“The buildings will be spectacular. Of that there is little doubt. But after my visit to Abu Dhabi to see the work in progress and attend the Abu Dhabi art fair, I would also sound a note of caution. While the buildings are likely to be dazzling, what will go in them is rather vague. The art fair, attended by White Cube’s chief Jay Jopling and many international art luminaries, certainly showed that Abu Dhabi wants to acquire international art. Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted work Sadness sold to the wife of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince for £2.5m. But, while some of the Louvre’s holdings may go to the Abu Dhabi Louvre for example, nothing is yet being spelt out even though all the new museums are due to open in three years’ time, when Abu Dhabi wants to proclaim itself at the very least the art capital of the Middle East, and perhaps something even more ambitious than that.

And there is another worry, little mentioned, but undoubtedly there. Will there be censorship practised over the art that appears, even in world-renowned names like the Louvre and Guggenheim? Representatives of Abu Dhabi denied this, though there were mutterings about the need always to “show respect”. But the top New York art dealer David Zwirner, who was at the art fair, was brave enough to reveal that he had been banned from bringing a catalogue of his artist Marlene Dumas, who specialises in painting the physical reality of the human body, sometimes nude. “I think that is a pity, “said Mr Zwirner, “and I hope it is going to change.” “

via Cultural desert: Will Abu Dhabi censor its new museums? – Features, Art – The Independent.