• Thinking Art Foundation

    Preserving Heritage, Supporting Arts and Culture

    Our Goals

    Documentation and Publication: Preserving and sharing cultural heritage through innovative methods

    Promoting Publishing: Strengthening local and Arabic publishing with impactful works

    Enhancing Artistic Taste: Fostering artistic knowledge and appreciation within the community

    Supporting Creativity: Assisting artists and researchers with publications and exhibitions

    Consultations: Providing expert advice for creative project development

    Education and Training: Offering programs to refine artistic and cultural skills

  • Manifesto

    Thinking Art establishes a conceptual framework in which creativity functions as a constitutive element of the knowledge economy. Imagination and experimentation operate as modalities of transformation, while cognition is framed as a productive field exceeding instrumental rationality.

    Within this framework, the creative economy is understood as a long-term investment in intellectual and cultural capital that conditions social organization and cultural continuity. Artistic heritage operates as an active interface between historical memory and future formation, sustaining cultural identity through processes of renewal and differentiation.

    The documentation of artistic heritage is approached as a continuous, process-based practice. It produces knowledge, reconfigures the persistence of creative agency across temporal regimes. Thinking Art advances a model in which intellectual production functions as an infrastructural mechanism for sustained cultural impact and adaptive transformation.

    Salem Al Junibi Dr. Noha Hilal Farran

  • The Founders

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    Salem Aljunibi
    Founder & CEO, Thinking Art Foundation
    Founder & CEO, Aswar Art Centre
    Vice President, Emirates Fine Arts Society
    Artist, Writer, Publisher
    Salem Aljunibi is the founder and CEO of the Thinking Art Foundation, an institution dedicated to publishing, culture, and education. He served as President of the Emirates Fine Arts Society from 2018 to 2023 and continues in his current role as Vice President. He is also the founder and CEO of the Aswar Art Centre. His practice positions him as a significant figure within the contemporary cultural landscape of the United Arab Emirates.
    Working across artistic production, writing, and curatorial practice, Aljunibi has contributed to the advancement of national cultural discourse through the organization of exhibitions and the publication of research-driven texts addressing art, heritage, and identity. His professional engagements include participation as a jury member in local and international competitions, as well as the development and delivery of workshops focused on cultivating emerging artistic talent and strengthening the UAE’s cultural presence within international contexts.
    Aljunibi began his artistic formation in Sharjah and refined his practice at the Sharjah Institute of Arts between 1999 and 2006. His first solo exhibition, Time and Place (2012), examined temporality as cultural inheritance and spatiality as a dynamic construct. He has represented the United Arab Emirates in numerous local and international exhibitions, biennials, and cultural events.
    During his presidency of the Emirates Fine Arts Society, Aljunibi initiated a series of strategic cultural projects, including the expansion of institutional partnerships, the production of documentary art publications and exhibition catalogues, the redevelopment of Al Tashkeel magazine, and the launch of the Arts Library restoration and documentation project. This initiative received nomination for the ICCROM-Sharjah Award in recognition of its contribution to safeguarding artistic heritage.
    His cultural contributions have been formally acknowledged through a Certificate of Appreciation from His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, and an honorary award from the Sharjah Police General Command in recognition of his service to art, culture, and national development.

  • "Existence is the power to impact"

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    Dr. Noha Hilal Farran
    Founder & CEO, Thinking Art Foundation
    Founder & CEO, Aswar Art Centre
    Historian, publisher, academic, curator, visual artist, editor-in-chief of Al Tashkeel magazine
    Dr. Noha Hilal Farran is the Founder and CEO of Aswar Art Centre, & the Founder & CEO of Thinking Art Foundation, specializing in publishing, culture, and education. She holds a Doctorate with distinction in Arts and Science of Art, a Master’s in Visual Arts and Art Techniques, a Master’s in Philosophy and Art History, a High Studies Diploma in Fine Arts, and a Bachelor’s in Materials Engineering and Sciences.
    Her scholarship and practice encompass visual arts, cultural documentation, and academic research. She has authored numerous publications on Arab art and cultural movements in Arabic and English, including Arab Art Between Modernism and Postmodernism, Heritage, Modernity, and Art Through Lebanese Eyes, The Evolution of the Cultural Movement in the UAE, Heritage and Creativity, Key Factors for the Success of the Creative Economy, and The Creative Economy: The Interplay of Art and Industry Between Theory and Practice. She has also produced two encyclopedias, Art, Heritage, and Identity and Memory and Art, documenting the early stages and evolution of cultural movements in the UAE.
    Dr. Farran has held university-level positions, including professor and head of the Art and Design Department, contributing to curriculum development and the integration of theoretical and practical arts education. She has organized and participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, served on local and international juries, and contributed to conferences and cultural events.
    Her contributions have been recognized with a Certificate of Appreciation from His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi and inclusion among the top 100 intellectual, literary, and historical figures in the Since Cadmus: Builders of Civilization study. She was awarded the Medal of Giving in recognition of her voluntary service supporting the Emirates Fine Arts Society and advancing the UAE’s cultural sector.
    Dr. Farran’s work is dedicated to preserving and documenting Arab cultural and artistic heritage while sustaining the UAE’s contemporary arts ecosystem through research, curatorial practice, and institutional initiatives.
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