Art Fairs International Talks with John Martin

Art Fairs Inter­na­tional: Tell us a lit­tle bit about your past expe­ri­ences and your role at the fair.
John Mar­tin: I’m the fair direc­tor of Art Dubai, and co-founder along­side Ben Floyd. I con­tinue to run a gallery in Lon­don, which has been open for 15 years. I also worked with Ralph Ward Jack­son to set up Art Lon­don in 1998 which con­tin­ues to run suc­cess­fully. Com­ing into the fair busi­ness from the gallery world has some logic behind it–when we began Art Dubai, we made it a pri­or­ity that the gal­leries were well looked after and, at the very least, had a great time when they were here. First and fore­most, the gal­leries are our clients; but it also has a knock-on effect for the vis­i­tors if the gallery staff are enjoy­ing them­selves. Art Dubai is in a beau­ti­ful set­ting at Mad­i­nat Jumeirah Arena, which over­looks the Gulf, and the relaxed envi­ron­ment means that there is a great atmos­phere here. In that respect it is pretty unique–but def­i­nitely, from my gallery back­ground, I know that the suc­cess of the fair depends on the qual­ity, effort, and risk of the gal­leries. You have to look after them.
AFI: How long has Art Dubai been going on for?
JM: The sec­ond edi­tion of Art Dubai takes place from March 19–22.
AFI: What is the rela­tion­ship between the fair and the city of Dubai?
JM: I think it is true to say that with­out the sup­port of the Gov­ern­ment of Dubai, the fair would not have been the suc­cess it was. Dubai is built on busi­ness and designed for busi­ness; there are many ini­tia­tives and free zones that help entre­pre­neurs and make it an easy place to work. We were very for­tu­nate to have met the DIFC (the Dubai Inter­na­tional Finan­cial Cen­ter) in the early stages of the fair. DIFC is the loca­tion and reg­u­la­tory body for all finan­cial insti­tu­tions in Dubai and is fast becom­ing one of the world’s major cen­ters, yet the Gov­er­nor, His Excel­lency Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman is also pas­sion­ate about con­tem­po­rary art. DIFC talked to us, and looked at our busi­ness plan, and liked it. They aren’t spon­sors, they are our part­ners in Art Dubai, and have actively helped us through­out the devel­op­ment. DIFC is part of the gov­ern­ment of Dubai, and it shows the real com­mit­ment to con­tem­po­rary art and the deep desire to estab­lish Dubai as a major cul­tural cen­tre. I also like the way that in Dubai, the Gov­ern­ment trusts busi­nesses and pri­vate indi­vid­u­als to spear­head cul­tural ini­tia­tives and growth.
AFI: What kind of work/ pro­gram­ming does the fair fea­ture?
JM: We see Art Dubai as rep­re­sent­ing con­tem­po­rary art in a very wide region–Dubai is a bril­liant place to view a huge artis­tic arena. There is a seri­ous and stim­u­lat­ing art scene here and it is exhil­a­rat­ing to come here from Lon­don and feel part of an artis­tic envi­ron­ment that is grow­ing so quickly. It is excit­ing, rel­e­vant, and orig­i­nal; set in motion by some very pas­sion­ate and intel­li­gent peo­ple at all lev­els and from all back­grounds. The impor­tance of Dubai is how those seeds will take root and develop here. It isn’t a boom­ing art mar­ket yet like Lon­don or New York, but every­one knows that it will be in a mat­ter of a few years. Dubai’s loca­tion is of enor­mous impor­tance in this respect. The influences–artistic and commercial–come from right across the Mid­dle East, from East­ern Europe, South Asia, and Africa. As those regions take off artis­ti­cally, there has to be a cul­tural hub for the exchange of ideas and for artists to exhibit their work. Artists from Asia now know that they can be suc­cess­ful with­out hav­ing to go to the tra­di­tional art cen­ters of the West. Why? Because the cen­ter of influ­ence has moved east, and because for con­tem­po­rary artists, col­lec­tors, and cura­tors con­cerned with the world as it is today, they must engage with Asia first and fore­most. Dubai is in the mid­dle of all that is excit­ing and new and dif­fer­ent in the art world. This will attract artists, gal­leries, muse­ums, and col­lec­tors. What Paris was in 1910, Dubai will be in 2010.

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