exhibition will feature four artists whose works engage with landscape, materials, and the built environment. Emirati artist Zeinab Alhashemi will present The Nut and Bolt, joined by Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim’s The Form, Imran Qureshi’s Water Bodies, and Kamran Samimi’s Voyagers (Traveling Stones).

The talks programme includes "Building the Global Museum" on November 19, featuring Michael Govan and Eugene Tan, director of the National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum, moderated by Kate Fowle. A second session, "Curating Across Knowledge Systems," takes place on November 20 with curators Cosmin Costinas and Kelli Cole, alongside Claudia Segura. Frieze Abu Dhabi’s invitation-only preview takes place on November 19, with public admission running from November 20 to 22.