Collector Elie Khouri to Open Private Art Foundation in Dubai by 2028

Dubai collector Elie Khouri will open a physical home for his private art foundation in the city's Jumeirah 1 district in 2028. The Elie Khouri Art Foundation (EKAF) will occupy a villa renovated and redesigned by Counterspace, the firm led by architect Sumayya Vally, and will host public exhibitions and educational programmes.

Khouri is one of the United Arab Emirates' best-known collectors. Born in Lebanon, he built his career as chief executive officer of Omnicom Media in the Middle East and North Africa and has lived in Dubai since the 1990s.

How did the project start?

Khouri began planning the foundation roughly five years ago while participating in the London-based Delfina Foundation's collectors-in-residence programme, launched in 2017, which treats collecting as a practice and supports more ambitious implementation. With Delfina, he ran feasibility studies to determine what Dubai actually needs.

"The whole idea is to give back and foster exchange of ideas, challenge thinking and bring new perspectives," Khouri told The Art Newspaper. "Dubai is about entrepreneurship. They support people like me, people coming to fulfil their ambitions. And what Dubai needs is private institutions, because that's how they will build their own version of culture."

What does the foundation change for Dubai?

Dubai has a large number of artists and galleries but has never had a major museum. Private foundations have filled that gap. The Jameel Arts Centre and Alserkal Avenue, both backed by individuals, anchor the scene, alongside smaller foundations such as Ishara, which focuses on art from South Asia. EKAF adds a third privately funded institution with international ambitions.

The foundation will emphasise global contemporary art, with art from the Middle East playing an important role. "We are here to support talent internationally," Khouri said. "We're not about the region, but since we are in the Middle East, we also look at the best talent here. We have a responsibility to the ecosystem and the galleries."

EKAF will start from Khouri's personal collection, which includes works by more than 300 artists, and will draw on it for its first exhibitions. Later shows will increasingly rely on loans and collaborations. Khouri ultimately intends to build an EKAF collection separate from his own holdings.

Who is running it?

The veteran art strategist Caroline Louca, formerly of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism and Christie's Middle East, has been appointed director. Louca and Khouri plan to hire a curatorial team closer to the museum's completion date — a caveat for anyone expecting a full programme announcement soon.

Louca says community engagement will be central, with talks, lectures and education streams planned. The location supports that aim. Jumeirah 1 is one of Dubai's oldest neighbourhoods, home to many affluent long-time residents. The villa itself housed an Emirati family in the 1980s, and Vally's design retains elements of old-school Gulf architecture that stir nostalgia for many in the UAE.

"We are focusing on how we can make a place become part of the community—and not just focus on what we're showing," Louca said. "You can see beautiful artworks everywhere, but we want people to be a bit daring. We want them to walk in and ask questions—and not be embarrassed to ask questions—and then come back and ask more. If we can achieve that, it will be our barometer of success."

Whether a converted villa can test that barometer at scale will only become clear after 2028, when the doors open and the first exhibition schedule is announced.