The 10th Sharjah Biennial art festival will be curated by two women for the first time, who plan to use the emirate as a backdrop for an imaginary movie, an audience at the March Meeting has heard.
Opening in March 2011, the event will be overseen by the professional writers and curators Suzanne Cotter and Rasha Salti. The two-month festival will be their first collaboration and also the first to be overseen by the newly formed Sharjah Arts Foundation.
After their names were announced at the end of the opening day of the March Meeting, the city's annual art industry symposium, on Saturday, the duo revealed the event's title and concept. Known as Plot for a Biennial, it will be "tailored to the idea of a treatment for a film, replete with a plot and characters".
The curators aim to not only present specially commissioned works by international artists, filmmakers and performers but to merge them into a unified, film-like narrative. The event is set to take place in several locations across the city.
"The Biennial will function as a series of intersecting chapters, or reels, to be broken and reconstructed by the individual visitor," they said in a statement that was read out at the symposium. The names of the artists who will be commissioned to create works for the event have not yet been announced.
Salti, from Lebanon, told the gathering that the concept emerged while discussing ideas for the festival with her Australian co-curator over the internet.
"There was a moment when we realised that we were talking about the Biennial in the same way that you might draft a treatment for a film." Discussing the daunting task, she added: "We keep telling ourselves that we are in it for the process, not the outcome, but the outcome is important too."
As well as fine art, Salti also has a background in curating film festivals, something that is likely to have influenced the Biennial's cinematic concept. A former Turner Prize judge, Cotter has held curator positions at London's Whitechapel and Hayward galleries and was recently appointed by the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation as the curator of exhibitions for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Organisers were keen not to let the Biennial announcement overshadow the rest of the March Meeting, which closed yesterday after three days of presentations, workshops and discussions about the future of art.
The highlight of the event's first day was the opening of a retrospective of work by the Palestinian-Kuwaiti photo artist Tarek al Ghoussein, who is based in the UAE. Taking place at the Sharjah Art Museum, the exhibition features more than 60 pieces from between 2001 and 2010 and will run until May.
Although the retrospective draws artwork from several series throughout the artist's career, al Ghoussein's work focuses heavily on the Palestinian cause. Pieces from his 2001 Self-Portrait series deal with the varying international perceptions of the Palestinians, while his alphabetised series increasingly shows man-made obstructions, such as walls and mounds, or landscapes from which people have disappeared.
The retrospective also includes the artist's never-before-seen E Series, which continues his exploration of the relationship between man and landscape.
The March Meeting events took place in a number of locations across Sharjah, including the city's Arts Area and the Al Qasba district. Workshops were held in the newly opened branch of The Shelter, in the refurbished Maraya Centre.
The event attracted artists, gallerists, curators and writers from all over the world, which was never more apparent than during the keynote speeches. Sunday's top name was the Moroccan writer and critic Abdelfattah Kilito, who delivered a lecture on the complexities of translation. Jack Persekian, the director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, said the subject was chosen to add context to next year's Biennial, which lists translation among its main themes. He was followed yesterday with a lecture by the Nigerian-born writer, poet and art historian Okwui Enwezor.
"The March Meeting helps Sharjah to maintain its connections with art professionals and institutions and helps us to discover ideas and possibilities," said Persekian. "We have had a large number of important international institutions here this year and it also helps us to spread the word about the Biennial. Hopefully it will help the curators to find interesting connections and it has even helped me start to understand their concept."
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The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
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Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
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Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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