The Indian Ocean Crossing: A Currents of Civilisation

The Indian Ocean has long held a peculiar place in the imagination of those who study human movement and exchange. It is less a barrier than a bridge, a vast and generative space where merchants, scholars, objects and beliefs have circulated for millennia, leaving traces of their passage in manuscripts, maps and artefacts that survive across continents.

This November, that profound history becomes tangible. Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi opens a dedicated section devoted to the Indian Ocean as a historic crossroads of trade, innovation and cultural exchange. Curated by Marika Sardar, the exhibition brings together exceptional objects and artefacts spanning from antiquity through to the early twentieth century. Here are books and manuscripts alongside maps and historical pieces that together trace the intricate movement of people, objects and knowledge between West Asia, East Africa, South Asia and beyond.

To walk through such a collection is to understand that the world was never still, that knowledge has always been a restless thing, and that the goods we hold and the ideas we inherit are the result of countless conversations across water and time. The artefacts gathered here bear witness to networks of exchange that shaped civilisations and continue to inform our understanding of how cultures have long understood themselves in relation to one another.

The exhibition takes place at Manarat Al Saadiyat from 19 to 22 November 2026. Deutsche Bank serves as global lead partner.

On Simply Luxury: Deutsche Bank · Frieze