More on Abu NYU and Dueling Arab MoMAs Planned for Qatar, Dubai

NYU President John Sexton

Although NYU's planned college on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island is being billed as a "comprehensive liberal arts campus," it seems to have a distinct art-and-architecture vibe: Mariët Westermann, former director of NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, is vice chancellor in charge of NYU Abu Dhabi; Hilary Ballon, former professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University, is its associate vice chancellor; Philippe de Montebello (whom you all know) is "special advisor" for the new campus.

But the strong objections that some have raised to the university's megabucks deal with the United Arab Emirates should resonate with museum staffers at the Guggenheim and the Louvre, which are lending their prestige and expertise to planned new museums expected to inhabit the same island.

In New York Magazine's recent article, The Emir of NYU, Zvika Krieger describes the opposition expressed by some NYU professors, "not just to the risk of brand dilution but to [NYU president John] Sexton's wholesale embrace of a regime with a troubling history regarding academic freedom and human rights (not to mention the state of Israel)."

Abu NYU hasn't built its campus yet, but it has built a website. Its admissions page states:

Students will be chosen...without regard to race, religion, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation.

That's a relief...especially since Krieger reports that "homosexual activity is illegal in the United Arab Emirates" (which encompass Abu Dhabi) and "there's the problem of Israelis' being barred from entering the country." Sounds like Israeli and gay students, if any, should think twice before straying too far from campus. Will Abu Dhabi institute a "don't ask, don't tell" policy? Is this climate conducive to the humanistic values of American educational and cultural institutions?

Master planning for Abu NYU, by architect Rafael Viñoly, began last month. Viñoly is also designing the Arab Museum for Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. The first Abu NYU students are to be admitted in Fall 2010.

Meanwhile, in nearby Dubai, also part of the UAE, plans were announced June 21 for "the region's first Museum of Middle East Modern Art," on the banks of Dubai Creek, to be designed by Ben van Berkel's Amsterdam-based UN Studio. It will be part of a $13.5-billion Culture Village, also to include an amphitheatre for performances and festivals, an exhibition hall, smaller museums displaying local and international art, and a shipyard for traditional dhow builders, as well as residential, commercial and retail zones. This museum seems to be racing with the Qatar to be "first": The Dubai version of a museum of Middle Eastern modern art is scheduled to be completed in 2010. The Qatar counterpart opens in 2011

The press release for the Dubai project does not have a link, but here's a photo of van Berkel's design. Look out, tiny earthlings below! The spaceship has landed:


Planned Museum of Middle East Modern Art, Dubai, designed by Ben van Berkel's Amsterdam-based UN Studio