L’Alliance Française Abu Dhabi hosts “Digital Art, Digital Culture” by Houda Bakkali
This exhibition seeks to exemplify the power of digital art to break spatial, temporal and generational borders, creating synergies between different audiences and making art not only timeless, but also universal, close and understandable.
This exhibition features not only some of Bakkali’s most recognized masterpieces inspired by France, Italy or Monaco but also it will feature educational content about digital art, creative process and uses of art and new technologies.
L’Alliance Française
“It is my honor to share my art and creative concept with L’Alliance Française Abu Dhabi. L’Alliance Française is synonymous with universality. Present on five continents in more than 136 countries, L’Alliance Française contributes to the preservation of French culture, creating synergies, opening itself to the world and being an indisputable reference of the impressive French cultural legacy, likewise L’Alliance Française is a reference of unity between civilizations, cultures and innovative ideas, looking to the future, creating synergies and encouraging new perspectives.
It is my greatest honor to share my art in my beloved Abu Dhabi, symbol of future and success, culture, love and friendship. It is my greatest honor to exhibit inside this honorable institution with more than 140 years of legacy, the best representation of the French greatness. All my gratitude to the AF’s team and French Embassy in Abu Dhabi for their kindness and support from day one.” Houda Bakkali
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Digital Art, Digital Culture
“Digital art is not a trend, it is the present and the future. My art represents the need to tell stories through captivating and surprising environments, in which the viewer can immerse themselves, as is the case with augmented reality.
It’s a way to experience a variety of sensations and emotions with my artwork. It also allows me to expand the story and give it life or several lives, as many as I want. In addition, it’s a way to create more fun and unique environments, involving the viewer in the artwork and making it grow over time with new stories, settings and characters.
“Digital Art, Digital Culture” is a part of a global project focused on creativity and tech to inform, train and entertain, creating art with different uses, explaining new concepts, sharing new ideas and creative process. Creating a universal message of hope and joy, art and creativity, without generational or physical limits. A timeless and useful message.” Houda Bakkali
Bakkali’s exhibition hosted by AF Abu Dhabi is the best example of the versatility of digital art. It’s ability to share synergies with audiences around the world without borders. Through augmented reality and multimedia contents, visitors can enjoy some of Bakkali’s masterpieces.
At this virtual exhibition inside AF Abu Dhabi, the pieces will change and grow with new artworks and destinations inspired by France. Also with didactic and educational content on digital art and tech and physical versions and performances.
“Houda Bakkali has created her own style through very visual and recognizable digital creations, very much her own, because they are made based on technique and soul, the two central pillars of her work.” Agencia EFE
Houda Bakkali is a Moroccan-Spanish visual artist. Her optimistic and colorful vision of life is the basis of her art, inspired by the simplest things and with a common muse, the figure of her mother, an Arab woman who left her a legacy of love for beauty and freedom. Houda Bakkali has a recognized career in digital art, she has signed some pioneers projects and exhibitions inside iconic spaces such as international airports. Her art is very recognizable: a fusion between tradition and the future of art based on color, joy and a look to the future full of hope.
Since beginning her artistic career in 2008, Houda Bakkali has exhibited at public and private events worldwide, she has received prestigious awards in Cannes, New York, Paris, London, etc., and she was invited by iconic TIME magazine for its first Web3 artist project.
“The style of Houda Bakkali is unmistakable and derives from a sophisticated and often ironic mimesis of the popular contents of the urban environment, reworked through a lively chromatic pop range and an elegant and essential design.
The artist seems to consider the urban scene as a festive visual spectacle in which the images imply a multiplicity of messages, of logical, emotional and symbolic meanings: metropolitan details coming from different cultures flow into her works, unexpectedly merging into a new balance without generating conflicts. If the 60s Pop Art turned its investigation to the complex and multiform panorama of the great western metropolises with the intent to carry out an irreverent reconnaissance of mass culture, Houda Bakkali widens the field of investigation to a sort of extended macro continent that reflects in a more updated way the new integrated topography of the world, increasingly founded on inevitable mutual implications.
Her language shares with the “historical” Pop Art the intent to arouse in the viewer an immediate response and the awareness that the multi-faceted cultural horizon in which we find ourselves living is a reality that cannot be evaded or denied, but must be investigated and understood in its formative factors and in the interconnections that animate its dynamics. In recent decades, society has profoundly changed: well-being…”
Review by Juliet Art Magazine, Italy READ MORE
Paris, Cannes, Biarritz and beyond…
Bakkali exhibited her colorful art and augmented reality masterpieces in Paris at Carrousel du Louvre three times. Likewise, she was awarded with the Paris Design Awards 2020. She exhibited in iconic spaces such as Pointe Croisette in Cannes, where she won the New Talent Award. Her art was exhibited at the iconic Biarritz Casino and Biarritz Congress Palace.
Likewise, Houda Bakkali developed an immersive, multimedia and virtual exhibition at the legendary Alliance Française in the frame of the 40th anniversary of this institution.
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Alliance Française Madrid
Pour débuter 2024, année de célébration des 40 ans de l’Alliance Française de Madrid, la structure accueille l’innovante exposition de l’artiste Houda Bakkali. L’ensemble de ses toiles présentent la particularité d’être conçues à travers la réalité augmentée, le public sera alors plongé au cœur de l’exposition à travers des visites interactives afin de découvrir les techniques numériques utilisées dans le processus créatif de l’artiste.
From Monaco with Heart
Houda Bakkali exhibited the first canvas with augmented reality during the first contemporary art salon held after the covid lockdown (08/2020). The event was celebrated at the legendary Monte Carlo Circus space. Likewise, for many years, Bakkali has exhibited immersive and virtual art at private events in the Principality of Monaco.
Her newest series ‘Monaco with Heart’ (2024) was created as a trilogy that “pays tribute to colour, feminine beauty, the joyful spirit and the dolce vita that Monaco inspires”.
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From iconic Casino di Sanremo, Italy
Sanremo, the iconic Italian city, capital of flowers and music, is one of Houda Bakkali’s biggest inspirations.
The city hosts her artworks at the Flower Museum. Her art was received by the president of the Communal Council, the mayor of Sanremo and the councilor for culture.
Likewise, she presented her series “Loving Italy” at the legendary San Remo Casino, where she was received by the president of the Communal Council.
Inside TIME Magazine | New York
Houda Bakkali is among the first in the world to be selected for Web3 drop by iconic TIME magazine, with her digital art inspired by Monaco and Sanremo.
TIME, the first weekly in the United States with 100 years of history, invited Bakkali in September 2021 to be a part of the first Web3 artists group of this iconic publication.
With TIME she exhibited at Dreamverse, the world’s first show of digital art and Web3 technology held in November 2021 in New York city.
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Málaga-Costa del Sol International Airport | Houda Bakkali, 2023
First ever solo digital and immersive art exhibitions inside two international airports
Houda Bakkali developed the first ever two solo immersive exhibitions merging canvas, augmented reality, virtual platforms and the Arab female figure as the protagonist in two international Spanish airports: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport and Málaga-Costa del Sol International Airport.
Houda Bakkali augmented reality shines at the legendary Reial Cercle Artistic of Barcelona
On March 25, 2024 the legendary Reial Cercle Artístic of Barcelona hosted the presentation of the newest artwork by Houda Bakkali, that was the first ever exhibition that interweaves mixed technique canvases with augmented reality and the figure of the woman as the protagonist in this iconic space that has more than 140 traditions and artistic legacy. MORE
Reial Cercle Artístic of Barcelona | Houda Bakkali, 2024
Loving Dulcinea | Houda Bakkali, 2024
Bakkali signed the first ever extended reality project based on Don Quixote
Bakkali signed the first ever global-digital project based on the most universal literary work: Don Quijote de la Mancha. The project is based on immersive art, audiovisual & multimedia content, web3 concepts and different masterclasses about art and tech. The female figure is the protagonist. MORE
Art and Health
Since 2009 Houda Bakkali has developed an educational and informative project on communication and health. She interviewed more than 100 top doctors, as well as developed different academic, graphic, multimedia and audiovisual works on communication and health. Houda was recently awarded the prestigious American Illustration 2024 in New York for her masterpiece “Art for health”, a project on art and technology to raise awareness about breast cancer.
![](https://profile.houdabakkali.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/HOUDA-BAKKALI-ARTE-POR-LA-SALUD-1024x471.jpg)
Civic Centers of Barcelona City Council, 2022
Pioneering project that weaves art and tech with the empowerment of Arab women as protagonists in 6 Civic Centers of Barcelona City Council
For three months, Houda Bakkali created a crossroads between 6 civic centers of Barcelona City Council using digital art, immersive exhibitions, audiovisual & multimedia content, theoretical-practical workshops and virtual platforms as the link. A pioneering and widely recognized project that closed International Women’s Day with a tribute to Arab feminine power. MORE
Paradores
For the first time in its history this recognized space hosted an exhibition focused on Arab women and digital art. Paradores was inaugurated on 9 October 1928 and it is a Spanish state-owned chain of luxury hotels that are usually located in historic buildings.
Bakkali exhibited her colorful art at Parador de Lorca and Parador de Córdoba, likewise she presented her immersive art at Parador de Cangas de Onis and Parador de Soria.
![](https://profile.houdabakkali.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/HOUDA-PARADORES-1024x560.jpg)
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Art beyond art
Houda Bakkali’s work interweaves art and dissemination of new technologies applied to creativity in different fields such as art, education, medicine or sports.
Her work as a speaker has been recognized by spaces such as the Civic Centers of Barcelona City Council, the WorkCafe of Santander Private Bank, art schools, different town councils, public and private institutions…
Awards
Houda Bakkali was awarded with the New Talent Award at the International Festival Artists of the World in Cannes (France), event sponsored by the city council of the French city, likewise she was honored for four times with the prestigious American Illustration award and with the International Motion Awards in New York, a competition that chooses the best illustrators in the world. Bakkali was awarded four times with the Graphis Silver Award (New York), as well as several honorable mentions. Likewise, she was awarded in different international art and design competitions such as the London International Creative, Paris Design Awards, Creative Quarterly in New York, etc.. She is a part of 3×3 Magazine in New York, which for two decades has been selecting the best international illustrations. For two times she was selected as “Distinguished Artist” by the Canadian magazine ArtAscent and received the “Excellence Award” by the French magazine Circle Foundations, among other distinctions and recognitions. Her series of illustrations “Creativity against Covid-19” was a part of the global #UNCOVID19BRIEF campaign of creatives against covid launched in 2020 by the United Nations. Her piece “Stay creative” was awarded by the International Motion Awards competition in New York. MORE
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+FROM SPAIN
Málaga-Costa del Sol International Airport | Houda Bakkali, 2023
Madrid Barajas International Airport | Houda Bakkali, 2022
Madrid Barajas International Airport | Houda Bakkali, 2022