Engage101’s Reading List
Emergeast is a great resource for collectors. They showcase artists from the MENA region, and alongside that their blog has straightforward pointers about the arts as well as more in-depth discussions. This article deconstructs 5 simple myths of art collecting.
Global Art Daily discusses with Zuhoor Al Sayegh her becoming Bait15’s newest member. Bait15 is the artist run space in Abu Dhabi that hosted Engage101’s inaugural sale, in which Zuhoor Al Sayegh was one of the participating artists.
Hind Mezaina lucidly problematised responses by cultural organisations in the UAE to the COVID crisis in this piece, yet her criticism here feels like it hits on something fundamental and makes you think that perhaps the issues brought to light by COVID are symptomatic of structural flaws.
When looking to the west, why not look at places such as Storm King for inspiration instead of the big branded museums? The future of the arts in the Gulf, will need to find an equilibrium through realizing grassroots, local initiatives and spaces to balance the hyperlux tourist-centric destinations.
International Art English by Alix Rule & David Levineh
This article sent shockwaves through the international art community upon its publication as it deconstructed and quantified writing that surrounds and emanates from ‘the art world’, detailing its particularities and why it’s so difficult to digest making it so alienating and confusing to the public. This ‘language’ is what is seen as a key gate-keeping aspect of ‘the art world’.
Samt School Library- a resource of carefully selected books, that attend to various subjects relating back to the arts. (If you haven’t yet- we highly recommend reading the first chapter of Ways of Seeing by John Berger!)
The art world is in need of a strong critical culture by Melissa Gronlund
Art Critique in the UAE by Hind Mezaina
Culture of critique critical to develop UAE art scene by Gaith Abdulla
These three articles tackle the lack of criticism and critical depth in discussions in media coverage and as a key social function, what remains a pressing issue in the art ecosystems of the Gulf.