In Spring 2007, Dubai will host the first Gulf Art Fair of inter­na­tional con­tem­po­rary art. The fair is a timely event in a prime loca­tion both geo­graph­i­cally and finan­cially, and has attracted con­tem­po­rary art gal­leries from coun­tries across the globe includ­ing India, China and the US. Over 30 gal­leries will fill the Mad­i­nat Arena in the Mad­i­nat Jumeirah with art­works out­side the fair on Fort Island and the beach.

Dubai already has the attrib­utes to become a key hub of the global art mar­ket. Sit­u­ated within easy reach of Rus­sia, India and South East Asia, and with some world-class artists now emerg­ing through­out the Mid­dle East, Dubai is ide­ally placed to become the focal point for some of the most excit­ing new art mar­kets in the world. As the region’s most impor­tant finan­cial mar­ket and—as a tax-free location—Dubai offers sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial advan­tages for deal­ers and collectors.

The Gulf Art Fair builds on the suc­cess of the first Christies sale in Dubai on the 24 May 2006, which attracted col­lec­tors from more than 17 coun­tries world­wide. Christies’ sales totalled three times the pre-sale esti­mate. Edward Dol­man, Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer, Christies Inter­na­tional, rec­og­nized that the auc­tion was the first phase of devel­op­ment in a thriv­ing art mar­ket in the region. He said the auc­tion “exceeded our expec­ta­tions in terms of the prices achieved and the incred­i­bly enthu­si­as­tic response from our new clients in the region.” Fur­ther­more, the extra­or­di­nary boom in London’s art mar­ket sales of impres­sion­ist and mod­ernist works has been fuelled by the rise of a new group of wealthy buy­ers from Rus­sia and the Mid­dle and far East. In bring­ing together some of the most excit­ing new art in one of the world’s most dynamic coun­tries, the Gulf Art Fair will make a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to the cul­tural life of the region.

The fair has been embraced by the thriv­ing local art scene. The Third Line Gallery, Dubai’s top inter­na­tional com­mer­cial space will be tak­ing a booth whilst local gal­leries will open and exhibit local and East­ern artists.

Hon­orary Patron, Her Royal High­ness Princess Haya Bint Al Hus­sein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Mak­toum Vice-President and Prime Min­is­ter of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, will open the fair at an exclu­sive patrons’ pre­view. The fol­low­ing evening, a gala char­ity open­ing will take place and all ticket sales for the open­ing night and for pub­lic days will be donated to the Al Madad Foun­da­tion for START, a project to fund children’s art work­shops in deprived com­mu­ni­ties. The START project will be an ongo­ing com­mit­ment for the Gulf Art Fair, and in future years, the rev­enue will fund schol­ar­ships and sup­port for the most tal­ented young artists to come through the START workshops.

Run­ning along­side the fair will be a series of artists’ projects bro­kered by Can­dlestar, the inno­v­a­tive, London-based cul­tural con­sul­tancy. Major artists such as Con­rad Shaw­cross, Parviz Tanavoli and Brian Eno will cre­ate a series of instal­la­tions out­side the arena. Eno’s work, 77-Million Paint­ings, has trav­elled the globe in var­i­ous guises—from a three-screen pro­jec­tion to a multi-roomed extrav­a­ganza. The essence of the work is a slow mov­ing image that changes and morphs from a bank of mil­lions. This “mov­ing paint­ing” cre­ates infi­nite vari­ants of colour, sound and shape. The work will be dis­played on Fort Island out­side the fair for vis­i­tors and VIPs to relax and enjoy after vis­it­ing the fair. The Gulf Art Fair VIP pro­gramme will be sup­ported by Quin­tes­sen­tially, a pri­vate mem­bers club, and will cre­ate a bar and lounge area on Fort Island.
An onyx stone work, Luna Disc, by Emily Young will be viewed as you cross the bridge to Fort Island, and will appear to float in the water. Emily will be rep­re­sented inside the fair too by the Fine Arts Soci­ety who will take a stand along­side Albion Gallery of Lon­don, Galerist of Istan­bul, Bodhi Gallery of Sin­ga­pore, Max Lang of New York and Pekin Fine Arts of Bei­jing, to name a few.

The Sotheby’s Insti­tute will run the edu­ca­tion pro­gramme dur­ing the fair. The pro­gramme will bring together lead­ing artists, cura­tors and museum direc­tors to offer a detailed intro­duc­tion for vis­i­tors wish­ing to learn more about inter­na­tional con­tem­po­rary art. A com­pre­hen­sive press and mar­ket­ing cam­paign aims to make the work on dis­play acces­si­ble and pop­u­lar to a wide new audi­ence through­out the Gulf.

The organ­is­ers of the Gulf Art Fair esti­mate that the event will attract 10,000 to 15,000 vis­i­tors over four days. A truly excit­ing new fair, the Gulf Art Fair will hope to estab­lish itself as the des­ti­na­tion for col­lec­tors from across the world as well as to develop and nur­ture the local audi­ence in the Mid­dle East.