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Art Now - A Sharp Turn to the Gulf : Dreamers and Doers contemporary art world is headed East , toward the Gulf , launching monumenta l projects . five years the world ' s best architects , artists , and leading galleries and auction houses will be in one place in the United Arab Emirates called Dubai . Rachel Sukman The dream of shifting the center of gravity from the West to the East is taking shape these days . How ? With an unprecedented investment of gigantic budgets centered on human resources . Thus , at top speed that only big money can secure , the Gulf is gradually establishing itself as a hub of culture and art on an international scale . The thought behind this concerns not only commerce , but also art education , as well as the heritage of the East and a future dialogue between those coming from the West and those staying in the East . Two years ago the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development & Investment Company ( TDIC ) approached leading architects , artists , museums , galleries , curators , collectors , and organizers of international art fairs and biennials in a desire to shape unique artistic initiatives . In January 2007 an exhibition was opened in Abu Dhabi ' s Emirates Palace Hotel under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan , Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi . The exhibition features work by four of the world ' s most distinguished architects : Zaha Hadid , Jean Nouvel , Frank Gehry , and Tadao Ando , who present select models of architectural projects for massive art structures . The commissioners ' goal is to position the United Arab Emirates' capital , the Saadiyat Island ( Island of Happiness ) , as a district of Western and Eastern culture . All four architects are international award winners and three of them ( Nouvel excluded ) are recipients of the Pritzker Prize - architecture's most coveted citation . Frank Gehry is planning the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi , a museum of contemporary art , the only one of its kind in the Middle East . Gehry ' s concept discusses a 320 , 000 sq . ft . museum which would be the largest Guggenheim Museum in the world . It is designed to accommodate 130 , 000 sq . feet of gallery space , as well as permanent collections , galleries for special exhibitions , a center for art and technology , a children's art education center , archives , research center , library , and a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory . According to Gehry : "Approaching the design of the museum for Abu Dhabi made it possible , acrylic on canvas , 46 x 61 cm . Courtesy of The Third Line , Dubai
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