Louvre Abu Dhabi, along with Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille, announces the six artists shortlisted for the 2026 Art Here exhibition and Richard Mille Art Prize. Marking its sixth edition, the programme has grown from a regional showcase into a broader platform welcoming artists from India alongside creators from the GCC for the first time.
Taking place under Louvre Abu’s iconic Dome from 11 November, 2026, to 28 February, 2027, Art Here 2026 will showcase the shortlisted artists’ interpretations of the theme Confluences, exploring the connections and the shared experiences that bind communities across different geographies.
The jury of Art Here 2026 brings together a distinguished panel from the field of arts and culture, including H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, an art collector and patron known for his diverse institutional engagements; Dr Guilhem André, Director for Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi, Kamini Sawhney, the former founding Director of the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, a Board member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art; and guest curator of Art Here 2026, along with Maya Allison, the founding Executive Director of the Art Galleries and Chief Curator at New York University Abu Dhabi.
The Shortlisted Artists
Ahaad Alamoudi
Born in Saudi Arabia and raised between Saudi and UK, Ahaad Alamoudi’s multidisciplinary work explores history, representation, and cultural identity in a rapidly transforming Saudi Arabia through photography, video, print installations, performance, and sculpture. Her recent solo exhibitions include Unmirror at Athr Gallery, Riyadh and Sunkissed at Sharjah Art Foundation, which also marked her first solo exhibition in the UAE.
Almaha Jaralla
Almaha Jaralla is an Emirati painter, exploring the lived textures of the Gulf, working primarily with textile and pigment. Her work further examines the inherited histories across the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Indian Ocean region. Her most recent exhibition came as part of the NYU Abu Dhabi NFA Thesis Exhibition 2026, “Mutable Devotions”, where her work examined how the region is still presented, marketed and understood through the orientalist lens once used by foreigners.
Shamin Sharum
Shamin Sharum is a Malaysian artist based in Dubai, specialising in Design Research and Art Direction. His work often sits at the meeting point of architecture, art, and design, exploring daily urban life through a distinctive visual language.
Ravikumar Kashi
Ravikumar Kashi is an Indian contemporary artist; his interdisciplinary approach to art is often centred out “the mechanics of meaning-making”. Through diverse mediums like painting, sculpture, photography and installations with added emphasis on paper. With his “works with paper, not on paper” approach, he creates intricate three-dimensional forms that challenge conventional perceptions of the material.
Reena Kallat
Born in Delhi, India, Reena Kallat’s work spans drawing, photography, sculpture, and video, where she dissects ideas that hold each other in tension. Her work also addresses themes of migration, identity, and boundaries that shape human experience. Her work is presented widely across international and domestic galleries alike, with her upcoming exhibition taking place at Richard Salton Gallery in London, opening on 13th October.
Vivek Vilasini
The Indian multidisciplinary artist primarily explores how cultural meanings migrate across geographies and media. He views identity as ever evolving and constantly negotiated through everyday experiences, collective memory, and shifting contexts. In 2008, he began his long-term ecological project in Munnar, Kerala, transforming six acres of land into a regenerative food forest, a living artwork that blurs the boundaries between art, ecology, and social sculpture.
