Building a gallery in Dubai is one thing. Building a gallery in Dubai dedicated to digital and light-based art - and making it feel like an oasis - is something considerably more specific. Clemence Cazeau had a vision for what 37xDubai could be: a space that proved the region had serious appetite for digital work, not just curiosity about it.

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About Clemence Cazeau

Clemence Cazeau is the founder of 37xDubai, a Dubai gallery that has positioned itself as a dedicated space for digital and light-based art. Her background combines art world experience with a genuine understanding of the particular energy of the Gulf - its appetite for ambitious architecture, its growing collector base, and the specific ways digital art resonates in a context built on vision and speed. The gallery's debut exhibition focused on light, bringing together digital and physical works in a space with striking views of the Dubai cityscape.

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What This Conversation Is Really About

Dubai is not the obvious capital of digital art collecting - and that is precisely what makes building there interesting. This conversation explores what a region-specific digital art scene looks like when it's being constructed deliberately: what the collectors are like, what they want, what they resist, and how a gallery positions itself to develop serious relationships over time. Cazeau's experience at 37xDubai is a case study in how digital art finds new audiences in contexts that weren't historically part of the conversation - and what that process actually demands of the people doing the building.

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Key Ideas From This Episode

Gulf collectors and digital art
The collector profile in Dubai is distinct from Europe or North America - different relationships to technology, to luxury, to art as cultural statement. Understanding this specificity matters for anyone thinking about where the global digital art market is expanding.

Light as bridging medium
Choosing light-based work for the debut exhibition was a curatorial decision as much as an aesthetic one. Light art has visual immediacy and physical impact that translates across different collector backgrounds - a natural bridge between more familiar and more experimental work.

Gallery as cultural infrastructure
37xDubai is not just a sales space - it's an argument that the region needs and can sustain serious digital art infrastructure. Building that argument requires patience and relationships that extend well beyond individual transactions.

Digital art in physical contexts
One of the ongoing tensions in digital art is the question of display: how do screen-based or light-based works inhabit physical space meaningfully? Cazeau's gallery design is a practical answer to that question in a specific architectural and cultural context.

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Why This Episode Matters to Collectors

The global digital art ecosystem is expanding beyond its original nodes. Understanding what's happening in the Gulf - who's collecting, what's being built, and what the local appetite for digital work looks like - gives collectors a more complete picture of where the field is going. Cazeau is one of the people building the infrastructure that will shape collecting in the region for years to come.

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About Unlocked

Unlocked is the podcast by 100 collectors - the global network for digital art collectors. Each episode, we speak with artists, curators, collectors, and builders shaping the digital art world. No market speculation. No hype. Just honest, substantive conversations about art, practice, and what it means to collect today. New episodes release throughout the year. Find Unlocked on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 100 collectors is a membership network. [Explore membership →]

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