In 2000 a man who always knew exactly what he wanted had come out of the desert and now led a rich young country. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intended to host major political and diplomatic conferences in his new capital city. He needed a palace to reflect his country’s status and stability – a grand civic building along the shore of the city. It would be a guest palace for kings, sheikhs, sultans, for all the world’s leaders. Wimberly’s company was in the business of designing just such edifices, having recently completed a new palace for the Sultan of Brunei.
In 2005 the Emirates Palace Hotel opened its doors. It boasted as well as rooms suited to a luxury hotel, six rulers' suites – one for the leader of each of the Emirates, sixteen Palace Suites and 22 three-bedroom suites for hosting heads of state and their guests.The Hotel and that other Abu Dhabi landmark, the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque are each built on an imposing scale. Both are tied to architectural conventions, the mosque to Islam, the hotel to civic architecture. Both are lavishly decorated and both are surprisingly accessible for the visitor to the country.
Sheik Zayed was renowned for his hospitality, for his open-handedness, for his accessibility and these buildings, institutions now, reflect this.
The hotel is owned by the government, and is integral to future plans for the Emirates. One of these plans is for Abu Dhabi to become a cultural icon, a world class venue for global art.
Saadiyat Island development is at the locus of these plans. Five major cultural institutions will open on Saadiyat between 2012 and 2013. These will include Frank Gehry’s Gugenheim, Jean Nouvel’s Louvre and Zaha Habib’s Performing Arts Centre.
In the interim the Emirates Palace Hotel cultural program is doing its bit to prepare the residents of the UAE and the world for the grand opening.This is happening through a range of programs. Government entities have been established to coordinate these programs. The Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) are just two.
TDIC is a master developer of cultural, residential and tourism destinations in Abu Dhabi and has also produced programs, educational courses and exhibitions as part of its portfolio.
ADACH’s platform for the visual arts is to bring together contributions from contemporary artists from the UAE and from throughout the Arab world.
Over the past few years the Emirates Palace, with assistance from these and other overseas institutions has provided a venue for both performing and applied arts, giving the public a taste of what is to come after 2013.
Opera, ballet and classical music are performed at the Emirates Palace Hotel Theatre which also hosts the annual Middle East International Film Festival.
Pop and classical music stars perform regularly on the palace lawns.
Gallery One is where the applied arts are displayed. These programs have included such a variety of exhibitions as - The Arts of Islam: Treasures of the Nasser D Khalili Collection; Picasso Abu Dhabi; Emirati Expressions; Talking Art: Louvre Abu Dhabi.
2009 saw the inauguration of Abu Dhabi Art, a curated art fair and the commercial arm of Abu Dhabi’s art project. This event featured programs developed with a range of specialists, among them Anne Baldassari, the director of the Musée National Picasso in Paris, Jack Persekian, the artistic director of the Sharjah Biennial and Richard Armstrong the director of the Guggenheim Museum.
During Abu Dhabi Art Gallery One featured Signature an exhibition of contemporary Emirati artists and the grounds of the hotel displayed sculptures and site specific installations. These shows were linked to the first exhibition held on Saadiyat Island at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Disorientations II curated by Jack Persekian, which is still on display.
The current show at Gallery One is The Guggenheim: The Making of A Museum which is running until February 4, 2010. This show consists of educational programs, lectures, workshops, films as well as displaying the work of over forty modernist, non representational artists . These include the work of Jackson Pollock, Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne and Willem de Kooning. Some of these works have never been shown before, some have never travelled outside the United States.
An exhibition held all year round at the Emirates Palace is the Saadiyat Island Cultural District Exhibition. Visitors are encouraged to spend a few hours in this space which displays in a range of media plans for art and culture in Abu Dhabi. The displays include profiles of the architects, models of the buildings and information on the cultural partners and content for the museums. In spite of the gold leaf, the crystal chandeliers, the hotel manages to balance grandeur and accessibility, to juggle being a luxury hotel destination with securely accommodating heads of state, with operating coffee shops and restaurants with hosting rock star performances and international art exhibitions. The Emirates Palace Hotel has become the hub of cultural life in Abu Dhabi. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2013 when the focus shifts to Saadiyat.
