109 Welcome to our third annual Power 50 feature. Canvas has identified the region’s most influential cultural protagonists and here we highlight their achievements, efforts and successes. In this exclusive list, there are those at the top of their game, who tirelessly promote Middle Eastern art all over the world. Then there are those who are carving a trailblazing path on the regional art scene; they are the ones to watch. 110 Appointed the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Development in March 2013, HH Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan has long been a protagonist of the arts. The President of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) since its inception in 1996, Sheikh Nahyan tirelessly supports emerging national and Arab talent and continuously establishes platforms in the UAE and abroad to promote art and culture. As the former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, a position he held for over two decades, Sheikh Nahyan is an inspiring orator and is regularly seen inaugurating exhibitions in Abu Dhabi. These include various editions of Abu Dhabi Art and Orient Meets Occident in 2010, a show organised by ADMAF that brought together a collection of art by Emirati, Arab and Western artists. Sheikh Nahyan was also appointed the patron of the 2013 Arab Woman Awards UAE, which awarded the Sharjah Art Foundation’s HE Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi the Arts Prize and selected Emirati artist Dr Najat Makki as Artist of the Year HH SHEIKH NAHYAN BIN MUBARAK AL-NAHYAN She is Chair of the Host Committee of Abu Dhabi Art and her namesake foundation was the principal sponsor behind the UAE’s third participation at the Venice Biennale last year, which not only presented what was widely regarded as the nation’s best exhibition at La Biennale to date, but also implemented an internship programme. This year also sees the UAE participate at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, thanks to the Foundation, which acts as Commissioner. It will also once again act as the Commissioner of the UAE Pavilion at the next edition of the Biennale and has appointed HE Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi as the curator, in addition to securing a permanent pavilion at the Arsenale - Sale d’Armi. In November 2013, the Foundation announced a partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, which will offer 15 emerging Emirati artists the opportunity to complete a year-long fellowship programme. Under HH’s direction, the Foundation has commissioned Canvas to create Art Scene UAE , a seminal publication which surveys the visual art practices in the Emirates and is scheduled for release in November this year. HH SHEIKHA SALAMA BINT HAMDAN AL-NAHYAN © Canvas Archives. 111 A poet, patron of Art Dubai and founder of his eponymous Patrons of the Arts Awards, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, is a leader in the artistic development of Dubai and its positioning as an international art hub. In March 2012, he announced the launch of the Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District, due to be completed in 2015. The district, being built in Downtown Dubai, will include a Modern art museum, galleries and two art hotels, among other facilities. “The cultural accomplishments of a nation define its character and individuality. Having demonstrated our credentials in hosting world-class cultural events, the UAE has established itself as a thriving destination for culture and the arts,” said Sheikh Mohammed in a statement to the news agency WAM. HH SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL- MAKTOUM © Canvas Archives. 112 The Qatar Museums Authority’s (QMA) sheer spending power has seen the government agency turned private entity acquire seminal works by Cézanne, Rothko and Hirst and stage groundbreaking exhibitions in the Qatari capital. QMA is steered by HE Sheikha Al- Mayassa Bint Hamad Al-Thani – who tops Art Review ’s 2013 power list – and her cultural army, which brought Hirst’s largest retrospective to date to Doha in addition to unveiling his 14 monumental bronze sculptures of a fetus’s gestation – a project commissioned by Sheikha Al-Mayassa in 2009. Other recent shows include those for Mona Hatoum, Etel Adnan, Francesco Vezzoli and Adel Abdessemed. The latter’s work caused a ruckus with the Qatari public, who deemed the QMA-acquired Coup de tête sculpture of footballer Zinedine Zidane’s infamous head butt during the 2006 FIFA World Cup games inappropriate for diverse reasons, including aniconism. However, these issues do not faze the Emir’s sister; she is on a mission to position Qatar as not just one of the region’s, but the world’s, go-to nations for art and culture. “This is a 20-year plan,” she told The New York Times in December. HE SHEIKHA AL-MAYASSA BINT HAMAD AL-THANI Image courtesy Qatar Museums Authority. 113 He is widely recognised as an Oxford graduate and a former professor of Political Science at King Saud University, a field that Prince Faisal chose for his Bachelor’s degree at the latter alma mater. Many know the young prince as an ambitious individual and passionate collector who has amassed a tasteful and impeccable collection of Modern and Contemporary Arab art. Prince Faisal was appointed Governor of Medina last January and has been instrumental in staging the Word and Illumination exhibitions in Islam’s second holiest city, which centre on Arabic calligraphy, in collaboration with the British Museum’s Venetia Porter, Saleh Barakat of Agial Art Gallery in Beirut and Mohammed Hafiz of Athr Gallery in Jeddah. The exhibition was held to emphasise the positioning of Medina as 2013’s Cultural Capital of the Islamic World. HRH PRINCE FAISAL BIN SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD HRH PRINCESS JAWAHER BINT MAJED BIN ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD She took the Saudi art scene by storm in the late 1980s, buying work by her country’s artists, promoting their art through international exhibitions and publications and securing residencies for them in Paris through a studio acquired at the Cité Internationale des Arts – all of which fall under the umbrella of her Al-Mansouria Foundation. Last summer, Princess Jawaher handpicked 14 Saudi cultural protagnoists to form the non-profit entity, the Saudi Art Council, to stage 21,39 , an event dedicated to the promotion of Saudi art in Jeddah. She is a royal, but is also fundamentally a humanitarian at heart and is often referred to as the ‘mother of Saudi artists’, not least for her support of the Kingdom’s artists but for the time she dedicates to them through guidance sessions that entail critique, conversations and advice. The Princess attended 21,39 ’s gala dinner, symposium and subsequent events and was seen chatting with numerous guests, showing, as she always does, her genuine hospitality and curiosity. The young royal inherited a deep-seated passion for art from his mother, who is an avid collector. A graduate of St Andrews, Sheikh Zayed is frequently seen at Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art, as well as inaugurating exhibitions such as last year’s MinD/Body at the Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre , of which he was a patron. He has amassed a sizeable collection of works by Middle Eastern artists, some of which are displayed in the royal complex in Abu Dhabi where he welcomes guests from all over the world. There is also chatter surrounding the transformation of his collection into a foundation. Many have dubbed the Sheikh a cultural ambassador and in many respects, he is. At the last Venice Biennale, he entertained patrons, museum reps and cultural protagonists aboard his yacht in a series of events. Members of the art community have praised the Sheikh’s down-to-earth demeanour and approachability; some have gone so far as to suggest that he would make a fine Foreign Minister. HH SHEIKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN AL-NAHYAN © Canvas Archives. 114 The Alserkal brothers are at the helm of Dubai’s most important arts district, Alserkal Avenue in the heart of the Al-Quoz industrial area. In 2014, the district will double in size, adding 76,200 square metres to cater to a growing demand for art spaces in the city. Construction began last year on what will become an events centre and outdoor courtyard, which will host performances, film screenings, panels and talks. The vision, according to Abdelmonem, is “to welcome, to provide and engage.” In December 2013, Alserkal Avenue announced a partnership with the Dubai International Film Festival, operating as one of the main screening venues for the event. Earlier this year, a multi-purpose space for the arts community, A4, was launched at the district. The brothers are tireless patrons of the arts and were recognised at the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Patrons of the Art Awards in 2013 for their contribution to art and culture in Dubai. ABDELMONEM & AHMAD ALSERKAL Founder and Group Chief Executive of The Abraaj Group, Arif Naqvi is a seasoned businessman with a number of awards to his name. Last May, he received the Oslo Business for Peace Award, given to business leaders for fostering peace and stability through creating shared value between business and society. He was also awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz civilian honour by the government of his native Pakistan and in 2011 was named one of the 50 most influential people in the global private equity industry by Private Equity International . This powerhouse is also an art collector with a penchant for risk-taking; he is the founder of the $500,000 Abraaj Group Art Prize (AGAP) – the world’s most expensive art prize – in a bid to reward five artists from the MENASA region every year based on their proposals for new artworks. The Abraaj Group has sponsored Art Dubai from the fair’s inaugural edition, making the company, and Naqvi, inextricably linked with one of the region’s most important art events. ARIF NAQVI Abdelmonem Alserkal. Photography by Sofia Dadourian. Image courtesy Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Ahmad Alserkal. Photography by Sofia Dadourian. Image courtesy Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. © Canvas Archives. 115 HE SHEIKHA HOOR AL- QASIMI Recently appointed the curator of the National Pavilion of the UAE for the next edition of the Venice Biennale, Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi has consolidated Sharjah’s position as a leading cultural hub in the region thanks to her relentless efforts to promote art and culture in the Middle East. As President of the Sharjah Art Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors of New York’s MoMA PS1 and Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, member of the curatorial selection committee of the Berlin and Sharjah biennials (the latter of which she heads), she is always on the go and was voted number 48 on Art Review ’s 2013 Power 100 list, up from number 84 last year. Sheikha Hoor has used her extensive knowledge of the arts to foster creative dialogue, collaborations and exhibitions in order to engage with the grassroots audience in the region. During the 2013 edition of Abu Dhabi Art, she presented a film programme entitled Where Are The Arabs ? and has collaborated with Art Dubai to launch the Moving Images section, which will showcase artist films from the region across various venues all year round. They do it over and over again: astound audiences with their impeccable curation of shows such as the travelling Tea With Nefertiti , which kicked off at Doha’s Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in November 2012 and stopped at Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe before closing 2013 at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern. Earlier this year, the duo behind Art Reoriented also curated a long overdue retrospective of works by the late Paul Guiragossian at the Beirut Exhibition Center. Their curatorial approach saw them abandon chronological order, preferring instead to engross visitors in the life and themes of the late Lebanese Modern Master. In February, they put on another fantastic exhibition at Mathaf – Mona Hatoum’s first retrospective in the region – and once more, chose to steer clear of an obvious sequential placement of work and present a thematic approach. The result? Incomparable storytelling. SAM BARDAOUIL & TILL FELLRATH Till Fellrath and Sam Bardaouil. Photography by Heidi Gutman. Image courtesy Art Reoriented. © Canvas Archives. 116 A stalwart figure on Dubai’s art and culture scene, Antonia Carver wears many hats – Art Dubai Fair Director by day and mother of three by night, she juggles her time visiting fairs, biennials and exhibitions around the globe. Carver has not only consolidated Art Dubai’s position as the region’s preeminent fair, but also expanded the breadth and scope of its programming. Carver is a woman with a plan, and case in point is the launch of the Modern section and the Moving Images programme at this year’s fair. In an interview with Canvas , she has said: “In art fair years, we’re still very young. In Dubai years, we’re more middle-aged.” If Art Dubai’s age in terms of its success has to be gauged, the number of participating galleries this year – which has jumped to 85 – confirms that Carver has successfully nurtured the growing fair. ANTONIA CARVER Rita Aoun-Abdo and her team quite literally weathered a storm in the UAE capital during the last edition of Abu Dhabi Art, when severe weather conditions led to a leakage in the Norman Foster- designed pavilion where 22 participating galleries had set up their booths. Aoun-Abdo and other staff members at the Tourism & Culture Authority authorised the evacuation of galleries from as early as 5am and ensured that no artworks were damaged. The TCA team swiftly created a pop-up space for the remainder of the fair. Force majeure aside, Abu Dhabi Art under the direction of Aoun-Abdo, has been growing from strength to strength each year. Aesthetically, the partial move to Manarat Al-Saadiyat in addition to the stronger talks series and tightly curated booths has boosted the fair, along with a combination of the region’s galleries and the West’s blue-chip spaces. RITA AOUN-ABDO She curated what has been dubbed the UAE’s best Pavilion to date at the 55th Venice Biennale, presenting one work by Mohammed Kazem, which attracted curious visitors and was praised by critics. This was not Reem Fadda’s first involvement with the biennial, as she had previously presented the exhibition Ramallah Syndrome as part of the Palestine c/o Venice collateral event at the 2009 Biennale. More recently, she curated Emirati Expressions: Realised in Abu Dhabi, an exhibition that brought six Emirati artists together to realise projects that they had long kept on the backburner. Fadda is the Associate Curator of Middle Eastern Art at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and is showing no signs of slowing down. As she completes a PhD at the History of Art and Visual Studies Department at Cornell University in New York, she is also the Director of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art and helped found the International Academy of Art Palestine in 2006. REEM FADDA © Canvas Archives. Photography by Sofia Dadourian © Canvas Archives. 117 In 2007, 86-year-old Spanish-born Delfina Entracanales set up the Delfina Foundation in London to foster residencies, partnerships and public programming for artists. The roots of the Foundation, however, go further back to when Entracanales set up the Delfina Studio Trust in 1988, a registered charity that would provide studio space and facilities to visual artists. A former laureate of the CBE award from Queen Elizabeth II, Entracanales was invited by HRH Prince Charles in December 2013 to receive the Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy for her continued support for artists. The Foundation re- opened earlier this year after undergoing an expansion, doubling the space to host further residencies and exhibitions and becoming London’s largest residency project space. The Delfina Foundation currently hosts Middle Eastern artists such as Raed Yassin, Maitha Demithan, Nadia Ayari, Sara Al-Haddad and Larissa Sansour, among others, and has long been a partner of Art Dubai’s AiR Dubai Residency Programme. DELFINA ENTRACANALES Delfina Entracanales with HRH Prince Charles. Photography by Paul Burns. Image courtesy Arts and Business. 118 VASIF KORTUN He was instrumental in introducing the Tate to the work of pioneering Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair, whose retrospective last April was the gallery’s first for an Arab artist. The show was so popular, the Tate extended it, and there is talk of Choucair’s exhibition travelling elsewhere. Last March, Saleh Barakat also curated Tajreed , a show which explored abstraction in Modern Arab art at Kuwait’s Contemporary Art Platform. This year the Beirut dealer collaborated with the British Museum’s Venetia Porter and Mohammed Hafiz of Jeddah’s Athr Gallery to present Word and Illumination , exhibitions that celebrate Arabic calligraphy in Medina, held under the patronage of HRH Prince Faisal Bin Salman Al-Saud. Barakat’s booths for Beirut’s Agial Art Gallery at art fairs are always thematic and well-curated and last year, the space participated in Frieze Masters with the work of Aref El-Rayyes, for whom Barakat is working on a retrospective with Catherine David. Agial will show through Art Dubai’s Contemporary and Modern sections this year, the latter with the sculptures of Michel Basbous, for whom Barakat will present a show in September at the Beirut Exhibition Center. As programmes and research Director of Istanbul-based SALT, Vasif Kortun is a writer, teacher and curator with a distinctive analytical and Avant-garde approach to the arts. He is the name behind the establishment of several seminal projects and institutional structures, including the Museum for the Centre of Curatorial Studies at New York’s Bard College (1994–97), Platform Garanti (2001–07) and Proje4L, the Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art (2001–03) and non-profit gallery SALT, which evolved from Platform Garanti after its closing. It now has three locations: Beyoglu, Galata and SALT Ulus in Ankara, with the former housing the Ottoman Bank Museum Permanent Collection and a library of 40,000 publications. Kortun, who has thrice been included in Art Review ’s Power 100 list (2011–13), was an influential voice during the Gezi Park protests, which gripped Turkey in 2013 and in his capacity as founder of SALT, helped stage the Istanbul Biennial, an event affected by the city’s political volatility. SALEH BARAKAT © Canvas Archives. Image courtesy IKSV. 119 The young Dubai-based artist shuns the limelight, preferring instead to work in his home-cum-studio, which he shares with two other artists – his brother Ramin and Hesam Rahmanian. Haerizadeh is an intellectual through and through, tackling issues pertaining to contemporary society’s hypocrisy, often delving into literature and mythology. The past year has seen the Iranian artist’s works acquired by major institutions, such as the Carnegie Museum and The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Last October, he also bagged a participation at the 2013 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. The Haerizadeh brothers and Rahmanian have just returned from the USA where they spent a month as artists in residence as part of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation on Captiva Island. Though Haerizadeh was slated for a much-awaited and long overdue solo show in March, his Dubai dealer Isabelle van den Eynde altered the gallery’s programme to stage a show for the trio. The exhibition will coincide with the launch of his monograph, Fictionville IKSV He has a knack for identifying opportunities and Benedict Floyd knows a thing or two about risky investments: he has previously worked for Credit Suisse in London and Zurich and also served as a director at Bank of America. The Director and co-founder of Art Dubai has long been a protagonist of the Middle Eastern art scene. It was back in 2005 that he and former co-founder of Art Dubai John Martin were sitting on a beach when they agreed that Dubai needed an art fair. The Gulf Art Fair, now known as Art Dubai, was thus born at a time when the global art fair calendar comprised 600 events worldwide, yet with none in the Middle East. It was a precarious move at the time, but the long-term investment has paid off and so has his suggestion of launching a design fair: Design Days Dubai is now in its third edition and growing strong. Last October, Floyd recognised the potential for an international design trade fair and thus Downtown Design Dubai was born in October. The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), a 41-year old non-profit organisation, is growing from strength to strength on the Turkish art scene. The umbrella organisation under which Contemporary Istanbul, the Istanbul Biennial and the Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale fall, secured the country a 20-year lease at the Arsenale following a stellar presentation by Ali Kazma at the 55th edition of the Biennale. IKSV has been organising the Pavilion since 2007 and has also directed Turkey’s inaugural participation at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Founded in 1973 under the leadership of Dr Nejat F Eczacıbaşı, IKSV uses art as an international platform for communication and launched the International Istanbul Festival the same year, on the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s foundation. It soon expanded its programming to include film screenings, theatre productions, dance performances and art exhibitions. Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding Bülent Eczacıbaşı and son of the late Dr Nejat, took over IKSV four years ago and has steered it to become a leader in fostering Turkish art both locally and internationally. ROKNI HAERIZADEH BEN FLOYD Image courtesy Art Dubai. © Canvas Archives. 120 His snappy and enigmatic Instagram shots of notes scribbled on Post-its leave followers pondering their intended meanings. This echoes and also mirrors the exhibitions that Hans Ulrich Obrist curates. An art historian and critic, Obrist is the Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery in London, which welcomed Wael Shawky’s solo show Myths And Legends during the fall of 2013, marking the Egyptian artist’s first major exhibition in the British capital. The past year also saw the opening of starchitect Zaha Hadid’s Sackler Gallery, which hosts art, design and architecture exhibitions, adding a new dimension to the Serpentine Gallery. Obrist recently curated Art Is One Of The Roads To Paradise , a retrospective for celebrated Lebanese artist Etel Adnan at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. This year also sees the publication of the third and final edition of Egyptian artist Susan Hefuna’s monograph Pars Pro Toto III , which Obrist has edited. A visit to The Flying House (TFH), the brainchild of Abdulraheem Sharif, is a must on the Dubai art circuit. Dedicated to showcasing the works of his brothers Hassan and Hussain and other prominent Emirati artists such as Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, the museum is housed in a traditional Emirati villa in Al-Barsha. Abdulraheem has painstakingly documented and curated his siblings’ practices, with Hassan’s work prominently displayed at TFH. Widely regarded as the founding father of Conceptual Emirati art, Hassan recently presented a solo show at New York’s Alexander Gray Associates and Approaching Entropy at Dubai’s Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde last year. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi acquired some of his works in 2013, bringing increased recognition to the practice of one of the UAE’s most critically engaging artists. HANS ULRICH OBRIST ABDULRAHEEM & HASSAN SHARIF Photography by Maziaar Sadr. Image courtesy Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai. © Canvas Archives. 121 The Iranian curator was once on the fence about pursuing academia or curating, but her passion for “the proximity with objects that comes with curating” and the ability to reach a greater number of people through museum shows cemented her decision. Daftari most recently co-curated Iran Modern , a seminal exhibition held at New York’s Asia Society from September 2013–January. In 2012, she also curated Safar/Voyage: Contemporary Works by Arab, Iranian and Turkish Artists at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Canada. It marked the first time that a major exhibition of Contemporary art from the region was held in Canada. Prior to becoming an independent scholar and curator in 2009, Daftari spent two decades at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where she presented exhibitions by artists such as Mona Hatoum, YZ Kami, Paul McCarthy, Xu Bing and Diana Thater. She is a prolific writer with a PhD in Art History from Columbia University in New York. His star has been rising steadily for years, but 2013 proved crucial for the Lebanese artist. He represented Lebanon at the 55th Venice Biennale with a poignant work that revolves around a 1982 incident from the Lebanese Civil War, when an Israeli air force pilot refused to bomb a school in Sidon. Zaatari also exhibited Projects 100 at New York’s MoMA last May and presented solo exhibitions at London’s Thomas Dane gallery and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston. International institutions such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou and MoMA have acquired his works. Zaatari is the co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut and one of Lebanon’s leading Contemporary artists. His works are largely based on collecting, studying and documenting the photographic history of the Arab world especially in times of war, conflict and resistance, making him a critical voice in the regional art scene. FERESHTEH DAFTARI AKRAM ZAATARI Image courtesy Fereshteh Daftari. Image courtesy Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/Hamburg. 122 His installation, Walking On Water , left visitors and critics at the 55th Venice Biennale feeling both slightly seasick and entranced. Mohammed Kazem was selected to represent his native UAE at the Bienniale, presenting a single, all-encompassing work that draws on his long-standing Directions series. He replicated the work for Emirati Expressions: Realised , a show of Emirati artists held at Manarat Al-Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi in 2013. A pioneer of Conceptual and Contemporary art in the UAE and a student of Hassan Sharif, Kazem was awarded the Spring 2014 ArteEast Watermill Residency, which supports the development of critical work by artists from the Middle East and North Africa, where he is developing a large-scale work, also part of the Directions series. Represented by Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in Dubai, the artist is known as one of the ‘Five’, a group of Emirati artists that includes Sharif, Hussain Sharif, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdullah Al-Saadi. One can inevitably spot Ramin Salsali admiring artworks at fairs and exhibitions all over the world and minutes later, networking and securing acquisitions for his collection. Although the first thing one sees at the entrance of the Salsali Private Museum (SPM) in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue is Reza Derakshani’s flashing neon sign ironically reading ‘this is not a museum’, Salsali flies the flag for the only private museum for Contemporary art in Dubai. Shows at SPM have matured since the gallery’s inception in 2011 – from showing works in the collection, it has recently begun commissioning artists for site-specific pieces and has also played host to a showstopping exhibition by Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year Imran Qureshi. Salsali’s passion does not stop there: he has announced plans to build the Dubai Museum of Contemporary Art as an SPM project and participated in the second edition of Art14 London’s Global Private Museum Summit. MOHAMMED KAZEM RAMIN SALSALI © Canvas Archives. © Canvas Archives. 123 The Chairman of Gulf Cryo – a privately owned manufacturer, distributor and service provider of gases in the Middle East – took it upon himself to establish a non-profit space in Kuwait City to presents exhibitions, talks and workshops and features a library and cinema. Amer Huneidi has been collecting art since 1998, with a particular focus on Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art. He founded the 700-square-metre Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) in the industrial district of Shuwaikh with the aim of engaging with the public – CAP’s inaugural exhibition, for example, displayed artworks gathered from Kuwaiti collectors. Since its launch in 2011, CAP has staged over 20 exhibitions, some of which were put together by guest curators and not limited to Middle Eastern art. CAP has also served as a space where institutions such as the Arab Fund for Art and Culture, the British Council and JAMM have displayed work. Alongside each show is a film screening, workshop or lecture and future plans include more services geared towards emerging artists. In the foyer of the six-storey Omnicom Media Group (OMG) building in Dubai Media City are works by Mehdi Nabavi, Manal Al- Dowayan and Nadim Karam. At the time of press however, chances are that these works may have been moved to other floors or temporarily moved to a warehouse, for Elie Khouri is known to regularly rotate his pieces. The Regional Chief Executive of OMG in the Middle East and North Africa has a keen passion for sharing his collection. The Lebanese-born patron developed an interest in art about a decade ago and began seriously collecting in 2011, gathering works by the likes of Aaron Young, David LaChapelle and George Condo, alongside regional names such as Ziad Antar, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige and Nabil Nahas. The collection is eclectic, crossing over various genres and has been amassed from visits to Art Basel fairs, Frieze and Art Dubai as well as galleries. No doubt, the inclusion of artwork in the workspace has roused the interest and curiosity of the company’s 200 employees. AMER HUNEIDI ELIE KHOURI Image courtesy CAP, Kuwait. Image courtesy START. 124 The Samawi cousins kicked 2013 off with a bang, launching two new branches of Ayyam Gallery: London in January and Jeddah in February. As their home country, Syria, continues to suffer in the throes of political unrest, the directors of Ayyam Gallery indefatigably support and promote their artists all over the world and have transformed the gallery’s Damascus and Beirut spaces into studios for their artists. For their inaugural show in Jeddah, the Samawi duo chose to stage a solo show of portraits by Mohannad Orabi and in doing so, sought to push the boundaries of exhibiting figurative work in a conservative country. Following from its Dubai model, Ayyam held its first Young Collectors Auction in Jeddah in November last year, but the sale did not happen without controversy and censorship restrictions. Despite facing resistance, Khaled has vowed to hold another sale in the Red Sea port city and is working on altering laws pertaining to art censorship policies. From 20 galleries at its inaugural edition in 2012 to 34 spaces just two years later, Design Days Dubai (DDD) has taken the region by storm. Its director, Cyril Zammit, had identified a gap in the city’s art week market and so DDD was born. Not only has the fair grown in size, but its programming has also expanded, most recently adding the Discover section, an annual focus on design from a select country – Zammit’s native France is first on the agenda. He has no qualms about taking risks by presenting emerging designers and pays special attention to nurturing designers from the region; this year’s edition features 10 galleries from the Middle East. With a genuine passion for design, Zammit has introduced a new platform in the region and has contributed to Dubai’s positioning as a leading regional cultural hub. After Kashya Hildebrand relocated from Zurich to London last year, so did her eponymous gallery, which has since put on shows by some of the region’s top Contemporary artists, such as Lalla Essaydi, Marwan Sahmarani and Reza Derakshani, whose show, The Pink House Stories , marked the launch of her new space last June. With the move to the British capital, the ex-Wall Street banker joined the handful of galleries that promote regional art in London. The relocation also saw the implementation of a tighter curatorial strategy that the gallery intends on maintaining and expanding upon. One of the space’s core principles is participation at international art fairs and this has seen Kashya Hildebrand take part in fairs in Singapore, Miami, Abu Dhabi, London and Basel, among others, where works have been placed in private collections and institutions alike. The gallery returns to Art Dubai this year with works by Essaydi and Simin Farhat. KASHYA HILDEBRAND KHALED & HISHAM SAMAWI CYRIL ZAMMIT Khaled Samawi. © Canvas Archives. Hisham Samawi. © Canvas Archives. © Canvas Archives. Image courtesy Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich/London. 125 Her passion and enthusiasm for Middle Eastern art is refreshing. As one of the first members of the Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi, a Trustee of MoMA PS1, Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Creative Time and a member of the Board of Patrons for Art Dubai, Dana Farouki’s resilience in supporting art in the Middle East is admirable. In 2012, the Solomon R Guggenheim’s Richard Armstrong established the Middle Eastern Circle, a group to foster and support Middle Eastern art. Three months into its operation, Farouki hosted the inaugural luncheon, which brought members of the group together to discuss art-related activities and initiatives in the region. In addition, she hosted a luncheon during Art Basel Miami Beach (2013), which not only represented the Middle East at an international fair, but also brought together art collectors, enthusiasts, artists and curators alike on a global platform. DANA FAROUKI Dana Farouki with Olafur Eliasson’s fivehold dodecahedron lamp (2006). © Canvas Archives. 126 She lived in London for about eight years, where she worked as a specialist for Sotheby’s and in 2011, curated The Future Of A Promise collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which showcased work by leading Middle Eastern artists. Lina Lazaar then married Hassan Jameel, son of Saudi art patron Abdul Latif Jameel, and subsequently moved to Jeddah, where she has staged two editions of Jeddah Art Week (JAW) so far with plans to grow the annual event. She still works for Sotheby’s and was instrumental in staging preview exhibitions for the auction house prior to their Doha sales. Lazaar has managed to gather various members of the Jeddah public to JAW, which encompassed a symposium and the participation of a few galleries within Al-Furusiya Mall in the Red Sea port city. LINA LAZAAR JAMEEL It is difficult to encompass Princess Alia Al- Senussi’s many roles into a few words, but perhaps ‘passionate patron’ will do. Born to a Libyan father and an American mother and raised in the West, Al-Senussi chose to focus on International Relations and Middle East Studies for her undergraduate degree at Brown University. She went on to complete two Master’s degrees, one from Brown and another from the London School of Economics and is currently pursuing a PhD in Middle East politics at SOAS. Al-Senussi sits on numerous boards of cultural institutions such as the Tate Young Patrons, for which she acts as Chairman, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. She was among the first three patrons to support Art Dubai and is currently VIP Relations Manager for the Middle East for Art Basel. Al- Senussi has played a critical role in promoting regional art in the West and introducing Middle Eastern collectors to Western art, as well as contributing to several publications. PRINCESS ALIA AL-SENUSSI Lina Lazaar with a work by Farhad Moshiri. Image courtesy Sotheby’s. © Canvas Archives. 127 Meet a group of dedicated Saudi patrons who make up the non- profit entity that is the Saudi Art Council, members of which were appointed by HRH Princess Jawaher Bint Abdulaziz Al-Saud, President and Founder of Jeddah’s Al-Mansouria Foundation. The Council is comprised of 14 individuals – Raneem Farsi, Mohammed Hafiz, Sharifa Al-Sudairi, Abdullah Al-Turki, Hamza Serafi, Basma Al-Sulaiman, Aya Alireza, Sara Bin Laden, Hayat Shobokshi, Faisal Tamer, Nawaf Al- Nassar, Nadia Zuhair, Sara Alireza and Eissa Bougari – who launched the inaugural 21,39 in February. This two-month long initiative activated the Jeddah art scene through exhibitions, a symposium, studio visits, workshops and gallery openings to bridge the Saudi art scene with the rest of the world. Named after the geographical coordinates of the city, 21,39 aims to mark Jeddah as a local and international cultural destination, focusing on the regeneration of Al-Balad, the city’s old town, which is set to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. THE SAUDI ART COUNCIL Guest curator of the sixth edition of the Abraaj Group Art Prize (AGAP) exhibition, Nada Raza is an Assistant Curator at Tate Modern, focusing on research for acquisitions from South Asia and the Middle East. Pakistani-born Raza helped select the 2014 AGAP winning artists, who have shared the world’s most expensive art prize: Bouchra Khalili, Kamrooz Aram, Abbas Akhavan, Basim Magdy and Anup Matthew Thomas. With a Master’s in Critical Writing and Curatorial Practice from the Chelsea College of Art, she has previously worked with the Institute of International Visual Arts and Green Cardamom Gallery in London. In 2013 as part of her role at Tate Modern, Raza worked on Meschac Gaba: Museum of Contemporary African Art and on the display of acquired works by Zarina Hashmi and Monir Farmanfarmaian. NADA RAZA Members of the Saudi Art Council, (from left to right) Hamza Serafi, Hayat Shobokhshi, Sara Bin Laden, Abdullah Al-Turki, Faisal Tamer, Sharifa Al-Sudairi, Mohammed Hafiz, Nawaf Al-Nassar and Sara Alireza and (on the floor) Aya Alireza and Raneem Farsi. © Canvas Archives. Image courtesy Art Dubai. ONES TO WATCH 128 The programmes manager of the Museums Department at the Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) in Abu Dhabi, HE Sheikha Maisa Al-Qassimi is as passionate as they get. An artist, curator and collector, the Sharjah native most recently co-curated Emirati Expressions: Realised at Abu Dhabi’s Manarat Al-Saadiyat alongside Reem Fadda, putting an impressive exhibition together to showcase the works of six Emirati artists. Last year, she co-curated Time And Space Matter at Dubai’s Capital D Studio with Emirati artist Noor Al-Suwaidi, a show featuring the works of Emirati artists Zeinab Al-Hashemi and Shamma Al-Amri. Al-Qassimi was also instrumental in developing the Tawasul Orphans Education Fund, a non-profit initiative aimed at raising funds for the schooling of orphans. The vivacious cultural protagonist obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Photography from the American University in Dubai in 2000 and went on to complete a Master’s in Contemporary Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in 2011. HE SHEIKHA MAISA AL-QASSIMI 2013 was a big year for London-based Egyptian writer and curator Omar Kholeif. A visiting curator at Cornerhouse, Head of Programming at London’s centre for art and technology The White Building, former curator of Liverpool’s FACT, artistic director and curator-at-large at the Arab British Centre and founding director of the UK’s Arab Film Festival, Kholeif also accepted the post of curator of Whitechapel Gallery in London in January 2014. He is also the Senior Editor at the online cultural publication and arts platform Ibraaz , which has collaborated with the Kamel Lazaar Foundation to announce the launch of Kamel Lazaar Foundation Projects, and will commission up to 10 artists a year to develop research-based activities. OMAR KHOLEIF HE Sheikha Maisa Al-Qassimi with Gauri Gill’s Shah Alam Bookstore, Kabul (2007). © Canvas Archives. Image courtesy Omar Kholeif.