Is Art Basel Becoming a Conference Organizer? The Fair Company’s Latest Venture Is a Three-Day Summit in Abu Dhabi

Art Basel organizers have made it clear that they have no interest in bringing yet
another art fair into the already-crowded fair landscape. But
that doesn’t mean the company isn’t interested in expanding. And
the latest area of growth for the organization is high-profile
events.

The company today announced a new initiative called “Art
Basel Inside” that will bring influential entrepreneurs and
cultural leaders to Abu Dhabi for a three-day conference in
February 2020. In a release this morning, organizers described the
new initiative as “a multi-faceted cultural experience offering
thought leaders from diverse fields and industries the opportunity
to share visions and engage with the issues facing the world
today.”

Veteran curator and art historian Marc-Olivier Wahler, who was
recently appointed director of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in
Geneva, will organize the three-day program. The Abu Dhabi
Department of Culture and Tourism will serve as co-host, though Art
Basel organizers would not disclose details of the contract or
elaborate on how the initiative is being funded. Notably, the dates
of the event—February 14 to 16—overlap with the second edition of
Frieze Los Angeles, the newest fair launched by Art Basel’s biggest
rival.

Art Basel organizers stressed that “Inside” is different from
its Art Basel Cities
initiative, which works with local governments to organize
bespoke cultural events and expand local art scenes. The new
concept was researched and developed by the Art Basel Business
Initiatives Department (the same squad that developed the Cities
initiative) over the past three years. Asked whether they plan to
bring Inside to other cities, a representative said it is currently
a “one-off event,” but “it is certainly possible that we will hold
further events in the future and to further develop the
program.”

More than Art Basel Cities, the event perhaps more closely
resembles major gatherings like the New York Times International
Luxury Conference held in Hong Kong last year, the (controversy-ridden)
Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh, both of
which aimed to raise the profile of their locations as hubs for new
ideas and connect business leaders with wealthy potential customers
in new regions.

The new initiative comes as Art Basel’s parent company, MCH
Group, has pulled away from its
investment in regional art fairs. In November, the organization
said it would sell off most of its stake in these events and
downshift its ambitions “for the necessary stabilization of the
company.”

So far, details on exactly what Art Basel Inside will look like
are vague. According to the company, the three-day event will
include “thematic journeys, site-specific installations and
commissioned performances… dynamic dialogues and workshops with
visionary guest speakers from the worlds of technology and science,
addressing topics such as intelligence, environments,
sustainability, and the role of the arts.” There will also be
smaller breakout sessions where participants will have in-depth
discussions about these issues.

In a statement, Wahler said he looks forward to creating “an
immersive environment, a unique ecosystem in which critical issues
such as sustainability and artificial intelligence are not
approached as isolated topics, but instead as contingencies within
a larger network.”

Art Basel global director Marc Spiegler presented the event as
an opportunity for the art world to engage with leaders from other
industries. “It is vital that those in the art world not only speak
to each other about the art world, but rather discuss with a wider
range of thinkers a broader range of topics,” he said in a
statement.

Over the past decade, the United Arab Emirates has invested
billions of dollars in cultural projects (and been dogged by claims of labor
abuses), developing sites including the Louvre Abu Dhabi,
Manarat Al Saadiyat, and the NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery. Also still
in the works are the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim Abu
Dhabi.

“This is a collaboration brought about by a shared passion for
the arts, and a belief in their importance in driving
understanding, progress, and innovation,” said Saif Saeed Ghobash,
undersecretary for Abu Dhabi’s department of culture and
tourism.

The post Is Art Basel Becoming a Conference Organizer? The
Fair Company’s Latest Venture Is a Three-Day Summit in Abu
Dhabi appeared first on artnet News.