1,500 students. 1,000 artworks. One platform, installed at the Louvre.
We designed, developed, deployed, and physically installed a unified digital art exhibition platform for the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, showcasing student artworks across 3D models, games, animations, and digital art at unprecedented speed.
ADEK needed a platform that could present wildly different digital formats as a unified exhibition, and install it in a gallery.
The National Art Expressions programme is ADEK's flagship initiative to nurture creative talent across Abu Dhabi's schools: public, private, charter, and People of Determination institutions. The second edition in 2024 saw explosive growth: from 29 schools to 198, from 32 teachers to over 200, and from 6 artists to 15 local and international experts.
The challenge was not just scale. Students were producing work across fundamentally different digital formats: 3D models sculpted in Blender and Unity, interactive games, animations, motion graphics, digital collages, vector art, and photo manipulations. These needed to be presented on a single platform, bilingual, accessible, and ready for physical installation in a national gallery space.
The exhibition was opening at Manarat Al Saadiyat. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was attending. There was no room for delay.
From 29 schools in 2023 to 198 in 2024. The platform had to scale with it.
A unified exhibition platform. Designed, developed, deployed, and installed.
Exhibition Web Platform
Bilingual (Arabic/English) web application presenting 1,000+ artworks across four digital categories, with student attribution and school details.
Multi-Format Integration
Unified rendering of 3D models (Blender/Unity), interactive games, animations, motion graphics, digital collages, and vector art in a single interface.
Gallery Installation
Physical deployment and installation of the digital platform at Manarat Al Saadiyat: not just software delivery, but exhibition-ready installation.
Content Management
System to catalogue, organise, and present artworks from 198 schools: handling student names, grades, schools, art categories, and digital assets at scale.
The platform integrates formats that were never designed to coexist.
3D Modeling
Student-created 3D sculptures and architectural models built in Blender and Unity, from heritage forts to the UAE Hope Probe.
Game Design
Interactive games, vector art, and animations: playable cultural experiences like traditional recipe preparation games and desert wildlife spotters.
Playwriting
Digital performing arts: student-written dramatic works presented through the platform's multimedia capabilities.
Web Design
Motion graphics, photo manipulations, and digital collages: students exploring UAE heritage and identity through visual design.
This is not a typical web project. It is a physical exhibition powered by software.
A portfolio website shows images. This platform had to render interactive 3D models, playable games, animated sequences, and video art, side by side, in a single unified interface, in two languages, at a quality standard appropriate for a national gallery.
The delivery timeline was fixed by the exhibition opening. When the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi is attending, you do not negotiate a deadline extension. The platform had to be designed, built, tested, and physically installed before the doors opened.
Every piece also carried attribution: student names, schools, grades, collaborative credits, across 198 institutions. This was not just a content management problem. It was an education data problem at exhibition scale.
Format heterogeneity
3D renders, Unity exports, vector art, motion graphics, photo edits, and interactive games, each with different technical requirements, presented in one coherent interface.
Immovable deadline
Exhibition opening at Manarat Al Saadiyat with Crown Prince attendance. No staging period. No soft launch. It works on opening day or it doesn't.
Physical installation
This was not a cloud deployment. The platform was physically installed in a gallery, requiring hardware setup, display calibration, and on-site testing.
Bilingual at every level
Full Arabic and English support: not just the interface, but student names, artwork titles, school names, and category descriptions across 1,000+ entries.
Inclusive by mandate
The programme expanded to include People of Determination institutions. The platform had to be accessible: not as an afterthought, but as a requirement.
HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, personally toured the exhibition running on this platform.
The National Art Expressions exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat was a national-level event. The Crown Prince emphasised its role in supporting young Emirati artists and preserving UAE cultural heritage. The platform Hash Include built was the infrastructure that made the exhibition possible.
HE Sara Awad Issa Musallam, Minister of State for Early Education, Chairperson of ADEK
HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi
HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Secretary General, Abu Dhabi Executive Council
The platform powers exhibitions across Abu Dhabi's most significant cultural venues.
Manarat Al Saadiyat
Primary exhibition venue for the 2024 National Art Expressions programme. Open to the public through March 2024.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
ADEK collaborated with Louvre Abu Dhabi to feature student artworks at dedicated exhibitions, reflecting commitment to promoting emerging Emirati talent.
Warehouse 421
Additional exhibition partner for dedicated student artwork displays, extending the platform's reach across Abu Dhabi's cultural district.
Public Facilities & School Murals
The Department of Municipalities and Transport will display student artworks across school murals and public facilities emirate-wide.
When the Crown Prince walks through your platform, the engineering has to hold.
Building something that has to work on day one?
If your deadline is immovable and the audience is watching, we should talk. We build systems for situations where failure is not an option.