Between 8-11 March, Dubai hosted the DIFC Gulf Art Fair - the first major international contemporary art show in the Middle East. Dubai has been lately considered as a skyrocketing center of attraction for artistic practice and art market - a possible future-rival to New York and London.
Christie's foresaw the regions's potential in 2005 by establishing an office in Dubai and by initiating auctions. It was followed by Sotheby's that has also positioned itself in the market: "When there is a critical mass in an economy, inevitably it grows by-products and the art market is one of them," Roxane Zand - Sotheby's Middle East and Gulf director opines, "Art is a form of investment. With so much property going up here, people want to put art in the property."
The ongoing debate on the region's growing contribution to the art market paves the way for the tricky question: does the art in the Middle East really begin to blossom?
Here is the official website of the Gulf Art Fair.
Please read Peter Conrad's article published in Guardian:
