(Part 2) In pictures: Art Dubai, 21–24 March 2012
Mon, Mar 26 2012
One of the entrances to Art Dubai. All photos Latitudes.
After concluding the three days of the 2012 March Meeting in Sharjah (see part one of our Emirati posts), we made our way to the neighbouring Emirate to visit Art Dubai (21–24 March), which took place at the Madinat Jumeirah hotel resort.
Corridors of Art Dubai. Right: Lombard Freid Projects, New York.
Corridor of Art Dubai. Left: Green Cardamom Gallery showing Ayaz Jokhio, Nazgol Ansarinia and Anwar Jalal Shemza.
Entourage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai leaves the fair.
Cartier lounge. Two models pose wearing jewels of the luxury firm.
Global Art Forum 6 "The Medium of Media" directed by writer, curator, Editor-at-Large at Tank magazine and contributing editor at Bidoun magazine Shumon Basar was co-hosted by the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (18–19 March) and was followed by four consecutive days during Art Dubai (21–24 March).
On stage (left to right) Douglas Coupland, Shumon Basar and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Full house with the keynote by Douglas Coupland.
The programme was the real highlight of Art Dubai and included a focused and well-balanced programme of guests (novelists, curators, artists, journalists, filmmakers, commentators, film producers...) and formats (interviews, 15 minute readings, presentations of commissions). Amongst the highlights was a panel with Canadian novelist and artist Douglas Coupland who discussed Marshall McLuhan’s legacy alongside Shumon Basar and Hans Ulrich Obrist; Michael Rakowitz's dialogue with Jack Persekian on their collaboration for 'The Breakup',
a project which revolved around the intricacies of The Beatles' 1969 breakup, taking the form of a ten-part radio programme that took place in
Ramallah's Radio Amwaj in 2010; and the PowerPointsTM Your Creative Medium Potencial (CMP) series of commissions curated by Victoria Camblin, which included powerpoint works by writers and artists Ayshay+Kari Altmann, Douglas Coupland, Goldin & Senneby, LuckyPDF (see their "School of Global Art" web and powerpoint) and Alex Provan (Triple Canopy).
Shumon Basar (left) photographing the audience and tweeting #GAF2012; Hans Ulrich Obrist (right).
Global Art Forum 6, 22 March: Conversation between Georgina Adam, Art Market Editor at The Art Newspaper and Art Marker correspondent at The Financial Times, and geo-strategist/author Parag Khanna - discussed how information shapes value in the financial marketplace and the differences between the art and the financial market.
Journalist and Bidoun's editor Negar Azimi asking "What is to be done by artists in the face of turbulent historical times when it's the media, arguably, that posseses today's power to shape our imaginations and idealogies the most".
Jack Persekian (left) and Michael Rakowitz (right) discuss their collaboration for 'The Breakup", a multi-part event at the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem.
The Abraaj Art Capital Prize exhibition at Art Dubai, with works by Taysir Batniji, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (who had a solo show at The Third Line), Wael Shawky, Risham Syed, and Raed Yassin. Curated by Nat Muller.
Elsewhere in Dubai, The Third Line gallery presented the exhibition "Lebanese Rocket Society: Part III, IV, V" by 2012 Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.
The Pavilion Downtown Dubai hosted the show "Living with Video" curated by Paris-based galleriest Chantal Crousel and a banner commission by Lara Baladi curated by Juan A. Gaitán. More on the exhibitions at The Pavilion Downtown on our following post.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, is the third largest mosque in the world fits over 7,000 worshippers...
...and features the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet hand-crafted by 1,200 artisans in Iran, 7 gold-coloured chandeliers from Germany made of thousands of Swarovski crystals from Austria and glasswork from Italy...
...1,000 columns in its outer areas cladded with more than 20,000 marble panels inlaid with semi-precious stones, including lapis lazuli, red agate, amethyst, abalone shell and mother of pearl... phew!...
Our final visit: Manarat Al Saadiyat a 15,000 sqm venue with an exhibition about the Saadiyat Cultural District, which in the future will host the Zayed National Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by Frank Gehry and The Performing Arts Centre
by Zaha Hadid (see maquettes below). Besides the exhibition of a
timeline of Abu Dhabi's history and impressive panoramic screens, the
show is a place for international hotels and resorts chains (Mandarin,
St. Regis, Park Hyatt...) to present their maquettes and 3D renderings of future facilities nearby the museums. Two days before our visit Human
Rights Watch reported that "Abuses Are Continuing" for Workers at Abu Dhabi's Museum Island.
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