A Cultural Bridge Between UAE and Korea
The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF) has successfully celebrated the Proximities exhibition, a landmark event in cultural exchange between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Korea. This collaboration with the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) was held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Founding Honorary Patron of Abu Dhabi Festival.
Proximities marks a significant milestone as it is the first large-scale exhibition of UAE art in Korea and the largest exhibition of contemporary visual art from the UAE ever presented in East Asia. The exhibition was part of the Abu Dhabi Festival’s “Abroad Programme” and took place in Seoul from 15th December 2025 to 29th March 2026, welcoming over 75,000 visitors.
A Showcase of Emirati and Korean Artistic Talent
The exhibition featured more than 110 works by 47 UAE-based artists, including 33 Emirati artists, displayed at SeMA. This initiative marked the second chapter of a three-year institutional collaboration between ADMAF and SeMA. The first instalment, Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits, co-curated by Maya El Khalil and Kyung-Hwan Yeo, was presented at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi from 16th May to 30th June 2025. It explored media-based practices from Korea spanning the 1960s to the present.
Both exhibitions, along with their accompanying public programmes, attracted audiences from around the world, highlighting the growing cultural ties between Korea and the UAE. The exhibitions deepened international engagement with the diverse facets of each country’s art scene.
Publications as a Legacy of Collaboration
To commemorate this two-part institutional collaboration, two joint publications were launched in March 2026 as part of the Proximities public programme. Curators Maya El Khalil, Eunju Kim, and Kyung-Hwan Yeo introduced the catalogues documenting the exhibitions in Seoul and Abu Dhabi.
These publications serve as a physical archive of the exhibitions, offering an opportunity to reflect on the curatorial journey and the dialogue that shaped both projects. They form a lasting record of the collaboration, bringing together artists, curators, and practitioners from each country writing about the other, and documenting the exchange of ideas that took place between Korea and the UAE.
Insights from Key Figures in the Art World
Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder of ADMAF and Founder and Artistic Director of Abu Dhabi Festival, highlighted the significance of the exhibition. She noted that the event marked a major milestone in the historic partnership between ADMAF and SeMA. The exhibition brought together artists from the UAE and Korea in a vibrant meeting of ideas and cultural bonds, cultivating meaningful artistic dialogue and a lasting cultural legacy.
She emphasized that the exhibition traced five decades of the emergence and evolution of contemporary Emirati art, highlighting diverse artistic perspectives reflecting a wide spectrum of ideas, experiences, and creative trajectories within contexts of exchange and dialogue.
Expanding the Dialogue Through Publications
“Layered Dialogues: We Are in Open Circuits” is the first of the two-part publication series produced in parallel with the two exhibitions of contemporary art developed through the institutional collaboration between ADMAF and SeMA. This publication presents media-based practices from Korea across more than four decades, featuring 48 works by 29 artists with full-colour reproductions, installation views, and detailed documentation.
The second publication, “Layered Dialogues: Proximities,” showcases five decades of contemporary visual art from the UAE and the experiences of three generations of UAE-based artists, bringing them into dialogue with the Korean context. It features more than 110 works by 47 artists across three generations, with contributions from UAE-based artists and Korean writers.
Curators’ Perspectives on the Collaboration
Curator Maya El Khalil expressed her vision for the collaboration, emphasizing the importance of curiosity in moments of encounter. She noted that true exchange avoids telegraphing one scene into another, and the publications seek two-way transmission, situating UAE artistic practices in relation to Korean perspectives, and vice versa.
Curator Kyung-Hwan Yeo highlighted the organic relationship between the exhibition and its catalogue, stating that they complement each other. He hoped that the catalogue would serve as a vessel for cherished memories for those who experienced the Layered Medium exhibition firsthand.
Curator Eunju Kim shared her thoughts on the value of the collaboration, emphasizing the creation of a process where different cultural contexts could meet, be translated, and be read anew. She noted that Proximities opened a new point of encounter for Korean audiences by presenting the diverse artistic practices of UAE-based artists.
Strengthening Cultural Ties Through Art
Through the organisation of these exhibitions in collaboration with SeMA, ADMAF reaffirms the UAE’s commitment to fostering cultural dialogue and strengthening connections between artists in the UAE and the Republic of Korea. This institutional partnership forms part of ADMAF’s broader cultural diplomacy mission, reinforcing the UAE’s soft power engagement through sustained and meaningful artistic collaboration.
