ArtDayME: The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Art Gallery celebrated ten years since its founding with the opening of the exhibition "In Real Time". The exhibition opened on February 22, and will continue to grow and change over the coming months, “In real time.”

The exhibition is curated by Executive Director of the NYUAD Art Gallery Maya Allison, with a curatorial intervention by Curator and Research Assistant Professor Duygu Demir, who recently joined NYU Abu Dhabi. Demir is collaborating with artist Gözde İlkin to install an entire scenography, to be activated by performers in the coming months.

^{Installation view: Gözde İlkin, Entrusted Ground, 2022-ongoing. Dyed and stitched fabrics, fiber filling, stones, twigs, video, 3-channel sound, performance, dimensions variable. Photo: John Varghese.}

Maya Allison commented, “Every time I embark on a new curatorial project, I ask the ‘why’ of art. This line of questioning is a bracing, uncomfortable process, but a very rewarding one because the answer changes depending on what is happening in the world. In Real Time emerges in response to a sense of urgency, today: perhaps art can offer something different from the news, from the scroll, and yet not distract us or make us forget.

As the show evolves, history unfolds around us. What do we need from a space for art in this particular moment, in this particular part of the world, in a university, in an academic gallery? I hope this exhibition allows for any number of responses.”

^{Haleh Redjaian, “Untitled,” 2020. Thread Installation, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Valerie Traan Gallery, Antwerpen. Photo: Ligia Poplawska}

A number of artists have already installed artworks, and others will make work in the future. As of today, artists assembled by Chief Curator Maya Allison include Moza Almatrooshi, Rana Begum, Chafa Ghaddar, Gözde İlkin, Sol LeWitt, Cristiana de Marchi, and Haleh Redjaian, as well as the artist trio Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian with Julie Becton Gillum and Kiori Kawai. 

^{Rana Begum, “No.1254” (detail), 2023. Ink on paper, 213 x 150 cm. Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line, Dubai. Image courtesy of Begum Studio}

^{Chafa Ghaddar, “Sources #14”, 2023. Mixed media on paper, 36 x 48 cm. Courtesy of the artist}

^{Gözde İlkin, “Bearing Souls,” 2023. Patchwork, embroidery, and painting on bundle fabric, 135 x 122 cm. Part of the installation “Entrusted Ground,” 2022-ongoing.}

^{Cristiana de Marchi, “Black Square,” 2022. Hand-knitted wool stretched on board, 98 x 98 cm. Courtesy of the artist​}