Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial Is A Creative Wonderland

‘Floating Fragments’ by Seema Nusrat, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial (PAAD), a brand new showcase of public artworks and interventions taking place across the city and its surroundings, kicked off in mid-November with an array of interactive installations. Running through April 30, 2025, the mission of PAAD is to remake the familiar urban landscapes of Abu Dhabi into a platform that encourages creative expression and public engagement, in line with a national commitment to bolster arts and culture as a driver of economic and social development.

“Over the years, Abu Dhabi has witnessed an unprecedented surge in its cultural endeavors, building on decades of cultural prosperity and institutionalization,” says Rita Aoun, executive director of the Culture Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi. “[This Biennial will further] establish the emirate as a vibrant centre for artistic and creative exchange,” she continues. “With initiatives like this, we celebrate artistic achievements, strengthen the foundation for Abu Dhabi’s cultural future, and contribute to the Emirates’s vision of cultural sustainability.”

Featuring works devised by over 70 distinctive local and international artists and designers, take a look at our top picks from the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial.

Delve Into Key Works From The Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial

1. Wsh Wsh / The Conversation (flows) by Lawrence Abu Hamdan

‘Wsh Wsh’ by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Based in Beirut, Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist, activist, and researcher who specializes in combining contemporary art and the exploration of sound. His commissioned work for PAAD, titled ‘Wsh Wsh,’ takes the form of fifteen different sculptural interventions placed within the public fountains. Water-driven instruments create a soft, gentle procession of percussion, giving a new tangibility to the organic pulse of the public spaces and underpasses that surround the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is then complemented by an art film, The Conversation (flows), shot by Abu Hamdan on location, which captures fragments of dialogue partially obscured by the acoustics of the sculptures.

2. Floating Fragments by Seema Nusrat

‘Floating Fragments’ by Seema Nusrat, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Pakistani visual artist Seema Nusrat draws inspiration from the vibrant urban environments of her home country, unpacking the complex bonds between people and their environment. Her ‘Floating Fragments’ installation, partially submerged in the eponymous waters of Abu Dhabi’s Lake Park, is a response to the increased risks of flooding brought about by climate change. Taking the form of traditional clay roofing tiles, the sunken structure reference the dangers that urbanization and modernization pose to cultural heritage, compelling viewers to consider the need for balance between development and preservation.

3. You Were There Abu Dhabi by Yeesookyung

‘You Were There Abu Dhabi’ by Yeesookyung, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

A multidisciplinary artist and sculptor from South Korea, Yeesookyung is well-known for her investigations of various cultures and belief systems through her works. For PAAD, she has created ‘You Were There Abu Dhabi,’ a continuation of her ongoing ‘You Were There’ series. Based on an AI-generated image of “a rock on top of the highest mountain of the world,” Yeesookyung 3D-printed a pair of sculptures and coated them in 24 karat gold leaf, illuminating every textural detail and symbolizing a spiritual transformation. An accompanying video—featuring performances of traditional, non-lyrical songs—sees Korean singer Kim Tae Young bless the sculptures before their journey to Abu Dhabi, before Emirati singer Saif Al Ali welcomes them.

4. Barzakh by Wael Al Awar

‘Barzakh’ by Wael Al Awar, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Architect and co-founder of the Dubai and Tokyo-based studio waiwai, Wael Al Awar’s design practice seeks sustainable solutions by recontextualizing waste materials as useful resources. His ‘Barzakh’ installation, located on Abu Dhabi’s iconic Corniche, responds to local and global environmental challenges by transforming recycled plastic, palm fibers and brine into modular elements that combine to form a lightweight, dismantlable shelter. The name ‘Barzakh’ invokes a boundary or liminal space, asking viewers to engage with how these materials and processes may shape the architectural future of Abu Dhabi by proposing a new way of utilizing local materials.

5. A 1% offering: collective messages to our ancestors by Oscar Murillo

‘A 1% offering: collective messages to our ancestors’ by Oscar Murillo, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Colombian artist Oscar Murillo’s PAAD piece—titled ‘A 1% offering: collective messages to our ancestors’—is a collaborative mural painting that covers one-percent of Abu Dhabi’s Corniche in large, black linen sheets. Reflecting upon notions of immigration and struggle, this immense installation symbolizes Abu Dhabi’s historical connection to the sea and the rapid pace of the Emirates’s urban development.

6. We trapped us in a frame, in the earth: Reflections on a surface by Radhika Khimji

‘We trapped us in a frame, in the earth: Reflections on a surface’ by Radhika Khimji, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

‘We trapped us in a frame, in the earth: Reflections on a surface,’ created for PAAD by Omani artist Radhika Khimji, depicts a mountainous landscape that has been screen-printed onto canvas and then mounted on a wooden billboard, similar to those used to screen construction sites from public view. Rather than simply showing a static image, the embedded mirrors reflect the urban environment of Abu Dhabi around the work, bringing together the past, the present, and the speculative possibilities of the future through the work.

7. Urban River by Kader Attia

‘Urban River’ by Kader Attia, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Algerian-French artist Kader Attia’s artistic practice explores the interlinked notions of injury and repair, using them to explore the legacies of imperialism and colonialism. Composed of a trio of stainless steel frames, his ‘Urban River’ installation replicates cracks found in the roads and pavements of contemporary urban environments—a representation of the impermanent, imperfect nature of man-made structures. When reoriented vertically, these cracks present the viewer with a map of the overlooked erosion always present in their artificial environment, leading the eye away from the ground and upwards, towards the sky.

8. Where Lies My Carpet Is Thy Home by Christopher Joshua Benton

‘Where Lies My Carpet Is Thy Home’ by Christopher Joshua Benton, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

A collaborative, large-scale intervention led by American artist Christopher Joshua Benton, ‘Where Lies My Carpet Is Thy Home’ was developed by Benton in collaboration with the immigrant merchants of Abu Dhabi’s Carpet Souk, threading together their personal anecdotes and stories of home into a colorful tapestry of diverse narratives. A reinterpretation of the Afghan war carpets of the 1980s, woven together with an 8-bit pixel art style, the piece offers both visitors and residents an opportunity to reflect upon the experiences of those coming to the emirate in search of new opportunities.

9. Homesickness by Farah Al Qasimi

‘Homesickness’ by Farah Al Qasimi, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Emirati multidisciplinary artist Farah Al Qasimi’s ‘Homesickness’ PAAD commission presents viewers with a physical and auditory representation of Abu Dhabi’s traditional pearl trade—a legacy that shaped both the culture and the economy of the Emirates for generations. Composed of five large-scale oyster statues arranged in a circle, each sculpture hides built-in speakers that play a choral composition, also created by the artist, inspired by a traditional song once sung by the wives of pearl divers. Combined with the iridescent interiors and gently shifting LED lights of the shell structures, Al Qasimi infuses an icon of her country’s history with modern technology, transforming it into a contemporary, multi-sensory experience.

10. My Courtyard by Azza Al Qubaisi

‘My Courtyard’ by Azza Al Qubaisi, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Widely recognized as a UAE jewelry artist, Azza Al Qubaisi blends metal and natural materials to create her art, combining elements of traditional craftsmanship with modern-day sensibilities. For PAAD, she has created ‘My Courtyard,’ a group of semi-enclosed, pod-like shelters that provide comfort, shade and respite to passersby traveling between the Emirates Post and the Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre. The walls are formed from mild steel, with their organic shapes inspired by those of undulating sand dunes and ocean waves, while the grass flooring separates the peaceful environment inside from the urban sprawl outside.

11. Clearing by Athar Jaber

‘Clearing’ by Athar Jaber, Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2024 – 2025.

Second-generation Iraqi artist Athar Jaber uses traditional sculpture techniques as a means to engage with material, cultural, and architectural significance of stone with the context of human development across time. This practice is very much embodied in his ‘Clearing’ piece, which centers upon an anthropomorphic channel carved through a monolithic chunk of regional limestone, literally symbolizing the relationship between the material and humanity, while also ruminating on ideas of presence and absence.