Louvre Abu Dhabi Research Articles

Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding and legitimation while placing my analysis within a wider critical debate, which includes discussions on the link between museums and identity, the legitimizing role of architecture, and the various contentious concerns and controversies surrounding the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. I conclude that the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries have an excellent opportunity for innovation in the cultural field if they are willing to critically and ethically found their cultural developments on an ethos of inclusivity, openness, experimentation, non-exploitation and curatorial courage.

Is a Global History of Architecture Displayable? A Historiographical Perspective on the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and Louvre Abu Dhabi

This article comparatively discusses the 14th International Architecture Biennale of Venice, directed by Rem Koolhaas, and the pilot exhibit and architectural design of Louvre Abu Dhabi undertaken by Jean Nouvel, in the context of recent big art events and world museums. Curatorial, historiographical, and installation strategies in these venues are differentiated in order to think through the question of displaying a global history of architecture. I make a distinction between the curatorial practices carried out in the Fundamentals and Absorbing Modernity sections of Venice's Central and National Pavilions as curator-as-author and curators-as-chorus, which I map onto recent historiographical and museum design practices, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, to discuss the geopolitical implications of its installation strategies. I also argue that six methodological perspectives for displaying architectural history emerge from the curator-chorus of Absorbing Modernity, which can be identified as survey, nationalist history, case study, thematic history, archive metaphor, and deferment, all of which contribute to and raise questions about the ongoing project towards a global architectural history. After suggesting a difference between “world” and “global” history of architecture, I call for a more geopolitically conscious and cosmopolitan global history of architecture, by exposing the intactive bonds between the history of modernism and of colonization, as well as the continuing legacy of geopolitical and economic inequalities that operate in such venues.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi: French Universalism, Exported

The construction of the Louvre Abu Dhabi provides an opportunity to consider the ways in which the Louvre represents the values the French consider “universal,” and the political and practical effects of exporting those values. While the alleged commercialization of the Louvre caused considerable controversy in France, participants in the debate shared assumptions about the importance of universalism within France. While the new museum’s purchases suggest that European painting continues to be the valued default signifier of universal value in art, the intentions and practices of the museum in the United Arab Emirates may challenge the French notion of universalism.

Lighting Intention Materialization with a Light-Based Parametric Design Model

How the inverse lighting methods could help the architectural design? We address this issue with an original light-based parametric design model dedicated to the architectural design. This model associates the parametric design approach with the lighting intentions expressed by the architects. It has been implemented thanks to an inverse lighting technique in a tool intended to aid the design of the windows and the shading devices in the early stages of architectural design. This model is used in a performative design approach onto the dome of the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in order to define the transparency property of the dome.