Exhibo Launches as the First Open Art Platform for the MENA Region
Exhibo Launches as the First Open Art Platform for the MENA Region
Middle Eastern art sales tripled between 2020 and 2024. Yet the galleries driving this growth have never had a dedicated digital home — until now.
We wanted to build something that worked for all of them simultaneously. The art world here has been undersold for too long, and that starts with visibility.”
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, June 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Exhibo (exhibo.art) today announces its public launch as the first open platform built to connect the MENA art world with collectors, press, and cultural travellers worldwide. Starting in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — and expanding across the region — Exhibo gives the galleries, museums, and artists of MENA the digital presence they have never had.— Alena Belova, co-founder of Exhibo
The platform launches with profiles for more than 1,000 galleries and museums, with new institutions joining daily.
A Market the World Is Watching — and Still Can't Find
Sales of modern Middle Eastern art tripled in value between 2020 and 2024. London auction houses reported an 89% rise in contemporary Middle Eastern art sales in the first quarter of 2025, with New York reporting a 67% jump in consignments of Middle Eastern works. Art Dubai attracted more than 30,000 visitors and 120 galleries from 65 cities in its 2025 edition. The UAE government has invested nearly $5.3 billion in arts and culture infrastructure.
The demand is there. The momentum is there. What has been missing is the infrastructure to explain it — a clear, open, searchable window into a region whose galleries, artists, and institutions remain largely invisible to the global collector, the working press, or the first-time visitor arriving without context.
"The problem isn't that the MENA art world lacks quality or ambition," said Sergey Rabusov, co-founder of Exhibo. "The problem is that the world still doesn't know what's here. There's no single place where a collector, a curator, or a traveller can walk in and understand this scene. Exhibo is that place."
A Space Built for Every Audience
For galleries and museums with a physical space, Exhibo is a complete operational layer: a public profile, an artwork catalogue, exhibition and event pages, a people registry for artists and curators, and an integrated press room with global distribution. Institutions can claim their existing profile in minutes — no invitation required, no committee to satisfy.
For collectors, it is a curated entry point into a market that has historically required insider knowledge to access — whether browsing from abroad, attending a fair, or walking a gallery district for the first time.
For cultural travellers and arts press, it is a practical guide and a living source: galleries by neighbourhood, exhibitions by city, events by date, and a press room where institutions publish and own their stories.
"We wanted to build something that worked for all of them simultaneously," said Alena Belova, co-founder of Exhibo. "The art world here has been undersold for too long, and that starts with visibility."
Open Where Others Are Closed
The dominant global platforms — Artsy, Ocula, Artnet — operate on invitation only, with curation committees that have historically prioritised Western markets. Exhibo was founded on a different principle: any gallery or museum with a physical space can join, publish, and be found.
Galleries and museums wishing to claim their profile may do so at exhibo.art.
About Exhibo
Exhibo (exhibo.art) is a global art platform connecting galleries, museums, collectors, press, and cultural travellers, rooted in the MENA region. It combines open registration, gallery and museum profiles, artwork catalogue management, exhibitions, event listings, a press room with paid distribution, and a people registry for artists, curators, and advisors.
About BARS Agency
Exhibo was conceived, designed, and built by BARS Agency (barsagency.ae), a Dubai- and London-based digital studio delivering high-performance web products and AI automation for teams across the UAE and GCC.
Sergey Rabusov
BARS AI LTD
email us here
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