Future art capital

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Colour: one of the paintings at the fair.

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Determined: contemporary art will soon flourish in Dubai, says APT CEO Bijan Khezri, mainly because the emirate is considered the ‘meeting point’ between East and West.

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Serene: a photo from the Townhouse Art Gallery in Cairo, Egypt.

Flying to Dubai from Istanbul after attending the city's art biennial, the two senior execs from Art Pension Trust (APT) bring much more than just a business proposal with them. In choosing Dubai as the place to launch the trust in the region ­- dubbed APT Dubai, the global financial services company has placed very high hopes on the emirate. For Bijan Khezri, CEO and president and Pamela Auchincloss, managing director of global operations, there's a lot at stake but also a great deal to look forward to.

Khezri is aware of the scepticism surrounding Dubai's ambitions to become a centre for culture and the arts. He says: "If you look at the landscape of the art scene there are so many biennials and art fairs, and Dubai, the city that is so closely associated with money and capital is like: ‘I want to be in the art business too'. A lot of people look at that very critically."

Kherzi notices that global cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have realised that contemporary art is a very important component for the city's branding, and marketing strategy. "Therefore art is a critical part of banking and wealth management," he says, adding that "if Dubai has an ambition to establish itself as an international financial market then contemporary art will be very important."

Khezri notes that bringing the first art fair to the region this year was a "very important start" for Dubai, where the objective and focus is mainly commercial. Success, however, on the commercial side of art is not achievable, in his view, without tackling all the other areas related to art development - such as art education and making public space available so the public can "really engage in art".

"Contemporary art shouldn't be looked at in isolation. One should explore what's happening in the theatre and film side. There's a really vibrant cultural theme emerging and each one affects the other. If there is a theatre scene it will bring the cinema people. If the cinema people are there then the visual arts will come," he says.

Dubai has what it takes to place emphasis on art, believes Khezri, explaining that what gives the emirate the power to stand out from other cities in the region as a potential art centre is its established brand.

"Dubai's brand is so strong in all the other areas that, in the Middle Eastern region, it will be the winner because it has a brand that is so much stronger than any competitor whether it is Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, or other markets outside the UAE."

While Turkey's burgeoning art scene, showcased in its biennial recently, demonstrates the city's high ambitions for art and places it as a potential art centre in the region, Khezri rules out this possibility.

"If you go to Istanbul you can feel the greatness of the past but I don't really feel that Istanbul is going to be an emerging force in the future whereas Dubai will be. Dubai is the future," he says.

The question now is: which direction will Dubai choose? Will it be Islamic art or contemporary art? Khezri is convinced that contemporary art is best suited for the emirate, pinpointing that the city is "the meeting point between East and West".

In addition to Dubai's high ambitions for art, its success in all other areas of business such as finance, logistics and property have given its brand a resounding global effect. Success in these areas is a determining factor for what the city's future in the arts will hold. One of the most critical elements for APT is underlined in Dubai's logistics side.

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future art capital
Posted by m farley, sharjah, u.a.e. on 16 September 2007 at 11:00 UAE time


it is good news that Dubai should be considered an Art centre, but it is about time that the local artist scene should be considered first rather than bringing art for prestigious and financial gains. as was seen at the recent auction. There are many great artist in the UAE perhaps it is time somebody decided to look at their works

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