When Art Dubai first arrived on the international art scene eight years ago, it featured 40 galleries and welcomed 6,000 visitors. Last year, the number of guests more than quadrupled, a figure that is expected to increase yet again this year, with some 85 galleries signed up to show their offerings.
In a world where expansive and well-populated art fairs are a matter of course - Art Basel in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong, SH Contemporary in Shanghai, Scope Art Show in the Hamptons and London among others, the just-wrapped India Art Fair in Delhi - Art Dubai has quite quickly established itself as a pre-eminent showcase of art not just from the Middle East and South Asia, but also Africa and East Asia.
"Each year, we see the geographic spread of the fair widen and this year we have galleries from 34 different countries," says Art Dubai's fair director, Antonia Carver.
This year's edition runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the luxurious Madinat Jumeirah resort. The conference space at the hotel will be segregated into different categories - Contemporary, Modern and Marker - each with a different focus. There is much buzz around this year's Marker section, which will feature artists from the Caucasus and Central Asia, curated by the international art collective Slavs and Tatars.
Art Dubai has been successful in that it has given a new dimension to a city generally thought of as being high on flash and glamour.
"Dubai has been known as a city of business, trade, tourism and transport, but it is fast becoming known also as a city of culture," says Carver. "Working together with the museums in Abu Dhabi and the biennial and museums in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates has a strong cultural offering that is really beginning to hit the headlines."
Carver says Art Dubai "acts as a hub and a meeting point, reflecting the character of the city that hosts it".