A major initiative supporting Arab art and culture in New York has been impacted by the continuing public furore around Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was allegedly murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The ten-day Arab Art & Education programme, which opened on Sunday, brought together twelve New York cultural organisations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and Columbia University, in talks, seminars and exhibitions exploring Arab art and culture. The event was put together by the cultural exchange organisation Edge of Arabia, now based in New York, that has been instrumental in developing the Saudi art scene. Some of the programming was funded by the Misk Art Institute, part of the non-profit Misk Foundation set up by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
Columbia University announced on Thursday that it was cancelling its planned talk with the Saudi artist Ahmed Mater, one of the founders of Edge of Arabia and the director of Misk.
This comes on the heels of three other organisations distancing themselves from the event. The Metropolitan Museum of Art said it would not accept funding for the closed-door seminar on abstraction they had organised. The funding, which totalled nearly $20,000, came from the Misk Foundation. The Brooklyn Museum of Art likewise announced it would not use funding from Misk for its exhibition “Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a Century Apart,” which opened last weekend as part of the Arab Art & Education programme. The Met and the Brooklyn Museum were the only two organisations that had received funding from the foundation. The Middle East Institute, a think tank based in Washington that was involved in organising the events but was not a host of any particular talk or exhibition, announced that it would no longer participate last Friday.
“We were of course disappointed to learn of Columbia University’s decision to postpone this event," says Stephen Stapleton, director of Edge of Arabia. "There is a great deal of interest in Ahmed Mater’s work as an artist here in New York, and many people, especially students and faculty, were looking forward to hear him talk.
"Having said that we totally understand and sympathise with Columbia University’s decision to postpone the event, given the current polarised atmosphere and media landscape."
Other events have been going ahead as planned. On Monday, the Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri gave a lecture-performance at the Museum of Modern Art, and the Palestinian artist Samia Halaby is due to speak at the Guggenheim Museum next Tuesday.
Investment in culture has been a flagship achievement of Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s modernising reforms. He oversaw a lifting of restrictions on art and culture in the kingdom, most notably in allowing cinemas to open, and has used his foundation, Misk, to promote Arab art abroad. Misk is a new partner for the art fair Art Dubai and supported Saudi Arabia’s first participation in the Venice Biennale for Architecture this year.
The appointment of Mater as director of Misk was indicative of the change in tenor in the kingdom. The Abha-born artist’s work had been critical of some Saudi policies, including the country’s reliance on oil. For years, though well-known abroad, Mr Mater never had a solo show in Saudi. This February, his solo show spread out across the new premises of the King Abdulaziz Economic City, and he has assumed a role of representative artist abroad. A major show of his photographs of Makkah travelled this past year to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and the Brooklyn Museum.
The cultural week has been coordinated by Edge of Arabia, which Mr Mater, the Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem and the British artist Stapleton founded in 2003 It was long one of the most visible anchors of the Saudi contemporary art scene, and toured Saudi art abroad, in a London space it kept for a while and in itinerant touring programmes. It also helped support Arab initiatives in New York, such as the Armory Show Focus, a programmed section of the flagship New York art fair.
In a statement, Columbia said it will reschedule Mater’s talk at “another time in the near future that is more conducive to the academic dialogue on campus that is the purpose of the lecture”.
Related links
Exploring how the Arab world ‘is the origin of so much we take for granted in the West’
Art Dubai to partner with Saudi Arabia’s Misk Art Institute
The Saudi art scene is keeping up with the changes of its country
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Predictions
Predicted winners for final round of games before play-offs:
- Friday: Delhi v Chennai - Chennai
- Saturday: Rajasthan v Bangalore - Bangalore
- Saturday: Hyderabad v Kolkata - Hyderabad
- Sunday: Delhi v Mumbai - Mumbai
- Sunday - Chennai v Punjab - Chennai
Final top-four (who will make play-offs): Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore
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The biog
Favourite Quote: “Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction emerge from its ashes,” by The late king Hussain of Jordan.
Favourite Hobby: Writing and cooking
Favourite Book: The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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.”
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
