Culture Summit Abu Dhabi

Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2018 was the world’s first high-level summit dedicated to exploring the transformative power of culture. This groundbreaking event brought together leaders from the fields of arts, media, and technology to identify ways culture can raise awareness, foster understanding, and drive positive change on a global scale.

Organized and produced by The Rothkopf Group (TRG) and The Canales Project Ventures (TCPV), in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism, the summit featured a series of curated performances, exhibits, and interventions by renowned artists and musicians from around the world. These collaborations transcended disciplinary and cultural boundaries, showcasing the potential of art and culture to unite people and inspire innovation.

Grimanesa Amorós was a featured participant in one of the summit’s panel discussions. Known for her large-scale light installations and interdisciplinary works, Amorós provided valuable insights into the role of art in shaping cultural narratives. She shared her experiences creating immersive installations that blend light, sculpture, and architecture, emphasizing how her work reflects cultural identity and social issues.

Amorós also discussed the challenges and rewards of collaborating across disciplines and cultures. Her talk highlighted the importance of art for fostering dialogue and understanding in an increasingly interconnected world. By sharing her creative process and vision, Amorós inspired attendees to think beyond traditional boundaries and embrace the transformative power of art.

Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2018 served as a platform for meaningful dialogue and exchange, highlighting the role of culture in addressing pressing global challenges. By bringing together diverse voices and perspectives, the summit emphasized the importance of creativity and collaboration in shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

The summit left a lasting impact, inspiring new partnerships and projects that continue to promote cultural understanding and innovation. By showcasing the power of art to transcend boundaries, Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2018 set a new standard for global cultural events.

(00:25) It’s my great pleasure right now to shift our attention to another of our artists in residence, Grimanesa Amorós.

(00:46) So I’d really like to ask you, how did you come to use light as art form? How did that start?

(00:53) I started in Iceland about 18 years ago.

(00:56) I just couldn’t sleep, and so all of a sudden I woke up and I saw this amazing sky.

(01:02) Of course, for now, all of us know it as the Northern Lights or the aurora borealis.

(01:07) At the time, I didn’t know exactly what it was.

(01:09) I just couldn’t stop saying, wow.

(01:11) It took me many years, over 10 years, to see how could I start this.

(01:16) And I went into working first with lighting for theater, which I didn’t enjoy as much because it was not green and it requires a lot of power and a lot of maintenance, changing yellows and so on and so. That’s the reason why I started working with light.

(01:45) I’m curious about your Uros series. Could you talk to us a little bit about that?

(01:49) All the LCD screens around Times Square became the reflection for the lighting outside, which is ever-changing as well every day depending on the advertisement.

(01:59) So it’s always very important for me when I make a piece, in general to become one, the viewer, the architecture, and the piece itself.

(02:14) So I’m curious, what do you think of this year’s theme of unexpected collaborations, and how do you see that connecting to your passion for activating communities?

(02:25) That is a romance with the unknown.

(02:27) You know, you go prepare until a certain point, and then you have to be open for that collaboration to happen.

(02:35) I like to say that every day of my life is a collaboration.

(02:38) And I wonder if you could just speak to what it was like for you as a younger artist facing some of these struggles, and particularly you’ve paved such a unique path for yourself using this medium of light. So is there any advice that you would offer some of the artists that are here today?

(02:55) I wake up every morning and I just…

(02:59) The past has already passed.

(03:00) We cannot do anything to change, correct?

(03:02) But then present moment is very important.

(03:04) How could you give your 100% on that moment, right?

(03:10) So every project for me is when I feel like when I was 20, is when I was, you know, feel that I was, you know, starting my life in New York City.

(03:19) I still feel the butterflies.

(03:20) I still feel the hunger and I just keep on evolving.

(03:26) What are you working on at the moment?

(03:28) In Prospect Park in Brooklyn, we, there’s an organization in New York, wonderful, that is interdisciplinary actually.

(03:36) And it’s called BRIC and they’re celebrating their fourth year anniversary.

(03:47) I want to maybe get an idea from you about maybe how you create pieces in line with the urban setting that you work within because I think that a lot of people don’t necessarily choose the urban setting always to be a part of displaying art and it’s very unique that people who can work with that.

(04:10) There’s always a lot of research and development that I do before I start a project.

(04:16) As matter of fact, if could go and be on the place, sitting down and observe how the passers-by react with the space, that’s actually very, helpful because I become a viewer myself.

(04:30) And that allows me the tools to give back to the community as to what it might be, the proper shape, the lighting for the project.

(04:41) And that research helped me to make Breathless Maiden Lane.

(04:47) This piece that was made inside a lobby but yet wanted to out and embrace the viewer.

(04:54) One of the things you shared with me is that you like to collaborate with fashion designers and I think that’s in the spirit of the unexpected collaborations theme today so I was just wondering if you could tell the audience a little bit about that work.

(05:07) In the case of Issey Miyake that I did a couple of years ago, it was how that I utilized the space of the quarters, you know, to be able to share the new collection with the public.

(05:22) The runaway and the new collection was very well received.

(05:46) I’m just curious if you could talk a little bit about how you facilitate an intertwining of those two works like music.

(05:54) It happened by a chance that a friend of mine came to the studio once many years ago and I said, who is going to be the composer for your video?

(06:02) And I said, oh, I didn’t think about that yet.

(06:05) So she put me in contact.

(06:07) You might know Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.

(06:10) That was my first collaboration.

(06:12) He collaborated with Jane Campion.

(06:16) She did In the Cut, the piano, and it was a wonderful collaboration and I just love, the sensibility of musicians.