The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF), in partnership with the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), has opened ‘Proximities’, the largest exhibition of contemporary visual art from the United Arab Emirates ever presented in East Asia. The exhibition is part of the Abu Dhabi Festival Abroad programme and represents the second phase of a major institutional collaboration between Abu Dhabi and Seoul.
Inaugurated on December 15th, 2025, at SeMA and running until March 29th, 2026, ‘Proximities’ features more than 110 works by 47 UAE-based artists, including 33 Emirati artists. Spanning three generations, the exhibition traces five decades of artistic production in the Emirates across photography, video, painting, sculpture, performance, and installation. The opening was attended by senior officials and cultural leaders from the UAE and the Republic of Korea, and the inauguration was led by H.E. Sheikh Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi, UAE Minister of Culture.
Co-curated by Maya El Khalil and Eunju Kim, the exhibition is structured around three thematic sections developed with guest curators Farah Al Qasimi, Mohammed Kazem and Cristiana de Marchi, and the artist trio Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian (RRH). The exhibition examines how different forms of proximity—human, geographic, and cultural—shape artistic meaning across contexts and generations. The exhibition is also complemented by a public programme featuring panel discussions with the curators and artists.
The exhibition includes works by leading and emerging artists such as Hassan Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, Nujoom Al Ghanem, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Shaikha Al Mazrou, and Vikram Divecha, among others, highlighting the breadth of contemporary artistic practice in the UAE.
‘Proximities’ forms part of a three-year collaboration between ADMAF and SeMA, launched in 2024 under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The partnership includes co-curated exhibitions in Abu Dhabi and Seoul during 2025–26, as well as artist residencies, co-commissioned works, public programmes, and institutional exchange initiatives aimed at strengthening cultural ties between the UAE and South Korea.