Art Basel Qatar: Making a new equilibrium in the Middle East

Doha – The first-ever edition of Art Basel Qatar opened its doors with an exhibition-style art fair this week, first for VIPs and then the general public, along with a series of talks by eminent voices spread across upscale Msheireb in the Qatari capital, Doha.

This is the fifth event in Art Basel’s calendar after the original Swiss edition, which has also hosted prestigious fairs in artistic epicentres Paris, Hong Kong and Miami, and is historic as the inaugural Art Basel event in the Middle East.

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M7 Msheireb Cultural Forum staged Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shirin Neshat and other well-known artists – while the fair extended over multiple other galleries, crossing the opulent, yet understated courtyard with an interactive installation by South African Sumayya Vally, leading to Doha’s Design District.

The Pablo Picasso exhibit at Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Aisha Ahmad, a 25-year-old Qatari artist, was taking her time in front of each art display to absorb the works in front of her.

She said it is hard for her to believe that she can see these artists in her own country.

“If you want to observe art like that, you would have to travel abroad. It’s exciting for the locals and amazing to see people from different countries, people travelling all the way to come to this country,” said Ahmad.

Sumayya Vally’s plywood and cement eight-channel sound installation at a Msheireb courtyard at Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Artistic director Wael Shawky designed the exhibit with a balance of representation, with half of the artists being from the Global South, in particular, the Middle East.

Shawky departed from the booth-like format that art fairs usually have, allowing art connoisseurs and buyers to see multiple pieces from the same artist for purchase. Art Basel Qatar had a gallery format, with each artist given a certain space to display their works.

Aiza Ahmed, a 28-year-old artist from the Pakistani diaspora who lives between the United States and Dubai, had an entire corner set aside for her with free-flowing muslin cloth mixed-media paintings of larger-than-life men in various uniforms.

Aiza Ahmed’s mixed-media installation at Gallery 1, Doha Design District, Msheireb, Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Ahmed praised Shawky’s direction, saying it gave her the space to finetune her exhibit and create something people from her part of the world can resonate with.

Ahmed said her inspiration was drawn from witnessing the flag ceremony at the India-Pakistan border, at Wagah-Attari, where border guards put on a daily display cheered on by the crowds on either side.

She was 10 years old, and the border drawn by British colonists left a deep impression on her, given her own family’s history of migration from India; first to Bangladesh, and then on to Pakistan when Bangladesh, initially East Pakistan until 1971, broke away to independence.

“It’s been a dream come true, really, and it’s been a privilege to work with him [Shawky], given the focus is so artist-driven, and to have been in conversation with him so closely,” says Ahmed.

Khalil Rabah, a Palestinian artist from Jerusalem, has an installation in the landing of Doha Design District, with various elements of household life and construction elements called “Transition”. Found objects and discarded materials are made into sculpture-like forms that represent uprooting, survival and reinvention.

Sarah Al Mehairi’s ‘Off-centred’ series at Doha Design District, Msheireb, Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Loujain, 27 and Aalia, 25, who were experiencing Rabah’s installation, were visiting from Bahrain with their family. They said that seeing representation of regional and international artists was a welcome start.

“I want to see people from our parts of the world, and I want them to have the same platform and the same exposure, because you don’t feel like there’s a ceiling because of where you’re from,” said Aalia.

Loujain said local and regional artists have skills and different stories to tell, so they should be given a platform. “They have valued equity because the artists have aspirations, and across the board to give people [artists] weight, the weight they deserve.”

She explained that the regional artists have stepped up their game and presented art parallel to that of their peers around the world.

Nazar Yahya, 60 an Iraqi painter visiting from the US state of Texas specifically for Art Basel Qatar, said Shawky’s exhibition had affected him with a refined balance in his choice of galleries and artists, while his representation of artists of colour does not feel like a token gesture.

Yahya said it was important for him to see this new balance of representation because “it shows that in Arab countries we have [serious] artists”.

Sarah Al Mehairi, a 27-year-old Emirati artist, has a series of mixed media in paintings and sculptures in monochrome colours, making a dramatic exit from Gallery 2 of Doha’s Design District.

Sarah Al Mehairi’s ‘Off-centred’ series at Doha Design District, Msheireb, Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Al Mehairi said Art Basel Qatar was not only memorable but groundbreaking for the Middle East.

“I would say that the region has always been serious and important for arts and culture, and with moments like these, Art Basel Qatar and Frieze coming to Abu Dhabi in November of this year, it’s showing that, you know, this is the centre right now. This is where people should be looking,” she said.

Mohamed Monaiseer’s ‘Gypsum’ series at Doha Design District, Msheireb, Art Basel Qatar [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]