Art Fair
March
Join artBahrain.org
Advertisement
March 2012
MANAMA
CAPITAL
OF
ARAB
CULTURE
2012
CAPITAL
OF
ARAB
CULTURE
2012
Copyright © 2010, artBahrain.org. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes agreement with our Terms and Conditions.
Selected works from the
38th Annual Fine Arts Exhibition
38th Annual Fine Arts Exhibition
The Fair & The Market & The Global Art Forum
by Laura Stewart
March 21-24, 2012
THE ART FAIR
Art Dubai, to take place this year between March 21st and March 24th, has in the short six years of its existence, become a fixture on the international art calendar. Following last year’s buoyant sales, the 2012 fair will feature nearly 80 dealers from approximately 30 countries -- and is expected to top last year’s record for attendance -- attracting over 20,000 visitors. In addition to the growing prestige of the fair -- due in large part to the integrity and quality of the works of art and galleries selected by a rigorous vetting committee-- Art Dubai has also become a “happening”. Part of the fair’s growing appeal, held in the ballrooms of the sprawling and spectacular Medinat Jumeirah resort, is due to the fast-paced growth of the market for artists from the MENASA region.
THE GROWING MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS FROM THE MENASA REGION
In much the same way that Latin American contemporary art found an international audience in the 1980s, and Chinese and other Asian contemporary art captured a global audience in the first decade of the 21st century, it appears that the moment for Middle Eastern contemporary artists to take their turn on the international stage has arrived.
An explosion in both recognition of, and prices for, artists from the Gulf is evident at Art Dubai, and has been reinforced by the fact that international auctioneers, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips have watched sales grow since the inception of their initiatives in region over the last decade. When the trio of auctioneers began holding auctions in the Gulf, sales were primarily regional affairs and fairly modest prices were achieved. In addition, echoing the pattern seen in Latin and Asian contemporary art, artists were usually pursued by collectors from their native countries.
In the last several years, however, these auctions and the bustling gallery and art fair scene that has sprung up around them, have become platforms upon which many MENASA artists have been transformed into “international” rather than regional players, pursued by private and institutional collectors from around the world.
As Daniel Grant reported recently in ArtNews, “Christie’s two-part Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art sales, held in Dubai in October, earned a combined $7.3 million and saw 43 new auction records, 22 of which were for artists under 35 years of age. According to Isabelle de La Bruyère, director of Middle Eastern art at Christie’s “In 2006, when Christie’s held its inaugural auction in Dubai, 85 percent of our buyers were from the region”-that is, were collectors in the Middle East. At Christie’s most recent Dubai auction in October, that number was down to just 60 percent, “and the rest is international. I think that 60-40 division is our
greatest success, because we have increased the buyer base substantially, which has made the market sustainable.”
THE GLOBAL ART FORUM
The Global Art Forum -- the intellectual art symposium which takes place at Art Dubai-- is yet another example of how the fair has expanded beyond a solely commercial enterprise, and how contemporary art in the region has captured the world’s imagination.
Presented by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), in partnership with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar Museums Authority), the Forum is re-inventing itself this year, adding newly commissioned projects to the usual lectures and workshops and presentations.
The theme of the 2012 forum is: ‘The Medium of Media’ and will explore the double meaning of the term ‘media’ -- its use as an artistic term -- and its use as a term for journalism and communications. This fascinating subject will be addressed within the context of events in past year in the Arab world and how they have been both paradoxically produced by “media” and consumed as “media”
Some of the over 50 contributors to Global Art Forum_6 include: CEO and Wallis Annenberg director of LACMA, Michael Govan; Serpentine Gallery co-director of exhibitions and programmes and director of international projects Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Other featured participants include novelists Douglas Coupland and Amin Maalouf; journalist/critics Josephine Bosma and Sukhdev Sandhu; art market reporter Georgina Adam; geostrategist and author Parag Khanna and film-producer Anna Lena Vaney;. Artists Shezad Dawood, Constant Dullaart, Wael Shawky and Michael Rakowitz; curators Jack Persekian and Nat Muller; Demotix founder Turi Munthe; commentators Mishaal Al Gergawi and Yasmine El Rashidi; and filmmaker Sophie Fiennes will round out the phenomenally broad and deep pool of talent.
Newly commissioned projects include a series of PowerPointsTM by writers and artists, curated by Victoria Camblin, including Ayshay+Kari Altmann, Douglas Coupland, Goldin & Senneby, LuckyPDF and Alex Provan (TripleCanopy); a Dictionary of the Mediatized Gulf by Qatari artist-writer Sophia Al Maria; a publication entitled Some Medium Stories, edited by Michael Vazquez featuring Emily Dische-Becker, Tom Francis, Kristine Khouri; and a Media Archiving blog by Mariam Wissam Al Dabbagh. Two new collaborations between Art Dubai and Mathaf will be announced: an interactive Arabic Art Glossary, led by curator Lara Khaldi, and an Artist’s Residency at Al Jazeera news network, Doha.
Art Dubai, to take place this year between March 21st and March 24th, has in the short six years of its existence, become a fixture on the international art calendar. Following last year’s buoyant sales, the 2012 fair will feature nearly 80 dealers from approximately 30 countries -- and is expected to top last year’s record for attendance -- attracting over 20,000 visitors. In addition to the growing prestige of the fair -- due in large part to the integrity and quality of the works of art and galleries selected by a rigorous vetting committee-- Art Dubai has also become a “happening”. Part of the fair’s growing appeal, held in the ballrooms of the sprawling and spectacular Medinat Jumeirah resort, is due to the fast-paced growth of the market for artists from the MENASA region.
THE GROWING MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS FROM THE MENASA REGION
In much the same way that Latin American contemporary art found an international audience in the 1980s, and Chinese and other Asian contemporary art captured a global audience in the first decade of the 21st century, it appears that the moment for Middle Eastern contemporary artists to take their turn on the international stage has arrived.
An explosion in both recognition of, and prices for, artists from the Gulf is evident at Art Dubai, and has been reinforced by the fact that international auctioneers, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips have watched sales grow since the inception of their initiatives in region over the last decade. When the trio of auctioneers began holding auctions in the Gulf, sales were primarily regional affairs and fairly modest prices were achieved. In addition, echoing the pattern seen in Latin and Asian contemporary art, artists were usually pursued by collectors from their native countries.
In the last several years, however, these auctions and the bustling gallery and art fair scene that has sprung up around them, have become platforms upon which many MENASA artists have been transformed into “international” rather than regional players, pursued by private and institutional collectors from around the world.
As Daniel Grant reported recently in ArtNews, “Christie’s two-part Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art sales, held in Dubai in October, earned a combined $7.3 million and saw 43 new auction records, 22 of which were for artists under 35 years of age. According to Isabelle de La Bruyère, director of Middle Eastern art at Christie’s “In 2006, when Christie’s held its inaugural auction in Dubai, 85 percent of our buyers were from the region”-that is, were collectors in the Middle East. At Christie’s most recent Dubai auction in October, that number was down to just 60 percent, “and the rest is international. I think that 60-40 division is our
greatest success, because we have increased the buyer base substantially, which has made the market sustainable.”
THE GLOBAL ART FORUM
The Global Art Forum -- the intellectual art symposium which takes place at Art Dubai-- is yet another example of how the fair has expanded beyond a solely commercial enterprise, and how contemporary art in the region has captured the world’s imagination.
Presented by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), in partnership with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar Museums Authority), the Forum is re-inventing itself this year, adding newly commissioned projects to the usual lectures and workshops and presentations.
The theme of the 2012 forum is: ‘The Medium of Media’ and will explore the double meaning of the term ‘media’ -- its use as an artistic term -- and its use as a term for journalism and communications. This fascinating subject will be addressed within the context of events in past year in the Arab world and how they have been both paradoxically produced by “media” and consumed as “media”
Some of the over 50 contributors to Global Art Forum_6 include: CEO and Wallis Annenberg director of LACMA, Michael Govan; Serpentine Gallery co-director of exhibitions and programmes and director of international projects Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Other featured participants include novelists Douglas Coupland and Amin Maalouf; journalist/critics Josephine Bosma and Sukhdev Sandhu; art market reporter Georgina Adam; geostrategist and author Parag Khanna and film-producer Anna Lena Vaney;. Artists Shezad Dawood, Constant Dullaart, Wael Shawky and Michael Rakowitz; curators Jack Persekian and Nat Muller; Demotix founder Turi Munthe; commentators Mishaal Al Gergawi and Yasmine El Rashidi; and filmmaker Sophie Fiennes will round out the phenomenally broad and deep pool of talent.
Newly commissioned projects include a series of PowerPointsTM by writers and artists, curated by Victoria Camblin, including Ayshay+Kari Altmann, Douglas Coupland, Goldin & Senneby, LuckyPDF and Alex Provan (TripleCanopy); a Dictionary of the Mediatized Gulf by Qatari artist-writer Sophia Al Maria; a publication entitled Some Medium Stories, edited by Michael Vazquez featuring Emily Dische-Becker, Tom Francis, Kristine Khouri; and a Media Archiving blog by Mariam Wissam Al Dabbagh. Two new collaborations between Art Dubai and Mathaf will be announced: an interactive Arabic Art Glossary, led by curator Lara Khaldi, and an Artist’s Residency at Al Jazeera news network, Doha.