Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation expands global dialogue with major Seoul exhibition

Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Seoul Museum of Art are preparing to unveil Proximities, a landmark group exhibition opening at Seoul Museum of Art from December 16th, 2025 to February 22nd, 2026 as part of Abu Dhabi Festival Abroad. Naturally embedded within the wider Abu Dhabi Festival programme, the project positions cultural exchange as a living, evolving process rather than a fixed narrative.

Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation: ‘Proximities’ in Seoul

Conceived as the most extensive presentation of contemporary art from the UAE ever staged in Korea, the exhibition brings together more than 100 works by 47 UAE-based artists spanning three generations. Through photography, video, painting, sculpture, performance and installation, Proximities examines how meaning shifts across geography, memory and shared cultural space.

Abu Dhabi Festival and artistic propositions

One chapter, developed in collaboration with Farah Al Qasimi, unfolds through uncanny photographic scenes set within imagined domestic interiors, offering speculative reflections on life in the Emirates from the 1990s to today. Another brings together Mohammed Kazem and Cristiana de Marchi in an immersive exploration of physical and psychological disorientation, where memory, displacement and belonging are rendered through layered spatial experiences. The final proposition, conceived by the artist trio Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian, centres on the square-within-a-square motif, deconstructing familiar ideas of nation-building and the rituals of everyday life.

Across these three strands, works by artists including Hassan Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Ala Younis, Rand Abduljabbar and Jumairy trace a dialogue between the personal and the collective. Recontextualised within Seoul’s urban and cultural landscape, the artworks acquire renewed meaning, demonstrating how proximity can reshape perception without dissolving difference. Co-curated by Maya El Khalil and Eunju Kim, the exhibition draws audiences into richly layered worlds shaped by collaboration, contrast and exchange.

Her Excellency Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Artistic Director of Abu Dhabi Festival, said: “Following the resounding success of Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits, held earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, Proximities builds upon the landmark collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and the Seoul Museum of Art, marking another significant chapter in the cultural relationship between our two cities. Presented as part of Abu Dhabi Festival, Proximities brings together three generations of artists connected to the UAE and contributing to the country’s dynamic transformations.” She also noted that in an interconnected world, cultures exist closer than geography alone suggests, emphasising art’s power to foster dialogue, understanding and shared humanity.

Alongside the exhibition, a dedicated publication and public programme of talks and screenings will further extend the conversation between the UAE and Korea. By foregrounding artistic exchange as both method and message, Proximities reinforces Abu Dhabi Festival’s commitment to global cultural dialogue. Ultimately, the project affirms creativity as a bridge between histories, geographies and future possibilities.