Aartparis-abudhabi, the Middle East's exclusive international art fair, will pay tribute to the Middle East's thriving artistic scene.

Aartparis-abu dhabi is a combination of three events - an art fair, a cultural exhibition and an educational symposium on art. The event will be held from November 26 to 29, 2007, at the Emirates Palace Hotel.

The fair is being held under the patronage of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The event will be organised in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC).

The cultural exhibition, organised by Amal Traboulsi, will showcase some of the most prolific members of the Arab art world. The exhibition will focus on the theme of 'Signs and Calligraphy', a concept central to the art that has emerged from the Middle East and North Africa, said an official spokesman.

Calligraphy has long been associated with the Islamic world and it represents a symbiosis between meaning and form, a platform for artistic representation of religious and cultural expression.

'One of the goals of this exhibition is to pay tribute to traditional calligraphers, and to show how others, more modern, have liberated themselves from meaning on the way to a form of artistic primacy.  Additionally, the exhibit seeks to present a new interpretation of particular signs, more suited to a universal expression that seems to be the quest of our time,' founder of artparis Caroline Clough-Lacoste.

Four of the UAE's top art galleries have also confirmed that they will contribute some of their best works to the art fair. These pieces, which are available for sale, will be among the 3,000 artworks to be displayed during the four-day exhibition.

Green Art Gallery, The Third Line, B21 and Aziz Kurtha Fine Art are the galleries chosen by an expert panel to participate at artparis-abudhabi.

The four galleries will be showcasing the works of dozens of artists from the region and Arab world, including Hassan Hajjaj, Mounir Shaarani, Ismail Fattah, Ghass Rouzkhos, Shadi Ghadirian, Dia Azzawi, Abdul Kadir Al Rais, Dia Azzawi and many others.

The fair will also welcome seven other art galleries from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Bahrain and Oman.- TradeArabia News Service