Art fair Art Basel dares to jump into the desert state of Qatar – Diepresse.com
The Swiss art fair is expanding to the Middle East. The step into the region was foreseeable, but nobody would have expected Qatar.
Nobody expected that: the Art Basel expanded into the small Emirate of Qatar. According to Basel, Hong Kong, Miami and Paris, Art Basel Qatar (ABQ) is the fifth location. The step to the Middle East had long been foreseeable. Iran and Lebanon also have a large art tradition and also in the Dubai tax paradise, expats and local young entrepreneurs build collections. The capital is available, the market young and hungry.
The first art fair in the region started in 2006
The first art fair began in Abu Dhabi in 2006, at that time with a few blue chip masters in the 7-star Hotel Emirates Palace. In 2007 the Art DubaiToday the most important trading center for contemporary art in the region. Last year, the Swiss art fair was looking for the first contacts to the ADA. The Emirate of the Swiss trade fair company Mch is said to have offered 20 million to enter as partners, which is urgently needed by the company that is stumbling through capital increases and realignments. A capital cut was only carried out due to underfunding of CHF 19.7 million.
Negotiations with Abu Dhabi were unsuccessful. The expectations were probably too different. Instead, Qatar, the small peninsula in the Persian Gulf, which has the largest known natural gas field. It is precisely this financial strength that enables the ruling family Al Thani to build extensive art and antiquity collections with a suitable museum landscape since the 1990s. Great also the outdoor works by Richard Serra and Olafur Eliasson in the desert. In the capital Doha, the National Museum in the form of a gigantic desert rose by Jean Nouvel and the floating Museum of Islamic Art of IP are The school called Mathaf converted into a museum has the world’s best collection of Arabic art since modernity, the former Fire Station is dedicated to contemporary art and in 2030 the towers converted by Alejandro Aravena are opened as an international museum as an international museum at the Corniche. The first art quadrinal is scheduled for 2026, and a design-Biennale began last year in the M7 design center. The first ABQ should also take place there in February. However, the manageable size of the box -like building with the high, which can be used as an auditorium, does not allow a large fair. Only 50 galleries have been announced: ABQ should become a « platform » for « leading galleries » and « outstanding artistic positions » from the region. The deal was completed with Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), a company owned by the Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, to whom the French Football club Paris Saint-Germain heard. The second partner is QC+, the commercial arm of the Qatar Museum.
Daring step
It is a daring step, because the competition is enormous: the United Arab Emirates (VEA) in Abu Dhabi offer the large museums from the Louvre Abu Dhabi to the – not yet opened – Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Dubai has a rapidly growing art scene, Saudi Arabia is investing millions in the expansion and structure of culture, with two biennals, a « valley of art » and planned 350 museums. In contrast, there is no significant art scene in Qatar. The amount of potential art collectors is also very low compared to the neighboring countries. Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel, asserts that her goal is to set up a local market and a regional collector base. But with the wording « leading galleries », ABQ is more likely to target western mega players, including their blue chip top customers.
