Sharjah – the cultural emirate

Sharjah – the cultural emirate
(Source ArtRadar Asia Blog)
Sharjah is just one of seven of the emirates which make up the United Arab Emirates and is often called the ‘cultural emirate’ because its leading position in arts infrastructure. It has a well-respected biennial and three museums devoted to art:

* Museum of Islamic Civilisation
* Sharjah Art Museum and Contemporary Arab Art
* Sharjah Calligraphy Museum

His Highness the Emir’s passion and vision

Sharjah’s pre-eminent position in the Middle Eastern art scene is largely due to the energy and vision of His Highness the Emir of Sharjah and in this video Manal Ataya gives us an intriguing insight into the progressive and enlightened principles which he communicates to his museum staff.

For example, she explains that His Highness encourages staff to thirst after knowledge and he encourages extensive and continual reading.

He believes that culture and museums encourage flexibility of thinking which can help to promote openness and understanding between people and, ultimately, bring peace. He also believes that a developed sensitivity to aesthetics spills over into other facets of human endeavour, for example an appreciation of the arts can help a teacher teach and a politician polemicise and a doctor practise.

Islam prohibits the figurative in art? Not true

Manal Ataya also points out and clears up some misconceptions about the Islamic prohibition of the figure in art. She explains that there is a tradition of portraiture in the Middle East and Islamic rules are more nuanced than is commonly understood.

Islam does allow human representation and it is only forbidden in a religious context or space. She explains that there are some sects which do not allow representation of the human figure in any context but these are not Islamic rules per se.

Youthful demographics – 70% under 30 years – shaping museum plans. Read Article...
http://artradarasia.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/where-is-the-sharjah-art-museum-heading-manal-ataya-sharjah-museums-director/

Schoeni Gallery in Hong Kong plans online archive for website

Schoeni Gallery in Hong Kong plans online archive for website
(Source Artradar Asia)
Head of Schoeni gallery Nicole Schoeni told Art Radar that as part of the revamp of the website, there are plans to digitise their artist literature to form an on-line archive, “though it may take a while given that there is 16 years’ worth of material” she warned with a laugh.

Zhang Lin Hai

Nicole’s father Manfred Schoeni along with Johnson Chang of Hanart were pivotal in the nineties in bringing Chinese contemporary art to the international stage. For example Schoeni held the historically important 8+8+1 exhibition in 1997 which showcased the works of 15 contemporary Chinese artists many of whom are now internationally famous including Yue Min Jun, Zeng Fan Zhi, Zhang Xiao Gang, Guo Jin and Yang Shao Bin.

Harnessing the web to share historically important art materials with a global audience is, perhaps surprisingly, still an unusual initiative. While museums are making big strides, few galleries as yet are making materials pubicly available even when this would help promote current exhibitions. No doubt this will change and we look forward to the day when research , images and interviews, previously locked down in print publications such as catalogues, are released to a wider web audience as a matter of course.

In the meantime, Schoeni is also making its first forays into the world of video documentary with a just-released video of Chinese artist Zhang Lin Hai’s recent show ‘Stunned Speechless at Today Museum in Beijing.

Zhang Lin Hai’s work often features a repeated signature motif of a bald male child against hauntingly bleak backdrops. This motif was born out of his own experiences of being adopted as a child and witnessing the devastation of the Cultural Revolution.

http://artradarasia.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/schoeni-gallery-hong-kong-plans-on-line-archive-for-website/

Schoeni Gallery, http://www.schoeni.com.hk/ Zhang Lin Hai, http://www.schoeni.com.hk/ZhangLinHai.htm
Zhang Lin Hai at Today Art Museum Show 2008 Beijing

ART SPONSORSHIP HONG KONG

ART SPONSORSHIP HONG KONG
( Source Artradar Asia)
At the end of last year Time Out noticed a new trend in Hong Kong, one with its own strange momentum. Property companies appeared to be competing with one another to sponsor the arts. When the Olympics surged into town in August 2008, the Sun Hung Kai Charitable Fund revealed their City Art Square in Sha Tin, a 190,000 square foot area developed in association with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), featuring 19 public art works by international and local artists (from Zaha Hadid to Freeman Lau). The project won a prestigious Cityscape Architectural Award, and brought a welcome dose of innovation to the New Territories.

There were also exhibitions in Causeway Bay as Wharf, owners of Times Square, launched a series of high profile exhibitions in the development’s public space.

Meanwhile, the Sino Group continued with their award-winning Art in Hong Kong campaign, sponsoring art projects and holding exhibitions in their properties.
Even The Link launched the Artsmart fair in Stanley.

But in December, Swire Properties dropped their arts bombshell.

Following their consistent support of the arts since the 1970s, they opened ArtisTree, an astonishing 20,000 square foot space in Taikoo Place dedicated to visual and performing arts.

The opening exhibition (showing until the end of January) was Dame Vivienne Westwood’s retrospective exhibition ‘A Life in Fashion’, organised in conjunction with London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Just to rub it in the face of the LCSD, the Museum of Art had turned down the chance to hold the same exhibition several years ago. Read Article... http://artradarasia.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/property-companies-splurge-on-art-in-hong-kong-recent-trend/

Who are the top artists at art fairs?

Who are the top artists at art fairs?

(Source: artradar on March 3, 2009)

TOP ARTISTS ART FAIRS
According to research by Artprice, 92% of the top artists at international art fairs still hail from outside Asia.
The artists who are most frequently presented by galleries (by more than 50 galleries) at the top international art fairs from mid 2007 to mid 2008 are ranked as follows:

* Andy Warhol (133 times),
* Pablo Picasso (130 times),
* Joan Miro (98 times),
* Antoni Tapies (80),
* Sol Lewitt, Sam Francis, Robert Rauschenberg, Lucio Fontana, Henri Matisse (62),
* Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Frank Stella, Tom Wesselmann, Roy Lichtenstein, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Fernand Léger, Alighiero Boetti, Eduardo Chillida, Mimmo Paladino, Arman, Jannis Kounellis, Henri Moore and Georg Baselitz (50 times).

These are clearly the stars of the art market that figure massively at the top the list.

http://artradarasia.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/who-are-the-top-artists-at-art-fairs/