Nomad art fair to return to old Abu Dhabi airport terminal in November

Show caption: Its green and blue-tiled interiors made the old Terminal 1 o…

Travelling exhibition will take over the former Terminal 1, with collectable design and contemporary art at its heart

Four private gates at Abu Dhabi’s old airport will become exhibition spaces when the Nomad art and design fair returns to Terminal 1 in November.

A2Z, Nilufar, Gallery Fumi and Galerie Gastou will each take over a gate. More than 50 exhibitors will take part in the second Nomad Abu Dhabi, with contemporary art and collectible design also on show in the former departure hall and along the terminal’s corridors.

Among the galleries making their Nomad debut is Maison Integre, which will show bronze furniture cast in Ouagadougou alongside two large tapestries woven and dyed in Burkina Faso. Bahrain’s Mattar will bring Woven in Us, a collection developed with Bahraini weavers and designers that pairs the country’s natural pearls with textiles.

In the departure hall, Abu Dhabi’s House of Artisans and the Arab World Institute in Paris have commissioned French-Sudanese designer Abdel El Tayeb to create an installation with Emirati master artisans. El Tayeb won the established talent category at the institute’s 2024 design awards. Design Commission Abu Dhabi will also take part for the first time.

Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council and design collective Super Loop, who presented separate projects at last year’s fair, have collaborated on a collection of five pieces. The furniture and other objects combine pearl inlay with talli, a traditional form of Emirati braiding.

Terminal 1 opened in 1982. French architect Paul Andreu, whose projects include Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, designed the building with its tent-like roof, arched walkways and distinctive green and blue tiles. It closed to passengers in 2023 when flights moved to Terminal A at what is now Zayed International Airport. Nomad brought the building back into public use for its Middle East debut in 2025.

Show caption: Nomad Abu Dhabi 2026 will be held from November 18 to 22. Vi…

About 21 galleries and institutions took part in that first fair, including Dubai’s The Third Line and Leila Heller Gallery. At the time, Nomad co-founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte said the organisers planned to return over the following four years and gradually open up more of the building to commissions and performances.

South African artist Robin Rhode will develop a wall drawing and performance at Terminal 1 over the course of this year’s fair in collaboration with Public Art Abu Dhabi. A separate Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial installation will be on view at Erth Abu Dhabi, where Nomad will host talks and gatherings. Erth will also run a pop-up restaurant at the airport.

Architect Sumayya Vally is among the speakers at the fair, alongside artists Asuncion Molinos Gordo and Vica Pacheco, both of whom are taking part in the biennial. Irthi will also run workshops on regional crafts.

Nomad Abu Dhabi opens with an invitation-only preview on November 18. Public hours at the former Terminal 1 are 1pm to 9pm from November 19 to 21 and 1pm to 8pm on November 22

Updated:

November 03, 2026, 2:48 PM