Louvre Abu Dhabi announces jury and shortlisted artists for Art Here 2026

2 October 2026

 Arts & Culture

 


 

 

 Louvre Abu Dhabi and luxury Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille have announced the jury and six shortlisted artists for the sixth edition of Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here and the Richard Mille Art Prize, following a highly competitive selection process that attracted more than 300 proposals. The 2026 edition broadens the initiative's reach to include artists from India alongside those from the GCC, bringing together perspectives shaped by centuries of cultural movement, trade, migration and creative exchange between India and the Gulf.

Returning under Louvre Abu Dhabi’s iconic dome from 11 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, Art Here 2026 will showcase the shortlisted artists’ interpretations of the theme Confluences, inviting audiences to consider the connections and shared experiences that continue to shape communities across geographies and generations. The selected works will be presented across Louvre Abu Dhabi’s central plaza beneath its iconic dome, creating new encounters between contemporary artistic practice, architecture, landscape and the museum’s universal narrative.

The jury of Art Here 2026 brings together a distinguished panel from the field of arts and culture. It includes H.H.Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, art collector and patron. His institutional engagements include Tate’s Middle East and North Africa Acquisitions Committee (MENAAC), the Centre Pompidou’s Middle East Committee, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. He is also the Founder and Chairman of UAE Unlimited, an initiative that supported emerging artistic practices in the UAE during its years of activity. Dr. Guilhem André, Director for Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi and a seasoned museum art historian and curator; Kamini Sawhney, a distinguished museum professional and curator, former founding Director of the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, Board member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, and guest curator of Art Here 2026; and Maya Allison, founding Executive Director of the Art Galleries and Chief Curator at New York University Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Guilhem André, Director of Scientific, Curatorial, and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “Art Here is an important platform for contemporary artistic practice at Louvre Abu Dhabi, offering artists the opportunity to engage with the museum’s universal narrative through ambitious new commissions. This year’s shortlisted artists represent a remarkable range of approaches, materials and perspectives, each offering a distinctive reflection on the relationships that connect people, places and histories. We look forward to seeing these proposals develop beneath the museum’s dome and to creating new opportunities for dialogue and discovery for our visitors.”

Tilly Harrison, Managing Director of Richard Mille Middle East and Türkiye, said: “Culture is never created in isolation. It evolves as different ways of seeing the world encounter and influence one another. India and the UAE each possess remarkable cultural depth, together with an openness to reinvention and the future. Art Here 2026 inhabits this space between inheritance and imagination, inviting us to see what we know differently and to give form to what has yet to be imagined.”

The shortlisted artists are Ahaad Alamoudi, a Saudi Arabian artist whose work explores history, representation and the ways cultural identity and visual language are shaped within a rapidly transforming Saudi Arabia; Almaha Jaralla, an Emirati painter working primarily with textile and pigment, whose practice centres on the lived textures of the Gulf, exploring memory, movement and inherited histories across the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Indian Ocean region; Muhammad Shamin Sahrum, a Malaysian artist and designer based in Dubai, whose work explores the visual language of everyday urban life, revealing the patterns, relationships and shared experiences that emerge through movement, migration and community; Ravikumar Kashi, an Indian contemporary visual artist known for his innovative use of diverse media, combining intellectual rigour with a deeply interdisciplinary artistic practice; Reena Kallat, an Indian artist whose work examines political and social borders and their enduring impact on land, people and nature; and Vivek Vilasini, an Indian multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores structures of knowledge, politics and identity through digital and sculptural media

Guest curator for the edition, Kamini Sawhney, said: “Reviewing the proposals for Art Here 2026 has been both a joy and a learning. I was continually impressed by the breadth of approaches and the courage of the proposals that we received for Confluences. It is exhilarating to see artists eager to experiment with new ideas, material and form.

“Arriving at a final selection was a challenge but equally a privilege. The six artists impressed the jury with their willingness to innovate – from fragile assemblage to immersive installation. Each practice brings distinct perspectives that both stand alone and resonate together. The exhibition will, I hope, provide the platform for a lively, if unexpected dialogue between these diverse works, in a spectacular museum setting under the dome, inviting audiences to consider the meeting points where knowledge, histories and materials converge.”

The selected artists will now develop their proposals ahead of Art Here 2026, with the winner of The Richard Mille Art Prize set to receive a US$60,000 award when announced later in the season.

 
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