Although Dubai is fast becoming a top tourist destination, I don’t think anyone has it in their head as a place to go to buy Dubai art, or at least admire it.
With buyers from all over the world, the Art Dubai fair that closed a new edition days ago seeks to be key in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
The young man meets me at the entrance of one of the two pavilions of the fair and asks me politely and in English as impeccable as his traditional Arabic garb if I have two minutes to answer a few questions. I agree and shoot: “What do artists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) need to develop their careers?” I answer that I am not an artist but a journalist, that I have just arrived in Dubai from Argentina, and that I have no idea. But the young man insists and, without losing a millimeter of kindness, tells me that it does not matter, that my opinion is also valuable. And to my surprise, he adds other related questions: “How can we sustain and grow the creative community in the UAE? How can we develop critical discourse in art and culture? How could art collections be shared with more people? What role do you think technology should play in Dubai art? The questions are part of Dubai 10X, an initiative of the Emirates Arts and Culture Authority that hopes to make 10-year progress into one in all areas of Dubai culture.
To Argentine eyes, it may seem naive. But it ceases to be if you consider that we are in a place that in the 60s was little more than a desert and is now a city of gleaming skyscrapers, elevated trains, highways traveled by high-end cars, gigantic shopping malls and squares that they look like golf courses. In a few years, Dubai also became one of the world’s tourist destinations and a fundamental commercial and logistics center for the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Asia. In light of the speed with which he achieved this, optimism can also be allowed in the development of art and culture.
Optimism is palpable in this emirate. Also at Dubai art –according to its artistic director, the Spanish Pablo Del Val, “the most global fair in the world” – whose twelfth edition took place with the general direction of Myrna Ayad between March 21 and 24 and with patronage by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates – at the spectacular Madinat Jumeirah hotel and the participation of more than 100 galleries from 48 countries that brought work by artists from around the world. During those days, more than 28,000 people toured the two pavilions within the hotel dedicated to contemporary art and a third dedicated to modern art –Art Dubai Modern– that presented museum-quality works by highly influential artists from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. in the region during the 20th century.
In this section of modern art, there were 16 galleries from 14 countries and an extraordinary off-market exhibition, That Feverish Leap into the Fierceness of Life, which traces the history of modern art in the region and its different currents.
One of the most interesting stands in this section of modern art was undoubtedly that of the Mark Hachem Gallery in Paris, which presented a remarkable series of works by the Egyptian artist Hamed Abdalla (1917-1985): his powerful paintings – at the time were exhibited by the Tate of London, among other great museums – they are letters of the Arabic alphabet that become human figures, almost always representing sexual scenes, a content that generates, at least, discomfort in a region where cultural and religious norms govern that completely exclude eroticism. In Dubai, however, there appears to be some permissiveness and regulatory flexibility. It is not uncommon, considering its cosmopolitanism. Most of the population is made up of expatriates. Some, professionals and staff of large companies in European countries, India, from South Africa. Others, especially Pakistanis, are the majority of service workers. Dubai’s effort to develop significant collectibles is possible in part thanks to that demographic: wealthy foreign residents are the main buyers of Dubai art galleries, which in the last ten years have multiplied especially in Al Quoz, a former industrial area of this city-state, now known as Alserkal Avenue. It was founded in 2007 by a real estate entrepreneur to promote cultural initiatives in the region. Rich foreign residents are the main buyers of Dubai art galleries, which in the last ten years have multiplied especially in Al Quoz, a former industrial area of this city-state, now known as Alserkal Avenue. It was founded in 2007 by a real estate entrepreneur to promote cultural initiatives in the region. Rich foreign residents are the main buyers of art in Dubai galleries, which in the last ten years have multiplied especially in Al Quoz, a former industrial area of this city-state, now known as Alserkal Avenue. It was founded in 2007 by a real estate entrepreneur to promote cultural initiatives in the region.
