review meeting point Myrna Ayad reviews the first Art & Patronage Summit: The Middle A East, which took place in London over two days in January. lot of noise surrounded the something with such large exposure, it shouldn’t underlined the “need for an honest appraisal to build-up to the Art & Patronage say ‘invitation-only’,” noted one patron. “When it’s seek out some of the causes for the creative back- Summit: The Middle East earlier this year. A sense related to art and culture, it will target its own wardness of the [Middle Eastern] regions”. It was a of optimism was clearly in the air; even sceptics, audience.” A second hiccup happened during sentence that jarred with a few of those present. who had doubted the summit’s ability to deliver the main course interval at the invitation-only “We are here to bury the albatross of mediocrity,” anything concrete, were silenced by the news of dinner hosted by two of the summit’s patrons at he continued. “Now let’s do battle,” was his rally- its backers – Doha’s Katara Cultural Village Foun- Tate Britain on 11 January: a troupe of evidently ing cry as he invited the Serpentine Gallery’s Hans dation, Magic of Persia, Plurimi Capital and the non-Middle Eastern belly-dancers waltzed into Ulrich Obrist to the podium. Why “battle” many of Maryam and Edward Eisler Foundation. For most, the foyer to the beat of Arabic drums. Some of us were asking? Surely we’re all on the same side? it was the support of the so-called ‘Three Ms’ – those present were less than impressed, with one Maya Rasamny, Maryam Eisler and Maria Sukkar London dealer storming out of the gallery and – that appeared to confirm the legitimacy of the others following suit. The odd choice of dancers Small is Beautiful summit, an event masterminded by maverick dominated conversations thereafter to the point Obrist cited – as he often does – Caribbean intellec- figure Hossein Amirsadeghi. The fact that the where, on the final Q&A session, Sukkar felt com- tual Édouard Glissant’s mondialité concept – “institu- conference was to take place at the British Muse- pelled to say: “For every disgusted person, there tion building is not about XL or XXL,” he said, high- um on 12 January, followed by 13 January at the was a delighted person.” lighting the value of a system comprising smaller Royal College of Art, in six sessions comprising 42 Still, it was in high spirits and amid much organisations. He provided a neat intro to Tate notable speakers, conferred yet more credibility. expectation that the crowds of collectors, curators, Modern Director Chris Dercon’s presentation on gallerists, artists, museum directors and other Mid- the importance of small institutions – “soft power”, dle Eastern artistas gathered for the start of Day as he called it – and how they are fundamental to Danger Signs One. The summit kicked off with a welcome from the “ecology” of the art world and can make up for Alarm bells rang when the entrance fee for Day British Museum Deputy Director Andrew Burnett, the absence of public institutions. True indeed, as One was announced: a steep $476 and with who then gave the floor to Amirsadeghi. In a rather we know only too well in the Middle East, where admission ‘by invitation only’. “If you want to do theatrical presentation, the Iranian-born publisher our art scenes are largely composed of just such small institutions. Panel One, Institution Building: New Perspectives, Common Practices, Future Goals, featured no fewer than six participants – too many cooks spoiled the broth, as in other panels during the summit, and their introductions took away valuable discussion time. A particular highlight was William Wells of Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery, who enthralled the au- dience with his candid talk about his organisation’s evolution and its current positioning in post-rev- olution Egypt. “You promised us,” said Wells, quot- ing the Egyptian people who, after the country’s uprising, sought the Townhouse as a space for cultural dialogue. 72 review artists, at the ICA. Second-day attendees were largely members of the public and were ener- getic and engaged in the two panels, Cultural Risk-Taking: How it Looks on the Ground and Power, Knowledge and Patronage. Topics ranged from the risks that artists in Iraq face to the issues sur- rounding the Picasso in Palestine show and the role of Diasporic artists vis-à-vis their homelands. Then another elephant in the room charged into view: the dismissal of Jack Persekian from his post as Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation. Again, the audience wanted more, and Haig Aivazian, art- Facing page, from left to right: Founder and Meindersma, Director of the Prince Claus Fund. ist and Associate Curator of the Sharjah Biennial, Director of The Townhouse Gallery Williams Wells, President of Lord Cultural Resources What was becoming a long day was punctu- attempted to explain the background surround- Barry Lord, Director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gard ated by two ‘artist interventions’ – a video message ing the censored installation by Algerian artist Richard Koshalek, Director General of the Institut from Shirin Neshat and a performance by Amir Mustapha Benfodil. du Monde Arabe Mona Khazindar, Director of Tate Modern Chris Dercon and Co-Director Baradaran, which bewildered most: 3D glasses Perhaps this and the machinations of the of the Serpentine Gallery Hans Ulrich Obrist during the Art & Patronage Summit’s panel on (each an editioned artwork) were distributed, but Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project were areas that Institution-Building: New Perspectives, Common Practices, Future Goals. proved useless for watching the cloaked Iranian the summit should have addressed; people un- Above, left: Artist Amir Baradaran during artist, armed with an axe, chant indecipherably and derstandably want to know the real story. So his performance Augmented Reality strike at a layer of plaster under which sat a con- where does all this leave the inaugural summit? Performance: The Failure of Expectations. Right: Founder of the Art & Patronage tainer filled with soil; soon after, a group of teenag- “It’s a good start, but I would like to see the format Summit, Hossein Amirsadeghi. ers distributed apples to the audience. Thankfully, changed to one where there is more dialogue,” All images courtesy the Art & Patronage Summit. a real jewel awaited with Funding Art and Market said Bashar Al-Shroogi of Dubai-based Cuadro Fine Dynamics, a panel moderated by Art Dubai Fair Art Gallery. Like the proverbial curate’s egg, the The second panel, Collections and Collecting: Director Antonia Carver and which saw Founder summit was good and bad in parts. One undoubt- How to Make a Difference Big or Small, proved and Group CEO of Abraaj Capital, Arif Naqvi, dis- ed high point was the generous financial support equally entertaining, if for the wrong reasons. cuss “patronage as a critical piece of development given by the Art and Patronage Project Mart to Moderated by Reem Fadda, Associate Curator of in the region”. He underlined the necessity for a the Townhouse’s Independent Study Programme, Middle Eastern Art Abu Dhabi Project Solomon “stakeholder culture”, and urged the creation of an Ashkal Alwan’s Home Workspace in Beirut and R Guggenheim Foundation, it started innocently environment where “artists don’t feel curtailed by Echo’s Sada Portal in Baghdad. The Programme for enough with narratives by patrons Shafik Gabr what they’ve done but by what they’d like to do”. Cultural and Curatorial Practitioners, instituted by and Olga Davidson. Then The Art Newspaper’s Talks such as this made all the difference at the the Maryam and Edward Eisler Foundation, also Anna Somers Cocks dropped a bombshell, ask- summit: Naqvi was suggesting to patrons how granted bursaries to 14 curators in collaboration ing Fadda about the status of the Guggenheim best to perform their role, and there are many who with the Delfina Foundation. Such financial assist- Abu Dhabi project. The elephant in the room was should take note. ance was welcome and encouraging. unleashed. “I was really invited here as a mod- Western participants perhaps took more erator and I would appreciate it if the questions away from the summit than did their Middle were addressed to my panellists,” replied Fadda. More Elephants Eastern counterparts, and some key players from But the room wanted more. “I would have liked Day Two began with a breakfast at Sotheby’s and the region were notable by their absence – no the discussions on the taboo subjects to have a screening of Pia Getty’s wonderful film, Axis of representatives from the UAE government, for been explored further,” later commented Christa Light, about eight Contemporary Middle Eastern example. As a showcase for a Middle East on the move artistically, the summit may prove to have Like the proverbial curate’s egg, been useful. But next time, more artists need to be heard, more patrons need to suggest and im- the summit was good and bad plement new forms of patronage, and more en- gagement is necessary with government bodies in parts. so that new and effective channels of collabora- tion can be established. 73
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