GAAB

03/04/2026

Easter brings a message of hope and renewal.

May its joyful spirit bless you with happiness and peace.

Happy Easter to you and your loved ones🥚🕊️

GAAB Community & Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Foundation Team

16/02/2026

Happy Lunar New Year of the Horse🧧🐎🧧

Happy New Year of the Horse!

This New Year is celebrated in many Asian countries and falls on February 17th.

A work by a Kazakh artist from the series «Four Nurses» - төрт түлік мал.

In Kazakh mythology and culture, based on a nomadic lifestyle, animals associated with the four types of livestock (tört tülіk mal - төрт түлік мал), as well as wild animals revered as totems, have a special sacred significance.

The four main sacred animals (wet nurses) and their patrons:

Horse (Zhylqy / Κambar ata - Жылқы / Қамбар ата) is the most revered animal, a symbol of freedom, speed, and loyalty. The horse is the companion of the batyr in epic poems.

Camel (Tüye / Oysylqara - Түйе / Ойсылқара) is a symbol of endurance, wealth, and well-being.

The ram/sheep (Koy / Shopam ata - Қой / Шопан ата) is a symbol of fertility, a sacrificial animal that occupies an important place in rituals.

The cow ( Siyir / Zyongi Bara - Сиыр / Зөңгі бара ) was revered as a nurse, associated with earthly well-being.

07/02/2026

The inaugural Art Basel Qatar (February 3–7) presents a carefully curated edition by artistic director Wael Shawky at M7 and the Doha Design District in Msheireb.

The fair reflected Qatar's vibrant cultural landscape and its growing role as a global art hub, strongly supported by the Qatari Royal Family under the visionary leadership of Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

84 artists from 87 international and regional galleries combined global perspectives with voices from the MENA region.

A robust program of panel discussions enriched the dialogue on contemporary art, the art market, and the future of the region's creative economy.

Art Basel Qatar has become a platform for dialogue and exchange, connecting collectors, galleries, curators, and cultural leaders, cementing its position as a new, significant venue in the global art calendar.

Visit Qatar Qatar Airways

31/12/2025

We thank the year 2025, and look forward to the coming year 2026.

Happy New Year!

Postcard from the Bahamas,
Sacred Place
The Seven Dancing Women

“I am creating this Sacred Space to be a specific, historical memorial in this location and to reflect and embody my personal philosophy about art and how it can be used interactively. It also embraces my profound interest in the conservation, preservation and transformation of our environment, and the 700 islands of The Bahamas.” ~
Antonius Roberts, Bahamian artist and sculptor.

Photo by Sebastian Malec ©

17/12/2025

Women collectors on the rise
Female buyers are grabbing a larger market share, particularly among younger generations. In 2024, they outspent their male peers by an average of 46 percent, led by Millennial and Gen Z collectors—especially in Germany and China, where women spent more than twice as much as men. Overall, the data showed that women outspent men in both the Gen Z and Millennial segments, while the reverse held true for Gen X and Boomers.

Women also tend to collect, support and invest more in works by female artists, consciously helping to close the gender gap—a motivation often central to their collecting. “As wealth continues to shift vertically and horizontally over the coming years, these trends are likely to foster greater balance and diversity in collecting in the future,” McAndrew wrote in the report. Women spent more than men on works by women artists, averaging 47 percent of their total art spending in 2024-2025, compared to 41 percent for men.

Women collectors were more open to acquiring newly discovered artists (69 percent) than men (63 percent), with 55 percent reporting they frequently or often purchased works by unknown artists (versus 44 percent of men). Data also revealed that women allocated a smaller share of spending to traditional media, favoring digital art and photography instead.

Observer

photo courtesy
Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Foundation
Abu Dhabi Art venue

15/10/2025

ASTANA ART FAIR 2025: Future Roots / “Bolashaqtyń tamyrlary”

From October 24 to 26, 2025, the international contemporary art fair Astana Art Fair will take place in Astana at the Congress Center, with the support of the Akimat of the city of Astana.
Astana Art Fair positions itself as a long-term cultural initiative aimed at developing the creative economy and art market, as well as engaging young people in the global exchange of ideas and artistic practices.
In 2025, the fair will be held under the theme “Bolashaqtyń tamyrlary” / Future Roots / “The Roots of the Future.”
The theme refers to the idea of origins — the roots from which new cultural impulses emerge and future directions are formed. Astana is envisioned as a new cultural hub where local and global initiatives meet, giving rise to new meanings and artistic contexts.
“We hope that Astana Art Fair will become a platform where collectors, galleries, emerging and established artists can meet and share their perspectives, present their works on the international stage, and build professional connections. For the wider public, the event will become a new point of attraction — a place to explore the world of contemporary art, discover new names, and acquire artworks they love,”
The organizers:
The Urpaq private foundation created to systematically support cultural and educational initiatives, and the main organizer of the project.

29/09/2025

Wioletta Kulewska Akyel - winner of the GAAB Collectors' Choice 2025, an award presented by art collectors under the patronage of the Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art | WIMCAA Foundation named after Nejad Devrim.

Born in Poland in 1980, she creates between Malta and Poland.

A traveler, activist, feminist, and animal lover.

A graduate of the Opole Secondary School of Fine Arts, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and London Metropolitan University.

An artist-in-residence at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London UCL, Pada Studios in Lisbon, Portugal. Kulewska teaches painting and experimental visual practices at the Malta School of Art in Valletta.

Her studio is located in Valletta, Malta, and in a small studio in her family home in Kluczbork, Poland.

Wioletta Kulewska's paintings are influenced by pan-European influences, from Polish Fauvism, in which she was trained, to Levantine religious painting.

From her numerous journeys through the Caucasus, Turkiye, East and South Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean, Wioletta Kulewska brings back not only numerous souvenirs—archive records of her travels—but also a transformed self.
In this intercultural dialogue, she finds not only inspiration for her work but also many answers to the questions she poses.

The exhibition 'I walk this earth all by myself', which ends today at the Jan Dzierżon Museum in Kluczbork, Poland although it tells the story of an individual and solitary journey through cultural landscapes, is ultimately about community—a collective experience of the world. The dialogue between paintings created in various corners of the globe and now returning to the artist's hometown opens up a new space for conversation and interpretation of reality. We live on one planet, where otherness and diversity are not only part of the present, but above all, the future, we read in the exhibition catalog.

Justifying their decision, the jury emphasized the artist's courage and openness to Asia, both distant and yet close. She is an excellent promoter of Poland in far-flung corners of the world. However, she returns to her hometown of Kluczbork with a mission: to give back to the community that shaped her – her family, displaced from the East after World War II, her school, her city.

Our reward – the purchase of Wioletta Kulewska's works from the Filipino series for the foundation's collection and a contribution – a brick – towards her further education in London Royal College of Art next academic year.

21/09/2025

Contemporary Istanbul, leading international art fair in Turkiye, will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Visit Istanbul from 24–28 September 2025 at Tersane Istanbul.

Akbank is the main Partner.

Congratulations to the Contemporary Istanbul Foundation Team, Patrons, Sponsors, Gallerists, and Artists!

Good luck!