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. 109 HH SHEIKHA SALAMA BINT HAMDAN AL-NAHYAN She is Chair of the Host Committee of Abu © Canvas Archives. 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 HH SHEIKH was widely regarded as the nation’s best exhibition at La Biennale to date, but also NAHYAN BIN implemented an internship programme. This year also sees the UAE participate at the MUBARAK AL-NAHYAN 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 Appointed the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Development in at the next edition of the Biennale and has March 2013, HH Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan has long appointed HE Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi as the been a protagonist of the arts. The President of the Abu Dhabi Music curator, in addition to securing a permanent & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) since its inception in 1996, Sheikh Nahyan pavilion at the Arsenale - Sale d’Armi. In tirelessly supports emerging national and Arab talent and continuously November 2013, the Foundation announced establishes platforms in the UAE and abroad to promote art and culture. a partnership with the Rhode Island School As the former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, a of Design, which will offer 15 emerging position he held for over two decades, Sheikh Nahyan is an inspiring Emirati artists the opportunity to complete orator and is regularly seen inaugurating exhibitions in Abu Dhabi. a year-long fellowship programme. These include various editions of Abu Dhabi Art and Orient Meets Under HH’s direction, the Foundation has Occident in 2010, a show organised by ADMAF that brought together a commissioned Canvas to create Art Scene collection of art by Emirati, Arab and Western artists. Sheikh Nahyan was UAE, a seminal publication which surveys also appointed the patron of the 2013 Arab Woman Awards UAE, which the visual art practices in the Emirates and is awarded the Sharjah Art Foundation’s HE Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi the scheduled for release in November this year. Arts Prize and selected Emirati artist Dr Najat Makki as Artist of the Year. 110 © Canvas Archives. HH SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL- MAKTOUM 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. 111 Image courtesy Qatar Museums Authority. HE SHEIKHA AL-MAYASSA BINT HAMAD AL-THANI The Qatar Museums Authority’s (QMA) sheer include those for Mona Hatoum, Etel Adnan, spending power has seen the government Francesco Vezzoli and Adel Abdessemed. The agency turned private entity acquire seminal latter’s work caused a ruckus with the Qatari works by Cézanne, Rothko and Hirst and stage public, who deemed the QMA-acquired Coup groundbreaking exhibitions in the Qatari de tête sculpture of footballer Zinedine Zidane’s capital. QMA is steered by HE Sheikha Al- infamous head butt during the 2006 FIFA World Mayassa Bint Hamad Al-Thani – who tops Art Cup games inappropriate for diverse reasons, Review’s 2013 power list – and her cultural army, including aniconism. However, these issues do which brought Hirst’s largest retrospective to not faze the Emir’s sister; she is on a mission to date to Doha in addition to unveiling his 14 position Qatar as not just one of the region’s, monumental bronze sculptures of a fetus’s but the world’s, go-to nations for art and gestation – a project commissioned by Sheikha culture. “This is a 20-year plan,” she told The New Al-Mayassa in 2009. Other recent shows York Times in December. 112 HRH PRINCE FAISAL BIN SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD He is widely recognised as an Oxford a tasteful and impeccable collection of collaboration with the British Museum’s graduate and a former professor of Political Modern and Contemporary Arab art. Prince Venetia Porter, Saleh Barakat of Agial Art Science at King Saud University, a field that Faisal was appointed Governor of Medina Gallery in Beirut and Mohammed Hafiz Prince Faisal chose for his Bachelor’s degree last January and has been instrumental of Athr Gallery in Jeddah. The exhibition at the latter alma mater. Many know the in staging the Word and Illumination was held to emphasise the positioning of young prince as an ambitious individual exhibitions in Islam’s second holiest city, Medina as 2013’s Cultural Capital of the and passionate collector who has amassed which centre on Arabic calligraphy, in Islamic World. © Canvas Archives. 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 HH SHEIKH ZAYED BIN international exhibitions and publications and securing residencies for them in Paris through SULTAN AL-NAHYAN a studio acquired at the Cité Internationale des Arts – all of which fall under the umbrella of her Al-Mansouria Foundation. Last summer, The young royal inherited a deep-seated passion for art from his Princess Jawaher handpicked 14 Saudi mother, who is an avid collector. A graduate of St Andrews, Sheikh cultural protagnoists to form the non-profit Zayed is frequently seen at Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art, as well as entity, the Saudi Art Council, to stage 21,39, inaugurating exhibitions such as last year’s MinD/Body at the Dubai an event dedicated to the promotion of Community Theatre & Arts Centre, of which he was a patron. He has Saudi art in Jeddah. She is a royal, but is also amassed a sizeable collection of works by Middle Eastern artists, fundamentally a humanitarian at heart and is some of which are displayed in the royal complex in Abu Dhabi where often referred to as the ‘mother of Saudi artists’, he welcomes guests from all over the world. There is also chatter not least for her support of the Kingdom’s surrounding the transformation of his collection into a foundation. artists but for the time she dedicates to them Many have dubbed the Sheikh a cultural ambassador and in many through guidance sessions that entail critique, respects, he is. At the last Venice Biennale, he entertained patrons, conversations and advice. The Princess museum reps and cultural protagonists aboard his yacht in a series attended 21,39’s gala dinner, symposium and of events. Members of the art community have praised the Sheikh’s subsequent events and was seen chatting with down-to-earth demeanour and approachability; some have gone so numerous guests, showing, as she always does, far as to suggest that he would make a fine Foreign Minister. her genuine hospitality and curiosity. 113 Abdelmonem Alserkal. Photography by Sofia Dadourian. Image courtesy Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. © Canvas Archives. Ahmad Alserkal. Photography by Sofia Dadourian. Image courtesy ARIF NAQVI Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Founder and Group Chief Executive of The Abraaj Group, Arif Naqvi is a seasoned ABDELMONEM businessman with a number of awards to his name. Last May, he received the Oslo Business & AHMAD for Peace Award, given to business leaders for fostering peace and stability through creating ALSERKAL shared value between business and society. He was also awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz civilian honour by the government of his The Alserkal brothers are at the helm of Dubai’s most important arts native Pakistan and in 2011 was named one district, Alserkal Avenue in the heart of the Al-Quoz industrial area. In of the 50 most influential people in the global 2014, the district will double in size, adding 76,200 square metres to private equity industry by Private Equity cater to a growing demand for art spaces in the city. Construction began International. This powerhouse is also an art last year on what will become an events centre and outdoor courtyard, collector with a penchant for risk-taking; he which will host performances, film screenings, panels and talks. The is the founder of the $500,000 Abraaj Group vision, according to Abdelmonem, is “to welcome, to provide and Art Prize (AGAP) – the world’s most expensive engage.” In December 2013, Alserkal Avenue announced a partnership art prize – in a bid to reward five artists from with the Dubai International Film Festival, operating as one of the main the MENASA region every year based on screening venues for the event. Earlier this year, a multi-purpose space their proposals for new artworks. The Abraaj for the arts community, A4, was launched at the district. The brothers Group has sponsored Art Dubai from the fair’s are tireless patrons of the arts and were recognised at the HH Sheikh inaugural edition, making the company, and Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Patrons of the Art Awards in 2013 Naqvi, inextricably linked with one of the for their contribution to art and culture in Dubai. region’s most important art events. 114 SAM BARDAOUIL & TILL FELLRATH HE They do it over and over again: astound audiences with their SHEIKHA impeccable curation of shows such as the travelling Tea With Nefertiti, which kicked off at Doha’s Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in HOOR AL- 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 QASIMI 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 Recently appointed the curator of the instead to engross visitors in the life and themes of the late Lebanese National Pavilion of the UAE for the next Modern Master. In February, they put on another fantastic exhibition edition of the Venice Biennale, Sheikha Hoor at Mathaf – Mona Hatoum’s first retrospective in the region – and once Al-Qasimi has consolidated Sharjah’s position more, chose to steer clear of an obvious sequential placement of work as a leading cultural hub in the region thanks and present a thematic approach. The result? Incomparable storytelling. to her relentless efforts to promote art and Till Fellrath and Sam Bardaouil. Photography by culture in the Middle East. As President of Heidi Gutman. Image courtesy Art Reoriented. 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. © Canvas Archives. 115 © Canvas Archives. ANTONIA CARVER 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. RITA AOUN-ABDO 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 Photography by Sofia Dadourian 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 REEM FADDA blue-chip spaces. 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 © Canvas Archives. International Academy of Art Palestine in 2006. 116 Delfina Entracanales with HRH Prince Charles. Photography by Paul Burns. Image courtesy Arts and Business. DELFINA ENTRACANALES In 2007, 86-year-old Spanish-born Delfina Medal for Arts Philanthropy for her continued Entracanales set up the Delfina Foundation support for artists. The Foundation re- in London to foster residencies, partnerships opened earlier this year after undergoing an and public programming for artists. The expansion, doubling the space to host further roots of the Foundation, however, go further residencies and exhibitions and becoming back to when Entracanales set up the Delfina London’s largest residency project space. The Studio Trust in 1988, a registered charity that Delfina Foundation currently hosts Middle would provide studio space and facilities to Eastern artists such as Raed Yassin, Maitha visual artists. A former laureate of the CBE Demithan, Nadia Ayari, Sara Al-Haddad and award from Queen Elizabeth II, Entracanales Larissa Sansour, among others, and has long was invited by HRH Prince Charles in been a partner of Art Dubai’s AiR Dubai December 2013 to receive the Prince of Wales Residency Programme. 117 Image courtesy IKSV. VASIF KORTUN © Canvas Archives. As programmes and research Director of Istanbul-based SALT, Vasif Kortun is a writer, teacher and curator with a distinctive analytical SALEH and Avant-garde approach to the arts. He is the name behind the establishment of several seminal projects and institutional BARAKAT 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) He was instrumental in introducing the Tate and non-profit gallery SALT, which evolved from Platform Garanti to the work of pioneering Lebanese artist after its closing. It now has three locations: Beyoglu, Galata and Saloua Raouda Choucair, whose retrospective SALT Ulus in Ankara, with the former housing the Ottoman Bank last April was the gallery’s first for an Arab Museum Permanent Collection and a library of 40,000 publications. artist. The show was so popular, the Tate Kortun, who has thrice been included in Art Review’s Power 100 list extended it, and there is talk of Choucair’s (2011–13), was an influential voice during the Gezi Park protests, exhibition travelling elsewhere. Last March, which gripped Turkey in 2013 and in his capacity as founder of SALT, Saleh Barakat also curated Tajreed, a show helped stage the Istanbul Biennial, an event affected by the city’s which explored abstraction in Modern Arab political volatility. 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. 118 IKSV The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), a Founded in 1973 under the leadership of Dr Nejat F 41-year old non-profit organisation, is growing from Eczacıbaşı, IKSV uses art as an international platform strength to strength on the Turkish art scene. The for communication and launched the International umbrella organisation under which Contemporary Istanbul Festival the same year, on the 50th Istanbul, the Istanbul Biennial and the Turkish Pavilion anniversary of Turkey’s foundation. It soon expanded at the Venice Biennale fall, secured the country a its programming to include film screenings, theatre 20-year lease at the Arsenale following a stellar productions, dance performances and art exhibitions. presentation by Ali Kazma at the 55th edition of Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding Bülent Eczacıbaşı and the Biennale. IKSV has been organising the Pavilion son of the late Dr Nejat, took over IKSV four years ago since 2007 and has also directed Turkey’s inaugural and has steered it to become a leader in fostering participation at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Turkish art both locally and internationally. BEN FLOYD 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 © Canvas Archives. 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 ROKNI HAERIZADEH recognised the potential for an international design trade fair and thus Downtown Design The young Dubai-based artist shuns the limelight, preferring instead to Dubai was born in October. work in his home-cum-studio, which he shares with two other artists – his brother Ramin and Hesam Rahmanian. Haerizadeh is an intellectual Image courtesy Art Dubai. 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. 119 ABDULRAHEEM & HASSAN SHARIF 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 © Canvas Archives. Emirati artists such as Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, the museum is housed in a traditional Emirati villa in Al-Barsha. Abdulraheem HANS has painstakingly documented and curated his siblings’ practices, with Hassan’s work prominently displayed at TFH. Widely regarded ULRICH 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 OBRIST year. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi acquired some of his works in 2013, bringing increased recognition to the practice of one of the His snappy and enigmatic Instagram shots UAE’s most critically engaging artists. 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 Photography by Maziaar Sadr. Image courtesy Gallery of Egyptian artist Susan Hefuna’s monograph Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai. Pars Pro Toto III, which Obrist has edited. 120 AKRAM ZAATARI 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 Image courtesy Fereshteh Daftari. MoMA have acquired his works. Zaatari is the co-founder of the Arab Image FERESHTEH Foundation in Beirut and one of Lebanon’s leading Contemporary artists. His works are DAFTARI largely based on collecting, studying and documenting the photographic history of the Arab world especially in times of war, The Iranian curator was once on the fence about pursuing academia conflict and resistance, making him a critical or curating, but her passion for “the proximity with objects that voice in the regional art scene. 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. Image courtesy Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/Hamburg. 121 RAMIN © Canvas Archives. SALSALI 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 MOHAMMED Dubai Museum of Contemporary Art as an SPM project and participated in the second KAZEM edition of Art14 London’s Global Private Museum Summit. 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. 122 © Canvas Archives. ELIE KHOURI 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. Image courtesy START. Image courtesy CAP, Kuwait. AMER HUNEIDI 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. 123 CYRIL ZAMMIT 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 Khaled Samawi. © Canvas Archives. Hisham Samawi. © Canvas Archives. designers and pays special attention to nurturing designers from the region; this KHALED & year’s edition features 10 galleries from the Middle East. With a genuine passion HISHAM SAMAWI for design, Zammit has introduced a new platform in the region and has contributed to Dubai’s positioning as a leading regional The Samawi cousins kicked 2013 off with a bang, launching two cultural hub. 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 © Canvas Archives. is working on altering laws pertaining to art censorship policies. Image courtesy Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich/London. KASHYA HILDEBRAND After Kashya Hildebrand relocated from relocation also saw the implementation of Zurich to London last year, so did her a tighter curatorial strategy that the gallery eponymous gallery, which has since put intends on maintaining and expanding on shows by some of the region’s top upon. One of the space’s core principles is Contemporary artists, such as Lalla Essaydi, participation at international art fairs and this Marwan Sahmarani and Reza Derakshani, has seen Kashya Hildebrand take part in fairs whose show, The Pink House Stories, marked in Singapore, Miami, Abu Dhabi, London and the launch of her new space last June. With Basel, among others, where works have been the move to the British capital, the ex-Wall placed in private collections and institutions Street banker joined the handful of galleries alike. The gallery returns to Art Dubai this that promote regional art in London. The year with works by Essaydi and Simin Farhat. 124 Dana Farouki with Olafur Eliasson’s fivehold dodecahedron lamp (2006). © Canvas Archives. DANA FAROUKI 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. 125 © Canvas Archives. PRINCESS ALIA AL-SENUSSI It is difficult to encompass Princess Alia Al- Lina Lazaar with a work by Farhad Moshiri. Image Senussi’s many roles into a few words, but courtesy Sotheby’s. perhaps ‘passionate patron’ will do. Born to a Libyan father and an American mother and LINA LAZAAR raised in the West, Al-Senussi chose to focus on International Relations and Middle East JAMEEL Studies for her undergraduate degree at Brown University. She went on to complete two Master’s degrees, one from Brown and She lived in London for about eight years, where she worked as a another from the London School of Economics specialist for Sotheby’s and in 2011, curated The Future Of A Promise and is currently pursuing a PhD in Middle East collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which showcased politics at SOAS. Al-Senussi sits on numerous work by leading Middle Eastern artists. Lina Lazaar then married boards of cultural institutions such as the Tate Hassan Jameel, son of Saudi art patron Abdul Latif Jameel, and Young Patrons, for which she acts as Chairman, subsequently moved to Jeddah, where she has staged two and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. editions of Jeddah Art Week (JAW) so far with plans to grow the She was among the first three patrons to annual event. She still works for Sotheby’s and was instrumental support Art Dubai and is currently VIP Relations in staging preview exhibitions for the auction house prior to their Manager for the Middle East for Art Basel. Al- Doha sales. Lazaar has managed to gather various members of the Senussi has played a critical role in promoting Jeddah public to JAW, which encompassed a symposium and the regional art in the West and introducing Middle participation of a few galleries within Al-Furusiya Mall in the Red Eastern collectors to Western art, as well as Sea port city. contributing to several publications. 126 ONES TO WATCH NADA RAZA 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 Members of the Saudi Art Council, (from left to right) Hamza Serafi, Hayat Shobokhshi, Sara Bin Laden, Abdullah Al-Turki, works by Zarina Hashmi and Monir Faisal Tamer, Sharifa Al-Sudairi, Mohammed Hafiz, Nawaf Al-Nassar and Sara Alireza and (on the floor) Aya Alireza and Farmanfarmaian. Raneem Farsi. © Canvas Archives. THE SAUDI ART COUNCIL 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 Image courtesy Art Dubai. Heritage Site. 127 OMAR KHOLEIF 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 HE Sheikha Maisa Al-Qassimi with Gauri at the online cultural publication and arts Gill’s Shah Alam Bookstore, Kabul (2007). platform Ibraaz, which has collaborated with © Canvas Archives. the Kamel Lazaar Foundation to announce the launch of Kamel Lazaar Foundation HE SHEIKHA MAISA Projects, and will commission up to 10 artists a year to develop research-based activities. AL-QASSIMI 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. 128 Image courtesy Omar Kholeif. Image courtesy Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York. TAYMOUR GRAHNE This new kid on the block has not only secured an impressive roster of artists for Sabrina Amrani with Zoulikha Bouabdellah’s Mirage I (2011). Image courtesy Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid. his eponymous gallery, but his forward thinking has already made him one of the SABRINA AMRANI most powerful Middle Eastern gallerists in the Big Apple. Having opened his space in September of last year, Taymour Grahne now With a degree in Sociology and a zeal for the arts, she took a risk by represents artists such as Nicky Nodjoumi, opening a gallery that specialises in art from the MENASA region in an Mohammed Kazem, Lamia Joreige, Hassan economically crippled Spain in June of 2011. The Algerian-born Sabrina Hajjaj and Tarek Al-Ghoussein, among others. Amrani and her husband and partner Jal Hamad knew not to wholly The 24-year-old developed a passion for rely on the Spanish art market and immediately set out to participate art as a teenager and his choice of artists is in international art fairs in Madrid, Casablanca, Beirut and Miami. inspired by his extensive travel and research, Last year, Sabrina Amrani Gallery debuted at Art Dubai and made an all of which are documented in his blog Art Of impressive number of sales through works by UBIK, Nicène Kossentini, The Mid East. In just four months of operation Zoulikha Bouabdellah and Waqas Khan, the latter shortlisted for the as a young Contemporary art gallery in New Jameel Prize II and Bouabdellah an Abraaj Group Art Prize winner. York, Nicky Nodjoumi’s Study For Inspector’s Beyond presenting and promoting artists from the MENASA, Amrani Scrutiny and Reza Derakshani’s Shattered is keen on collaborations and has most recently joined forces with the Music were acquired from the gallery by The International Emerging Artist Award. Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. NOOR AL-SUWAIDI It is almost as though this young Emirati series. She has also been busy wrapping artist and curator is here, there and up a new series of her trademark colourful everywhere all at once. Last March, Al- abstract paintings for an exhibition in Suwaidi co-curated Time And Space Matter, Dubai’s Cuadro Fine Art Gallery in April. A an exhibition of works by two Emirati artists relentless advocate of young Emirati artists, at Dubai’s Capital D Studio. In January, she studied Visual Communication at the she curated In The Absence Of Script, a American University of Washington and multimedia exhibition of works by five went on to complete a Master’s in Curating emerging artists who engage with text at Contemporary Design at Kingston University the Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah. In parallel, in London. Al-Suwaidi has also been an Photography by Sueraya Shaheen. Image courtesy Cuadro Fine Art Gallery, Dubai. Al-Suwaidi has hosted art enthusiasts at artist-in-residence at institutions in Berlin, her workspace as part of her open studio New York and Rome. 129 AIDA MAHMUDOVA The niece of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Aida Mahmudova is an artist and philanthropist on a mission to raise the profile of her country’s art scene worldwide. In 2011, she founded YARAT, a non-profit Contemporary art space in Baku, funding it herself initially until sponsors and donors came on board. YARAT offers an educational programme, artist residencies, exhibitions and a commercial gallery whose profits go back towards financing the foundation. In 2013, YARAT presented Love Me, Love Me Not at the Venice Biennale, a collateral event featuring the works of 17 artists from Azerbaijan and its neighbouring countries, including Iranian artists Afruz Amighi and Ali Banisadr, and the exhibition will also be held in Baku this spring. The organisation will also take part in this year’s Art Dubai as part of the Marker section, which focuses on Central Asia and the Caucasus. Mahmudova holds a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London and her works, which include paintings and installations, have been exhibited at group shows around the world. Image courtesy Art Dubai. NINA MAHDAVI The backbone to a thriving art scene is art education and Nina Mahdavi understands its importance. She has spent much of the last year facilitating study programmes and scholarships through the Caspian Arts Foundation, which she founded in 2011. Within three years of its establishment, the Foundation has already brought students from the Middle East to pursue art education in London. In 2013, in partnership with London’s Shubbak Festival, the Caspian Arts Foundation also held a series of educational programmes and symposia on Middle Eastern art. In collaboration with the Nowruz Commission, Mahdavi held a fundraising auction with Sotheby’s earlier this year to create further opportunities for students to study abroad. The Foundation is also part of the educational programme of this year’s Marker section at Art Dubai. 2014 kicked off on a positive note as the Foundation will collaborate with the LUX/ICA Biennial of Moving Images – among other leading artists and curators – to provide emerging artists an Image courtesy YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Baku. opportunity to curate the programme. 130 © Canvas Archives. DALYA ISLAM This former Sotheby’s specialist moved back artwork, though art from the region is not to her native Jeddah a few years ago and set strictly the remit. She serves on the advisory up her own private art consultancy practice, board of Arabian Wings gallery in Jeddah, Madder Red. Dalya Islam has staged diverse funded by Abdul Latif Jameel Community exhibitions of work by Middle Eastern artists Initiatives, which has also initiated a across Saudi Arabia and has also organised Conceptual Photography prize, for which shows for Western artists, some of which Islam has served as a judge. In addition to were held in collaboration with varied speaking at panel discussions in institutions embassies in the Kingdom. In her capacity in the region and in Europe, Istanbul fair as a consultant, Islam advises individual Art International appointed Islam as its VIP and corporate clients on the acquisition of Manager for the Middle East. Yesim Turanli with Mehmet Ali Uysal’s Painting Series (2013). Image courtesy Pi Artworks, Istanbul/London. CRISTIANA DE MARCHI During Dubai’s art week in March 2013, Italian artist Cristiana de Marchi presented works by Middle Eastern artists in an exhibition titled MinD/Body. MinD (Made in Dubai) – a format then in its fourth year – explored the use of body in a culture where it is more often than not sheltered by the public gaze. A book, edited by de Marchi herself, was published to coincide with the exhibition, providing a comprehensive look into the artworks, essays and a foreword by HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, who showed a keen interest in de Marchi’s oeuvre when he visited her solo Weaving Gaps at 1x1 Gallery late last year. In October 2013, the artist presented a show at Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait, marking her first solo in the Gulf country. YESIM TURANLI She founded Pi Artworks in 1998 and last also joined the Gallery Selection Committee year opened a sister branch in London – not of the newly launched Art International fair, only marking the first Turkish gallery to have and is a staunch supporter of Contemporary a presence in the British capital, but the Istanbul as well as being Chair of the Art first Contemporary art gallery from Turkey Galleries Association in Istanbul. Turanli to expand globally. Turanli challenged has recently expanded her programming preconceived notions of Turkish art in to introduce international artists to the London by presenting a retrospective of Turkish art scene. She has also overseen work by performance artist Nezaket Ekici, the acquisition of works by several gallery including a three-day performance and artists by major international institutions, installation within the gallery. In 2013, she including the Guggenheim and Pompidou. Image courtesy 1x1 Gallery, Dubai. WRITTEN BY Myrna Ayad Rania Habib Maria Mumtaz 132
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