Last year’s downturn in art prices flagged up more than ever the precarious nature of the market. Yet there’s much more to the Middle Eastern art scene than the business side. Given the vagaries of the sale rooms and the still uncertain future for galleries, will it be the non-profit sector that will save the day?
It’s easy to understand how, to the uninitiated, the contemporary art scene is often viewed simply in terms of money. It’s the auction sales that grab the headlines, the top-selling artists whose names are on everyone’s lips. But the commercial aspect of any country or region is but one small part of the wider picture, and can often belie the everyday graft that goes into deepening and broadening the values of art and culture into society and, hopefully, enriching people’s lives.
Never can this be more so than in the Middle East right now. Any emerging art scene is bound to be diverse and multifarious, but rarely can the explosion of initiatives witnessed in the region in the last five years have been replicated elsewhere in such a short timescale. It is to the hopefully enduring credit of those responsible that it is proving possible to move forward on so many different fronts at the same time.
One of the most obviously rapidly expanding areas of activity is the government-sponsored sector, itself technically part of the not-for profit portfolio. In the Gulf, this is most readily recognized as comprising high-profile showcase projects such as Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art and Abu Dhabi’s Louvre and Guggenheim, as well as the network of museums in Sharjah, for example.
Yet the core of the non-profit sector is arguably the smaller venues that are not under direct government control or supervision – key examples in the Middle East include Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery, Darat Al-Funun in Amman, Al-Ma’amal in Jerusalem and the Beirut Art Center. All offer innovative and groundbreaking programs.
How important is the non-profit sector for the future of the art scene generally? From across the board, from artists to curators, collectors and even commercial gallerists, the answer is a resounding ‘very’.
Foremost for many is the role non-profit venues and organizations play in furthering understanding of art and developing art education, as artist Lalla Essaydi explains, “I believe it is crucial to have a vigorous non-profit component in the contemporary art scene everywhere, to educate people, expand awareness and promote understanding of cultural currents and ideas.
Yet one might also argue that commercial art fairs and even auction houses can do this as well; it is, after all, in their interests to develop a more knowledgeable arts constituency, as that will also most likely boost the health of the art market itself.
Perhaps the real value of the non-profit sector is connected to the fact that its decisions do not hinge primarily on the need to make money. Or, in some cases, even break even on an event. Non-profit can often mean subsidized, and that opens up all sorts of possibilities. It also signals quite clearly the promotion of “art for art’s sake , a mantra close to the heart of London-based art collector, Maya Rasamny: “I absolutely believe that art should stand on its own merits, regardless of financial worth.
Fellow collector Judith Greer, who is also associate director, international programs, for the Sharjah Art Foundation, itself a non-profit body, sees “The big budget endeavors in the Gulf have drawn press attention, but it’s the ongoing work on the ground that really counts.
“The non-profit sector has certainly been boosted by the failure of certain commercial aspects of the art scene, which to my mind is a positive outcome of the upheavals of last year. Meanwhile, many commercial gallerists view the nonprofit sector as an essential component of a healthy art scene and one with which they welcome the opportunity to work alongside, sometimes in a state of semi-permanent partnership.
Yasmin Atassi, director of Dubai’s Green Art Gallery, considers the non-profit presence as “absolutely vital, as it gives artists and curators the chance to present works in a non-commercial context, something that is not always possible in a gallery. It’s especially important for video and installation pieces, which can be difficult to sell and can therefore be unattractive propositions to some galleries.
Non-profit spaces will also take greater risks, as they’re not necessarily looking over their shoulder at a financial loss. This can make them extremely attractive to artists who are not in the mainstream of their trade, as artist Farhad Ahrarnia points out: “A healthy non-profit sector is an important sign of a more mature scene and one where curatorial decisions are less commercially based.
This means there’s greater room for experimentation and more challenging, edgy art. However, there’s not universal acclaim for the nonprofit sector. One skeptic is artist Hakim Al-Karim: “From my personal experience, I believe that non-profit organizations always have hidden goals and agendas. Even families that donate artworks to institutions, here or anywhere in the world, do not do so without hidden motives or benefits.
There is no doubt, however, that whatever personal views might be on the nature of the non-profit art sector in the Middle East, it is bound to play an important role in cementing the values of art and culture in the region and beyond, as well as specifically ensuring that the art scene is diverse and challenging – and not confined by the strictures of finance.
This article was first published in the Canvas Daily, which covered the activities of Art Dubai that concluded last Saturday. A digital version is available at www.canvasonline.com.
