Art Basel announced this week that it will organize a new stock exchange in the capital of DOHA Qatari, along with the government operated by the government, and creative and hospitality agency QC+. The upcoming and inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar will take place on the M7 Cultural Forum of the Qatar Museums in Msheireb Downtown Doha in February.
The development comes when the Gulf State leans to its cultural, entertainment and hospitality sectors in accordance with a plan To diversify its oil-heavy economy and to stimulate foreign investments, in addition to other socio-economic priorities. However, the cultural trips of the nation are not without criticism, especially since the FIFA World Cup 2022 has offered attention to the approximately 6500 foreign migrant workers who died in the process of building the football stadium – in addition to broader concerns about broader concerns about worse concerns about Qatarian repression of womenlimitations on freedom of expression, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Discrimination.
In response to HyperallergicThe investigations into the potential impact of Qatarese laws on freedom of expression, said a spokesperson: “Art Basel Qatar, just like the other scholarships of Art Basel, will be curatorial and operational independent.”
A press release describes the debut Art Basel Qatar Fair as a “tightly composed showcase … designed to respond to the current market and at the same time lay the foundation for growth.” The spokesperson said Hyperallergic that about 50 galleries will participate in the Doha event – a modest break compared to the 156 exhibitors at Art Basel Paris’s first edition and the 245 who exhibited on the First edition of Art Basel Hong Kong.
Not everyone is optimistic about the promise of the stock market to stay autonomous in a country plagued Through human rights violations, including Volker-Johnannes Trieb, a German sculptor, performance artist and activist who encourages artists to boycott the event.
“A country that adorns itself with the glitter and glamor of football, art and culture systematically hides exploitation, detached and ignores for human rights – especially to migrating employees, whose living and working conditions remain catastrophic,” Trieb told, “Trieb said,” Triebe said Hyperallergic In a statement.
In the midst of the World Cup 2022, Trieb organized a moving protest installation Outside the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, where he placed 6,500 with sand-filled football balls a migrant worker who died on the jobs of the Doha Stadium-Suns with a quote by the Dutch artist and anti-Nazi-resistant Fighter Truus Men-Oversteek: “
“Art – such as football – has the power to connect people: about boundaries, languages, and
cultures, “said Trieb.
“But art that enables itself to be exploited by regimes that ignore human rights loses its integrity. I am not part of the artificial basel market. Exactly for this reason I have the freedom to openly address all representatives who represent: if Qatar indeed acts as a sponsor – pull your works back. “I wish you success, visibility and recognition. But no career justifies legitimizing injustice.”
Qatar has raised his participation in the interior and international art areas in the past two decades by Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, an established art collector, chairman of the Qatar Museums Network and the Doha Film Institute and the sister of prevailing Qati. Qatar Museums and the city of Venice announced their partnership and Qatar’s permanent biennial pavilion in the coveted Giardini in February.
“When the art world comes down to Qatar, Art loses its authenticity,” Trieb said Hyperallergic. “Those who remain silent or participate are complicit,” he said.
