The Fair

Held under the Patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai — the seventh edition of the Dubai Art Fair, to be held at the gorgeous Jumeirah Madinat Hotel compound, promises to be a heady mix of good art, good conversation and good parties.

What started as a fairly modest art fair seven short years ago, the Dubai Art Fair has grown to become a leading international art world event, and is playing an increasingly important role in not only the commerce of art, but the discussion of the role of art in society.  HQ’d as it is in the midst of a region reeling with change the Dubai Art Fair is becoming a major player.

Last year the fair attracted over 20,000 visitors from around the world. Those visitors ogled treasures exhibited by 75 galleries from 32 countries. This year those numbers will inevitably grow, but the real “news” about the fair is its subtle change in tenor and the spread of its reach.

The Fair in its infancy was frankly, originally viewed by the “elite” of the global art world as a mere curiosity and a marginal event. This was its accepted place when compared to such heavyweights as Basel, Frieze or The Armory Show in New York.

No longer.

The increasing quality of the fair’s artwork, the high-level discussions afoot, and the rising price levels -  all characteristics of a maturing market – have forced the big-time players to pay attention.

And following a similar arc that marked the rise, plateau, and potential fall for other emerging markets (e.g. Chinese contemporary or BRIC) — the market for artists from the MENASA region is in its “separating the wheat from the chaff” phase of evolution.

Art Week

Another change is that what was initially a wholly commercial enterprise, the Dubai Art Fair is now a part of Art Week — making it the centerpiece of an arts festival.

The umbrella initiative that spreads its tentacles across Dubai, and in fact throughout the UAE, includes an impressive list of special events including: Design Days Dubai, the only fair in Asia dedicated to product and furniture design; Sikka, the fair run by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and dedicated to new work by UAE-based artists; and Galleries Nights, featuring 40 new exhibitions across Al Quoz and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC); plus other projects, museum shows and major events throughout the Emirates, Qatar and the Gulf.

Global Art Forum_6,2012,Mathaf- Arab Museum of Modern Art

Dubai Art Fair’s Global Art Forum

And for those with an intellectual bent, the well-regarded Global Art Forum* - a part of the Dubai Art Fair that is held for the first two days at the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha  and then continues in Dubai during the fair– has been dubbed by some as a sort of arty “Davos” — where serious lectures, symposia and discussion dominate the proceedings.

The Global Art Forum puts issues that divide people otherwise entrenched in political, social, cultural and religious camps — into a sort of compassionate, creative “neutral zone”.

And at its noblest moments it lowers the temperature and fosters productive dialogue, sparks progress — and furthers mutual understanding. Perhaps the idea that art expresses universally held emotions is its essence.

The State of the MENASA Art Market

Essentially the debate over the MENASA market – perhaps oversimplified- can be summed up by the following two questions:

• Is the market growing at a healthy pace — and is the attention and dizzying rise in prices sustainable?

AND

• What is the role of the artist in a region of the world undergoing seismic political shifts? And can  these artists resist the temptation to either “go political” or “go commercial” at the urging of those who, to put it bluntly, feed off their labors, or as a result of their own monetary needs?

The answer to these questions, and the fate of the contemporary art market in the Gulf, will not be answered this year, or perhaps even for decades to come.

However, to be present at a moment where art, culture, politics, semantics, democracy-building –not to mention excellent parties — all collide with eccentric personalities in an exotic jasmin-scented paradise is not to be missed