Sophie Arni is a guest curator of ArtConnect's Artists to Watch ‘21

Sophie Mayuko Arni is a Swiss-Japanese curator and editor based in Dubai, UAE. She is the founder of Global Art Daily Agency, a contemporary art agency with curatorial and publishing activities for the contemporary art scene of the United Arab Emirates. Originally Swiss-Japanese, she has been curating exhibitions between the UAE and Japan since 2016, under the “East-East: UAE meets Japan” exhibition series which brought together the works of Farah Al Qasimi, Alaa Edris, Hashel Al Lamki, Lamya Gargash, waiwai research and design agency, Khalid Mezaina, Christopher Joshua Benton, Rintaro Fuse, and Shōei Matsuda in independent galleries in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Tokyo.

Most recently, she curated Lamya Gargash’s fifth solo show “Isthmus” at The Third Line Gallery (May 2023, Dubai), “Gravitation” by Jukan Tateisi, Shōei Matsuda, and Takeshi Yasura at SRR Project Space (June 2023, Tokyo), and “The Big Flat Now” by Shōei Matsuda (September 2023, Dubai Festival City Mall).

She graduated with a B.A. in Art & Art History from NYU Abu Dhabi and with an MPhil in Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices from Tokyo University of the Arts. Appearing on panel talks about Asian and Arab contemporary art, Sophie has also written for Arab News Japan, SOLE Magazine, NYLON Japan, and The Fiker Institute, a Dubai-based think tank.

In 2022, her efforts to bridge the UAE and Japan’s artistic activities was recognized by the UAE Embassy in Japan as part of the 50th Anniversary of UAE-Japan Diplomatic Relations.

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