The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, in partnership with the Seoul Museum of Art, has announced the conclusion of the 'Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā' (Streams and Visions)' exhibition in the South Korean capital, Seoul. The exhibition, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honorary Founder of the Abu Dhabi Festival, attracted over 75,000 visitors. It stands as the first and largest exhibition of its kind, showcasing visual arts from the United Arab Emirates in East Asia and the Republic of Korea. The exhibition, which opened on December 15, 2025, as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival abroad program, was jointly organized and produced by the two institutions and ran until March 29, 2026. It featured 110 artworks by 47 artists from the UAE, including 33 Emirati artists. These works were displayed at the Seoul Museum of Art, marking the second pivotal phase of the institutional partnership between the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA). The first phase of this collaboration was the 'Multimedia: We Are All Open Circles' exhibition, hosted by the Department at the Saadiyat Lighthouse in Abu Dhabi from May 16 to June 30, 2025. Curated by Maya Al Khalil and Kyung Hwan Yu, it offered an expanded reading of the art experiences based on multimedia in Korea from the 1960s to the present day. Over its four-month run, 'Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā'' featured six public programs, including dialogue sessions and art events, that attracted a global audience, contributing to the expansion of cultural dialogue between the UAE and Korea and enhancing international interaction with the diverse artistic landscapes of both countries. To continue this institutional partnership, two publications were launched at the end of March as part of the exhibition's public program. These publications, featuring the co-curators Maya Al Khalil, Kyung Hwan Yu, and Eunju Kim, document the exhibition organized in Seoul and the one hosted by Abu Dhabi. They provide a comprehensive documentation of the artistic project's trajectory and the intellectual dialogue that accompanied its development, serving as a permanent reference for this collaboration between the two institutions through contributions from artists, curators, and writers from both nations, documenting the exchange of ideas and visions between Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Her Excellency Huda Ibrahim Al Khemais, founder of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and the Artistic Director of the Abu Dhabi Festival, stated that under the generous patronage of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the exhibition 'Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā'' served as a pivotal milestone in the historical partnership between the Department and the Seoul Museum of Art. It embodied a gathering point for artists from the UAE and Korea in the capital, Seoul, to narrate the story of the meeting of minds and the bonds of culture, creating a magical impetus with an enduring legacy. The exhibition brought together 110 artworks by 47 artists from three generations, including 33 Emirati artists. She added that the exhibition highlighted five decades of the genesis and evolution of contemporary Emirati visual art. Its three sections presented creative visions that reflected a wide spectrum of differing ideas, diverse experiences, and trajectories within contexts of exchange and integration, adjacency and dialogue, between the constant and the variable, the unified and the different. Through the exhibition, Emirati artists preserved the authenticity of their visions, contributing to the enrichment of regional and global contexts, between a deep-rooted heritage and an advanced future. Their works opened up to other echoes and new dimensions with a thought that builds civilization and enhances human connection. The first publication, 'Multidimensional Dialogues: We Are All Open Circles,' is published in parallel with the exhibition held in Abu Dhabi as part of the institutional partnership. It explores the multimedia-based art experiences in Korea spanning over four decades, featuring 48 artworks by 29 artists, with color photographs of the works, composite scenes, and detailed documentation, alongside articles and critical readings that engage in a critical dialogue with the exhibited works, as well as articles by the artistic curators that formed the intellectual framework of the exhibition. The second publication, 'Multidimensional Dialogues: Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā'', presents five decades of contemporary Emirati visual art through three generations of artists and serves as an accompanying critical catalog to the exhibition curated by Maya Al Khalil and Eunju Kim. It includes 110 artworks by 47 artists from the UAE. Through contributions from artists residing in the UAE and writers from Korea, it brings together multiple visions shaped in spaces of convergence and divergence. The artworks, influenced by rapid social transformations in the UAE, are juxtaposed with readings offered by Korean writers from their historical and cultural perspectives. Curator Maya Al Khalil stated that the collaboration began with the aim of understanding what happens in the moments of cultural encounter. She noted that a true exchange is not about transferring one scene to another but about a mutual interaction between both parties. The publications sought to present this interaction by placing the artistic practices of the UAE in dialogue with Korean visions, and vice versa. Writers were given an open space to interact with the ideas of each exhibition from their own perspective, without specific themes or prior directives. Curator Kyung Hwan Yu remarked that the exhibition and its publication are in a complementary relationship, where each naturally completes the other. Curator Eunju Kim explained that the goal of this collaboration was not merely to present contemporary art from the UAE to Korea but to build a pathway that allows for the convergence of different cultural contexts to be re-read from new angles. She highlighted that the exhibition 'Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā'' provided the Korean public with an opportunity to discover the diversity of artistic practices by artists residing in the UAE, placing various cultural experiences and visions in an open dialogue. The publication 'Multidimensional Dialogues: Ruwāfid wa Ru'ā'' brought together artists, curators, and writers. Through this partnership with the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism reaffirms the UAE's commitment to fostering cultural dialogue and building bridges of communication between artists from the UAE and the Republic of Korea, supporting co-creation and strengthening human ties through art and knowledge. This institutional collaboration is part of the cultural diplomatic mission undertaken by the Department, enhancing the UAE's and the Arab world's presence on the global cultural stage through sustainable artistic partnerships and continuous creative cooperation.
