UAE | Heritage and Culture
Galleries
In the middle of an area known more for its noisy back roads, slow moving heavy vehicles and bumpy roads lies a building that stands out for its contemporary design and chic style.
- By Zoi Constantine and Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporters
- Published: 00:00 March 31, 2007
Third Line
In the middle of an area known more for its noisy back roads, slow moving heavy vehicles and bumpy roads lies a building that stands out for its contemporary design and chic style.
The Third Line gallery is among several art galleries that have chosen to make the Al Quoz Industrial Area home. The large spaces, central location and high ceilings as well as relatively low rent are the attractions.
"It's why [New York City's] Soho became Soho and Chelsea became Chelsea," says Third Line's Alia Fattouh. One of Third Line's objectives, says co-founder Sunny Rahbar, is to keep an eye out for emerging talent from the region. The gallery invites aspiring artists to exhibit and sell their work through Third Line to get them recognised locally and abroad.
Arab talent, says Rahbar, has been exported due to the political and socioeconomic conditions in the region. For her gallery, it's about time the talent is "brought back home". However, Rahbar says her gallery is only the first step in establishing an art culture in the UAE. "You need the galleries that will promote the artists, the media that will give them coverage, the critics that will review them, and eventually the buyers that will support them".
XVA
Since its launch in 2003, XVA in Dubai's historic Bastakiya area has quickly established itself as one of the city's most respected and popular contemporary art galleries.
The gallery's owner Mona Hauser came to Dubai in 1993 with the intention of opening a gallery, but waited to find the right space.
Located in the winding alleys of Bastakiya, one can easily see why she believes it was worth the wait. The old, restored Emirati style building is centred around a traditional open-air courtyard, with the art work displayed in rooms opening onto the space.
Hauser says she would like to see Bastakiya developed into a dedicated art area. The recent Creek Contemporary Art Fair, which ran on the sidelines of the Gulf Art Fair, tested this concept with great results, says Hauser. The galleries that took part now hope to make the fair an annual event.
"It is so exciting to work with up and coming artists and to have the public agree with what I like and respond to the work," she said. Hauser says that the collectors have responded very well to XVA, reiterating the oft-repeated assertion that Dubai is one of the main emerging global art markets.
"Art is a souvenir of civilisation and we need to invest in that."
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