Observations — Abu Dhabi Art
Which new structures and practices did we come across through Covid-19? — by Jamila Adeli
In November 2021 I decided to travel to Abu Dhabi to visit the annual international art fair, Abu Dhabi Art, the first physical edition after Covid-19. I was very curious to experience my second art event abroad in 2021. Will it feel completely normal or even better with people in exuberant state of minds? Or has Covid-19 turned into a social and structural aperture that latches on the normality of art world events?
Since art world events are predominately social events, the answer seems simple: it is not so much the content, but the organizational architecture of the event that has changed. But it is not only the practice of daily testing and giving proof of your vaccination status which has changed. What is new is the awareness of a seemingly collective topic that artists, collectors, gallerists and other participants of the fair that creates as peculiar type of belonging or unrelatedness.
Whereas my visit to Frieze, London, in October felt uncannily normal in terms of infrastructure (except for the golden wrist strap that said „Covid-19 cleared“ we received at the entrance), Abu Dhabi Art was an entirely different experience.
Screenshot Al Hosn App
In order to enter the UAE and partake at Abu Dhabi Art, I was obliged to use the Al Hosn app which is the UAE’s official app for contract tracing and health status related to Covid-19. All PCR-test results which I received while being in Abu Dhabi were sent to this app - a requirement to enter the country, to leave the airport, and to participate as exhibitor and visitor at the fair. The combination of full vaccination and regular negative PCR tests results into a “green pass” which is indicated through the Al Hosn app (see image). The green pass serves as an entrance ticket to many public sites like malls or the art fair.
Although it felt very restrictive and patronizing, I felt and observed that the majority of people using the app in the context of the fair trust the orders of the state and felt that their security and health was taken care of. In general in this context, there seemed to be a sense of trust towards most Covid-19 predicaments by the state, be it by the locals or by those who flew in.
It was interesting to me that most new practices and structures which occurred on site due to the Covid-19 regulations were considered as somehow normal: heavy entrance control at the fair, including body temperature check, app-proof that shows your image, your passport ID, the date and result of your last PCR-test etc. Although some precautions felt exaggerated (daily PCR-testing, sudden closure of one exhibition hall due to a positive test result during the ongoing fair business), the daily time consuming PCR testing practices on site and the spontaneous fair re-organizations due to delayed test results or positive cases which were communicated via what’s app were widely accepted. The art event was well organized and strictly conducted - practices that made participants feel very safe and enabled a normal viewing and business experience.
Amidst this peculiar normality, however, a new phenomena emerged: the Covid-19-small talk.
Covid-19 evolved into an ice-breaker when networking or small-talking. It connected visitors, gallerists, artists, collectors, and other actors involved at the fair. It became also the subject of intense discussions and an explanatory model to understand why sales are slow, why there is limited seating at an exquisite dinner, why there are fewer visitors than during the last edition, or why some participants prefer staying in their hotels instead of socializing at receptions.
Individual regulations introduced by different states to control the pandemic situation and how each public reacts to them was the most prominent topic, followed by the question how the gallery, institution or artist „managed“ the lock-downs. In fact, what we discussed was a completely new context of art making, art selling and art viewing, with each person sharing different coping strategies to the drastic change of the art world.
Besides the emergence of material structures like massive access control at airport check ins and events, new discursive structures seem to evolve at social gatherings of cosmopolitan actors, paired with a new relationship of state and individual where the state seems to be the guardian of the nation’s health and security.
It was interesting and expected to experience how rigid all anti-Covid measure were conducted by the state of Abu Dhabi but also how seriously those rules were followed. Not only the airport in Abu Dhabi was heavily equipped with filled up sanitizers and “Please wear your mask”-signs, but also taxis, all public spaces like museums, shopping malls, hotels, and of course the art fair. I noticed a lot of staff that was employed to handle the disinfection and PRC-testing at public spaces. As a result, the following of measures and procedures was quick and efficient and didn’t really complicate my navigation through the airport, the hotel or at a mall.
I hardly noticed people without masks, I never witnessed arguing against the precautions. The city, at least what I observed during my stay at the places I went, seemed to follow with the measurements, perhaps because they were in consent or afraid to demonstrate their opinion towards them. The latter might be the case as violation - and since very recently - making fun of anti-Covid measures on social medial are said to be penalized by the state.