Dubai Next was an exhibition organized by the Dubai Arts and Culture Authority for the Vitra Design Museum in Germany in June 2008. This group show showcased a mix of international and Dubai-based artists, aiming to capture a portrait of Dubai as a dynamic, contemporary, and multicultural city.
Charlie Koolhaas contributed a striking installation: a 50-meter fabric book featuring 500 photographs. This visual inventory documented the diverse subcultures coexisting in Dubai, a city where expatriates make up 95% of the population. Her work illustrated a unique form of multiculturalism, where people are able to recreate aspects of their home cultures on foreign soil, living separately but side by side.
“This exhibition tells the story of Dubai from a cultural angle. It shows the making of 21st century culture, built upon the vision and heritage of the Emirati people and their fellow global citizens everywhere, as well as how these ideas take shape on architectural, urbanistic and cultural projects for the next decades.” —Curators Rem Koolhaas and Jack Persekian
