DUBAI.- The DIFC Global Art Forum, hosted by the DIFC Gulf Art Fair, will be a three-day public discussion platform 7-9th March 2007 on the Beach, Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. It will bring together an international group of more than forty artists, curators, dealers, museum directors, critics and academics to focus on issues affecting art and the arts community, considering the Middle East as a driving force. Artists such as Erwin Wurm, Wim Delvoye, Daniel Birnbaum, Jerome Sans, Michelle Nicol and Judith Greer will be interviewed and give presentations, as well as top figures such as Donna de Salvo, Farshid Moussavi and Bob Monk.

The central themes of this year's Forum will be ‘Artists and their Work’, ‘The Next Ten Years of Contemporary Art in the Middle East’ and ‘Cities and Culture’. With the ‘Artists and their Work’ discussions, DIFC Global Art Forum hopes to initiate a discussion where artists can be at the centre of the conversation, and not just its topic. Thus, in this launch year, we have invited curators to interview artists from around the world, showing their work and talking about their practice and vision.

‘The Next Ten Years of Contemporary Art in the Middle East’ will focus on major transformations that are happening in the region which have and will have significant global ramifications. The ‘Cities and Culture’ Forum will involve cultural leaders from London, Paris, New York, Mumbai, Zurich, Berlin and Dubai, sharing their ideas about how to consider the establishment and development of the ‘Art City’. The influence of architecture, design, urban planning and technology will also be examined.