AnalysisArt fairs
'If you're coming to buy, you have two hours to do it': what it's like at London's real-life 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
In the absence of the major fairs and auctions, Modern and contemporary African art is in the spotlight in London this week
ReviewExhibitions
Virtual photography show reveals modern Lebanon's many layers of tragedy
Lebanon Then and Now: Photography from 2006 to 2020 hosted by Washington, DC's Middle East Institute is both timely and prescient
NewsBeirut
Emergency fund launched in aid of Beirut's devastated art community
Belgian non-profit Mophradat says that 100% of the money raised will support individual artists and arts organisations
NewsDisasters & destruction
Beirut's art world mourns widespread death and destruction following explosions
With homes, galleries and studios entirely destroyed, Lebanese artists respond in the aftermath of Tuesday’s carnage
NewsDisasters & destruction
Huge explosion in Beirut decimates city and leaves art scene in disarray
Several galleries and museums have been destroyed or severely damaged following the blast and fire that shook the Lebanese capital on Tuesday
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Facebook and Instagram ban trading of historical artefacts
Heritage group Athar were part of a campaign highlighting the social media giants' “black market in antiquities”
NewsObituaries
Adam Henein—the Egyptian sculptor who spent a decade restoring the Great Sphinx—has died, aged 91
Rose Issa, curator and friend of the artist, shares the life story of one of the most important sculptors in the Arab world
NewsCommissions
Eight emerging Arab artists are chosen to show 'ambitious' works across the world
The commissioning project Consortium Commissions provides artists with up to $20,000 to realise their projects
NewsExhibitions
From Modernist nudes to present-day politics: British Museum to reveal its contemporary Middle Eastern art collection
Free exhibition at the London museum in October will show around 150 works that have been collected since the early 1990s
NewsArt market
Christie's cancels Dubai sale of Middle Eastern art
March auction will return to the Emirate in spring 2021, but is cancelled this year due to new strategy and constrained supply of works
InterviewAbed Al Kadiri
Capturing the streets: the Lebanese revolution through the eyes of an artist
Three months into the uprising we speak to Abed Al Kadiri about popular unity, state brutality and why he is documenting events through Chinese-style ink drawings
NewsExhibitions
As demonstrations return to Cairo, Egyptian protest artist goes on show in new London space
Exhibition of street artist Bahia Shehab's work opens at Aga Khan Centre Gallery in King's Cross
NewsObituaries
Huguette Caland—leading artist of the Arab world—has died, aged 88
Lebanese artist and designer who was known for her erotic line drawings and abstract paintings was "clearly ahead of her own time"
NewsMiddle East
Tate's huge 'Guernica of the Arab world' is recreated in tapestry so it can travel the world
Dia al-Azzawi's Sabra and Shatila Massacre has been commissioned by a Lebanese art foundation as an "archive of history"
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Middle East think-tank opens art gallery in Washington, DC
New space for Modern and contemporary art from the Arab world will put on five exhibitions a year
NewsMiddle East
Forgotten female artists of Modern Arab art to get their due in Sharjah show
Collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is organising an exhibition with an equal number of male and female masters to redress gender bias
NewsObituaries
Kamal Boullata—Palestinian master of abstract art and Arabic calligraphy—dies, aged 77
Jerusalem-born artist who lived 50 years in exile was a pioneer of the hurufiyya movement and one of the first to write about Palestine's art history
NewsWar & Conflict
Art in the time of airstrikes: Yemeni artists urge international donors for support
Symposium at the British Museum, part of the Shubbak festival of contemporary Arab culture, will include artists from war-torn Yemen and Syria
NewsArab Image Foundation
Arab photography archive releases 22,000 historic images online
Arab Image Foundation completes $255,000 digitisation initiative and will reopen its Beirut building this summer
NewsCopyright
Ai Weiwei denies his porcelain works borrow from Lebanese artist's prize-winning vases
Raed Yassin says there are "striking similarities" between his ceramic series on the Lebanese civil war and Ai's pieces on the Syria war and refugee crisis
CommentMiddle East
Why being a royal artist in the Gulf is a mixed blessing
Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain is showing his art in London’s Saatchi Gallery
NewsDonations
Major coup for Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe as it receives one of its biggest ever donations of works
Gallerist Claude Lemand and his wife France also set up a fund to support the museum
NewsPrivate Museums
Iraqi artist Dia Azzawi designs new Lebanese private museum
The Nabu Museum collection combines antiquities with Modern and contemporary art
NewsConservation & Preservation
A 19th-century bikini from Iran goes on show in the UK in time for the summer
The garment was conserved for the Holburne Museum's exhibition of objects collected by the “intrepid” traveller Ellen Tanner
CommentRestitution
Returning looted African art is as urgent as giving back works stolen by the Nazis
Congolese-born art collector Sindika Dokolo says this "long-neglected historical wrong" is finally being addressed—but more can be done
NewsArt market
Iran’s art market defies expectations in face of US sanctions with new fair
In a first for Iran, the Teer Art fair is set to open in June amid a growing but fragile market environment
NewsPrizes
MCA Chicago launches Dunya Contemporary Art Prize and names first winner, Sophia Al-Maria
The $100,000 award recognises mid-career artists from the Middle East and its diaspora
NewsCommissions
Emerging Arab artists to get international shows through new commissioning initiative
Six partner institutions including the Hammer Museum are behind collaborative art production model
NewsCommissions
Kuwaiti artists awarded inaugural Art Jameel commission for new Dubai culture complex
Alia Farid and Aseel AlYacoub will create a light-up botanical garden linking both wings of the Jameel Arts Centre
News
Marrakech museum boosts Africa’s burgeoning art scene
Macaal’s international launch coincides with city’s first 1-54 Contemporary African Art fair
NewsArt market
Middle Eastern artists are charging a lot of money to certify—or condemn—their works
But when does protecting a creative legacy go too far?
NewsBiennials & festivals
What to see at 21,39—Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art festival
Critics choose highlights from fifth edition of the Jeddah show, organised by Tate curator Vassilis Oikonomopoulos
NewsOpenings
New Art Jameel space for contemporary art to launch in Saudi Arabia in 2019
The Hayy: Creative Hub centre in Jeddah is latest cultural offering announced in the rebranded Kingdom
NewsExhibitions
Secret objects tell life story of Emirati conceptual pioneer Hassan Sharif
Sharjah show recreates late artist’s studio
News
Marrakech bids to become hub for contemporary African art as museum plans relaunch alongside 1:54 fair
Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden will hold "international opening" in February
NewsExhibitions
Largest survey of Qatari contemporary art to open in Berlin despite ongoing blockade
Exhibition is final event in Year of Culture partnership between Qatar and Germany
NewsWar & Conflict
Letter from Yemen: artist speaks out about his country’s 'forgotten war'
Ahmed Jahaf describes what it is like to live through catastrophic conflict
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode three: how the UAE art scene became a force to be reckoned with
Art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac and curator Maya Allison tell us how the nation’s creative ambitions have blossomed. Plus: Silver Lion-winning musician and artist Hassan Khan on his Abu Dhabi Art performance
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode two: How Saudi artists are driving political change
As Abu Dhabi Art fair opens, we speak to the Saudi artists Manal Al Dowayan and Ahmed Mater. Plus: Iraq's Dia Azzawi on creating the Arab world's Guernica
NewsArt fairs
In the afterglow of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s opening, Abu Dhabi Art moves up a notch
Some dealers at the fair report brisk early business but say big sales are a waiting game
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode one: Louvre Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Art
With all eyes on Abu Dhabi this week, we speak to the architect Jean Nouvel on designing the Arab world's first universal museum. Plus: a preview of Abu Dhabi Art fair
NewsArt market
Abu Dhabi Art set to benefit from Louvre opening
This year’s fair has 13 new exhibitors and is hoping for more international visitors
NewsArt market
Collectors tackle rise in fake Modern Middle Eastern art
Dalloul Art Foundation investigates authenticity of some Middle Eastern works before museum opening
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s to hold first sale in Dubai
Christie’s moves October auction to London as rival plans first sale in the UAE
BlogIn the frame
BM curator's fan club kickstarts his horror story
Irving Finkel has penned his first novel
NewsCultural exchange
Forty years of Arab-British cultural diplomacy—through the eyes of the housekeeper
News
Interest in Middle Eastern art is on the rise in China
Guggenheim show in Shanghai was abruptly cancelled but curiosity about the region continues to grow
NewsExhibitions
Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem to have first solo US show at Lacma
Former lieutenant colonel in the Saudi Arabian army is known for his politically and socially engaged works that draw on his Muslim heritage
News
Saudi women artists make their mark at 21,39 festival in Jeddah
New works draw attention to destruction of Islamic heritage and female car crash victims
NewsExhibitions
A bright spot in an otherwise darkened Egypt
Mohamed Abla's show of new works in Cairo is on amid a moment of prolonged political agony in the country
News
Basrah Museum opens against the odds in Iraq
New museum is housed in a converted former palace of Saddam Hussein
News
Arab artists hit the US campaign trail
Culture bus heads to Washington in bid to change attitudes to the Middle East
News
Iranian artists look forward to the day when sanctions are finally lifted
Interest grows in younger generation active in Tehran’s lively art scene and the Iranian diaspora
NewsContemporary art
Arabian art space moves east
Gentrification in Battersea forces Middle Eastern arts foundation to look for another home
News
Iraq’s ancient holy sites lost forever
The country’s monasteries and mosques have no place in the Caliphate
NewsArt
Age of enlightenment: the religious power of Hagia Sophia
Lyn Rodley considers the relationship between Byzantine theology and the Great Church
NewsBooks
Power and opportunism: the driving forces of the Near East's Iron Age
News
All eyes on Palmyra as Islamic State takes control of Syria’s famous Roman city
ArchiveDubai
Ramin Salsali's new private museum opens in Dubai with tongue-in-cheek 'Show Off'
The space is based on a former warehouse and will exhibit works biannually from his own collection as well as from other private collections around the world
ArchiveArt market
Collectors pay top prices for the highest quality work of Islamic classics
Christie’s totals higher, but Sotheby’s had the standout individual piece
ArchiveColonial art
Are we colonialising Middle Eastern art?
As the Middle East increasingly becomes a producer and consumer of contemporary art, the role of the West as 'tastemaker' grows progressively more troubling
ArchiveArt fairs
Dubai fair reaps reward of focus on Indian contemporary art
British collectors Charles Saatchi and Frank Cohen were among those who bought
ArchiveArt Dubai
Strong sales at Art Dubai shadowed by censorship of Pakistani artist
Market worries conspicuously absent at Art Dubai
ArchiveExhibitions
Property developers in Dubai organise shows of rare miniatures and Islamic art
Major collectors based in Gulf state are lending work
ArchiveIran
London and Paris markets flooded with Iranian antiquities looted from newly discovered site at Jiroft
Before police intervened, thousands of objects were plundered by locals and sold on to Europe
ArchiveColonial art
Roger Benjamin's study into the colonial relationship between Modernism and Orientalism
This study investigates how North African artists were influenced by French artists—and vice versa
CommentProtest
Why I made a cemetery for hundreds of banned books in Kuwait
Kuwaiti artist Mohammad Sharaf hopes to provoke the general public as well as the authorities
Mohammad Sharaf