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REFINED TASTE HH Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, has been dubbed as Qatars culture queen.

Culture Camp

Who Scores High?

While the lower Gulf region has acquired a taste for patronage of the arts, the cultural approaches of the UAE and Qatar are starkly different. Which will eventually prove the more popular remains to be seen.
BY SINDHU NAIR POrTraIT By BrIGITTE LaCOMbE

The opening of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha in November 2008 was an attention-grabber for a number of reasons. The I.M. Pei-designed architectural wonders location in then-obscure Doha was one. Another was the boast of the MIAs director at the time, Oliver Watson (previously Chief Curator of Middle East Collections at the V&A in London), that the importance of the MIA collection was immense even though the collection itself was not huge. When we talk about the importance of the collection, it is not the monetary value that we are talking about, said Watson. We are only interested in the cultural value, aesthetic beauty and historical significance. Any big museum would give their right arm to have this collection. A hyperbolic claim, it seemed back then, but as the art world now reckons, he was just stating the facts. That the opening nights guest list included stars like London art dealer Jay Jopling, artists Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons and of course the creator of the masterpiece, I.M. Pei himself, was a

further reason that helped put this new museum on the art radar. The New York Times journalist Gisela Williams, reporting on the event, said: It was the kind of red-carpet treatment that might have christened the Louvre Pyramid in Paris or the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Five years later, Doha has several more museums planned (two already open and one in the construction stage) and is one of the biggest buyers of art globally. As the art world has realized, the opening of the MIA was indeed a harbinger of more bold cultural initiatives from Qatar. The most recent has been the massive Damien Hirst installation The Miraculous Journey outside the Sidra Medical Centre, consisting of 14 huge figures ranging from 15 feet 9 inches to 35 feet in height and weighing between nine and 28 tonnes each, which took three years to create and is said to have cost around $20 million. The series portrays the gestation of a fetus, beginning with the fertilization of an egg and ending with a fully-formed baby. Its unveiling coincided with the Doha opening

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CULTURE SPREAD Left, The I.M.Pei designed Museum of Islamic Arts building; below, Anotnia Carver of Art Dubai.

The Damien Hirsts exhibition at Tate Modern, sponsored by an Arab institution and held in a power station transformed by Swiss architects, reminds us that we live today in a truly global world, said Sheikha Al Mayassa.
of a first solo exhibition in the Middle East by the same controversial artist. Entitled Relics, it runs until January 22. The chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), the Emirs sister HH Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, whom The Economist once dubbed Qatars culture queen, was also the funder and initiator of the Hirst project, and is said to be very closely associated with the artist, having supported his earlier show at Tate Modern. In a sponsors note for that show she said: Here in London this exhibition, sponsored by an Arab institution and held in a power station transformed by Swiss architects, reminds us that we live today in a truly global world. Her comment echoes the QMAs objective to become a global leader in the world of museums, art, heritage and archaeology. The goal comes with a sustainable vision of cultivating a new voice for Qatar for generations to come; our purpose is to be a cultural instigator for the new generation, according to a QMA source who did not want to be named. On the number of new museums planned for Qatar, the QMA spokesperson said: The QMA has opened the Museum of Islamic Art and MIA Park; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art; the Al Riwaq exhibition space; and the QMA Gallery at Katara; and in the next few years it plans on opening the National Museum of Qatar, the Olympic and Sports Museum and the Orientalist Museum. But there was no further comment on these future museums, as they are in the planning phase. Some are ideas that will combine collections; others are standalone projects that will require their own facility. As projects move out of the planning stage and realize a clear direction, we will announce them, the spokesperson said. Following close on Qatars heels is Abu Dhabi with its mammoth Manarat Al Saadiyat, a 15,400-square-meter arts and culture space, a $27-billion development project featuring three starchitect museums: the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum by Norman Foster and the Frank Gehry-rendered Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. These mushrooming museum developments are being watched with growing interest by art buffs. Antonia Carver, director of art fair Art Dubai, feels that the regional arts scene has undergone a great shift over the past decade, given the burst and then rapid deepening of international interest, and the rise of art centers in the Gulf. She says that although there has always been a museum culture in cities like Cairo, Beirut and Tehran, and the scene in Beirut gives rise to more and more small-to-medium-scale institutions, the museum developments in Doha, and then Abu Dhabi, are at the other end of the scale. So while there will not be a real museum culture developing in these cities at street level, the commitment of the Qatar and UAE governments to cultural projects can only bode well for the future and the ways in which the Sharjah Biennial is connecting with its audiences demonstrates the great potential that exists here, she opines. According to Dr Abdellah Karroum, the director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, every country and each museum adopts a different strategy and methodology. It is important to create projects here and now, taking into consideration the context. Comparing the museum strategies of the UAE and Qatar, and speculating on the likely rivalry between these two countries, Dr Karen Exell, lecturer in Museum Studies at UCL Qatar, feels each of them has its own unique agenda. Abu Dhabi has gone down a franchise route; they have developed relations with the Western museums, the British Museum working on their National Museum and the Guggenheim and Louvre on the respective museum franchises. The result of this, says Dr Exell, will be the development of very impressive museums and the introduction of the concept of a universal culture. This concept apparently lacks popular appeal, and faint echoes of local and regional disapproval can already be heard in the art community. Local people might say that the type of exhibits presented do not represent their culture, says Dr Exell. So when the museums open we will have to wait and see whether Emiratis

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IMAGES COURTSEY, Shutterstock, Art DuBai, QMA, the Third Gallery, MathaF, Gehry PartNers aNd QMA

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ART SPEAK Clockwise from top left: The Miraculous Journey, by Damien Hirst; Claudia Cellini, owner of Dubaibased gallery The Third Line ; Dr Abdellah Karroum, the director of Mathaf; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Damien Hirst talks to the press before the launch of his exhibition in Doha; Kitab Kharida alAjayib, an exhibit from Hajj: The journey through Art, an ongoing exhibition at MIA.

will visit, whether the regional tourist appreciates it, whether they feel a connect to the presentations or if the art is too distant in its approach for a link to be made. In the end it all comes down to how the UAE measures its success. The UAE has to decide its path: to be a global voice affecting the international community, or to take the heritage route and make a local impact. So while critics have said that the modernization of cultures is overshadowing grassroots ventures, we will have to wait and watch the UAE model, says Dr Exell. Qatar, meanwhile, has a completely different modus operandi, where it buys in the necessary expertise on the operational side to work along with the QMAs cultural development agenda, a more local collaboration with a regional focus that Sheikha Al-Mayassa has described as a hybrid of local culture and international expertise. Here they really want to emphasize the fact that Qatar is leading, and it is not a case of someone coming from outside and taking the lead, Dr Exell says. But that still leaves it open to criticism, alienating local people, as they are not yet familiar with the purpose of museums. This is because the museum culture is still new to the region; it is not yet a pursuit that the people in the Gulf indulge in. So there is still a gap, she says. While the UAE model is getting all the international attention, in terms of sustainability and the long-term success of these projects it might be Qatar that finally triumphs, prophesies Dr Exell. Lama Hourani of Foresight32, a gallery in Amman, who follows museum developments, is reticent about choosing between the Gulfs two museum giants. I cant judge which is better, she says. Is it the international approach, or building museums that reflect the Muslim or local identity? I believe a

combination of both to bring experiences from around the world to inspire and expose local talents, and to build upon our own identity and reflect our culture through art should work best. Art Dubais Carver, meanwhile, feels the two rafts of museums reinforce the idea of the Gulf as a whole being a single destination. Art acquisitions Sheikha Al-Mayassa is also said to be the mysterious buyer of some of the worlds most valued and highly-priced art pieces, though this has not been confirmed by any of the auction houses. Sothebys and Christies refuse to comment on art acquisitions by Qatar and Abu Dhabi, saying these countries are their clients. We presume they are their chief clients. Over the past seven years the QMA and the Qatari royal family are estimated to have spent at least $1 billion on Western paintings, sculptures and installations, including the last privately-held version of Paul Cezannes The Card Players for over $250 million a record price for a work of art. That acquisition was just the latest in a series of purchases that includes some of the very best work by Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko ($70 million for his White Center in 2007), Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst ($20 million for his pill cabinet and another $20 million for The Miraculous Journey). Since the QMA refuses to comment on these buys, other organizations in Qatar are equally tight-lipped. But Dr Exell states categorically: The region is already recognized as one of the biggest buyers of contemporary arts, older Western art

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ONGOING DEBATE Clockwise from left: The Hymn by Damien Hirst; Mayssa Fattouh, artistic director and curator at Katara Art Center; The Miracalous Journey; The Louvre Abu Dhabi- Jean Nouvel; Dr Karen Exell, lecturer at UCL.

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IMAGES COURTESY, QMA, RoBert AltamiraNo, JeaN NoVel DesigNs, RoBert AltamiraNo

The effort to create world-class art collections in the Gulf, essentially from scratch, has buoyed the international art market, and has contributed to some of the escalation in prices.

and also Arab art. There is a genuine effort to create a cultural hub in the Gulf, shifting the focus of the art world not just away from the West but also away from Cairo and Damascus. They are the new patrons of art, says Dr Exell. Nobody can even dream of buying what they (Doha in particular) are purchasing. It is a combination of Sheikha Al-Mayassas personal interest in Western contemporary art and her desire to put Qatar on the global map, to say this is the new center of art appreciation and culture. Mayssa Fattouh, artistic director and curator at Katara Art Center, one of the few independently-run galleries in the country, feels that although museums in the East are actively involved in art acquisition, the fact that European museums have already acquired collections and are awash with purchases could be another reason why the market seems flooded with purchasers from the Middle East. More recently developing countries, especially ones with an excess of GDP, have been investing in art and making numerous acquisitions, says Fattouh. Abu Dhabi and Qatar are the undeniable bandleaders. But the interest in acquisitions, Fattouh adds, is not a new phenomenon. Qatars National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage started investing in the arts over 25 years ago, with acquisitions mostly done through auction houses. Antonia Carver is particularly excited to see some major works being acquired by the Gulf museums and thus made accessible to the public. Unfortunately, while we hear the news of the big buys, we still have to wait for them to be showcased in

one of Dohas new museums. Meanwhile, however, this acquisition drive is having the twin side effects of raising prices and also raising the profile of Middle East artists around the world. It has affected the market, but it has also created a real need here in the region and internationally for Middle Eastern artists and artworks, says Claudia Cellini, owner of Dubai-based gallery The Third Line. This is something that has been vital to allowing artists to develop more sophisticated practices. Carver agrees. At Art Dubai we see many institutions visiting year-on-year, researching and often acquiring works by artists based in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey and South Asia. Museums such as the Tate, LACMA, the Guggenheim, the British Museum are all committed to following developments in the region. This potentially enables artists to make work on a significant scale perhaps in terms of ambition and concept, rather than size, she observes. Lama Hourani of Foresight32 says that while big Gulf purchases have affected galleries and artists in the Jordanian capital, it has also encouraged art galleries in countries like Syria and Lebanon to move to the Gulf. The positive part of these developments is the growing interest in collecting art amongst the young generation of entrepreneurs and business owners in the Middle East, she says. But the exaggerated prices of artworks in the Gulf tend to constrain those who wish to collect. Though the Gulf countries are showing a latent interest in building a cultural profile and in engaging local citizens and the expatriate community in art appreciation, Mayssa Fattouh feels that there is an essential difference between these two objectives. One is looking at art from a distance as an object to be consumed, she says, and the latter is taking an engaged part; it involves production, raising social criticism, politics. Here Qatar lacks the ground-level vision required to trigger an art culture. Who knows whether the Abu Dhabi model will fare any better?