Culture Bubble in the U.A.E.
For the past month, I’ve been observing how the arts and culture sector in Dubai and across the UAE has been responding (or not responding) during this pandemic.
Communication strategies in the culture sector here generally hasn’t been its strongest forte, and during the coronavirus crisis, this inefficiency was made more visible.
As I write this, the pandemic continues to grow worldwide, and although here in the UAE we seem to be a lot better off than other countries, the worry is if things will get worse. According to Dr Juan Acuna, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, “Things are getting worse and in the UAE, we have not yet seen the peak in the growth of the cases.”
Hospitals around the world are trying to save lives, we are all advised to stay at home to help reduce the spread of the virus, and only step out for specific reasons. Many parents who now have to work from home also have to deal with home schooling/distant studying, many have lost their jobs too. There’s a collective sense of anxiety and grief, and no one knows how long this will last.
So with that in mind, it’s important for organisations, regardless of sector, to adjust their communications and marketing strategies during this period to avoid coming across as superficial. Yes, it’s important to try and keep people’s spirits up, but it needs to be done without sounding crude.
Museums, galleries, cinemas and performance/music venues had to close their doors from March 15. (It’s not clear if there are job losses in these sectors, and unlikely this information would be publicly shared in the media here.)
Around mid-March, when social distancing and self isolation started becoming more and more enforced, I saw emails, news and and updates on social media posts ranging from crass obliviousness to opportunistic PR.
One stand out was What’s On Dubai’s article titled We self-quarantined in Palazzo Versace's Dhs80,000 Imperial Suite, promoting how to “isolate in the most extravagant way possible…”.
In the art world, March is normally “Art Month” in Dubai, with a number of activities consisting of new exhibitions, events, talks, performances, all leading up to Art Dubai. With the pandemic hitting us hard in March, it meant no exhibition openings, no public art events, no VIP previews at Art Dubai - probably a mini crisis on its own within the “art crowd” here. But most importantly for the galleries, it meant not being able to have people, especially collectors, visit their new exhibitions.
Here’s a summary of events and news from March:
-Art Dubai announced on March 3 that that despite postponing this year’s edition to 2020, there will be a “reconfigured programme” that will be “tailored to the local cultural community”. But in the end, the re-configured program consisted of an Online Catalogue featuring works from the galleries that would’ve exhibited this year, a Global Art Forum live online broadcast, and an Online Performance Programme curated by Marina Fokidis.
On March 30, The National published an article stating “Art Dubai says it received 53,520 unique page views on its website during its digital programming, which ran from March 23 to 28 (the same days the physical fair would have run).” No mention of how many artworks were actually sold.
-To make up for the cancellation of Art Week that was scheduled between March 23-28, Alserkal Avenue supported its galleries by developing “virtual tours” for their new exhibitions, and sent out emails with subject lines like #togetherness and #VernissageFromHome, and asking us to tag them in photos of our best #VFH outfits.
The ‘virtual gallery’ experience was underwhelming, but I hope this is an opportunity for galleries to rethink their online presence and find ways to be more engaging online after this crisis ends. By no means an online virtual gallery should replace seeing artworks in person, but for the longest time, the galleries here have not really invested in their online presence, and hopefully this crisis makes them rethink this.
- Almost all the museums in the UAE also started promoting their websites and their versions of online galleries and virtual tours. Like the galleries, the museums too have not been very good with their websites, so I hope they too rethink their online presence longterm, an opportunity to engage with wider audiences and even researchers who normally struggle with the lack of archival information about the arts and culture sector here.
-Galleries and museums pivoting to virtual viewings has already turned into parody.
-On March 24, The National reported “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs's Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy has, in the past two weeks, acquired pieces – worth more than AED 1.5 million – created by emerging and established Emirati artists”, a way of sending “a message of solidarity to our artists”.
Also from the article, “The artworks will find a home at UAE embassies and missions across the world, but first they will be on display at Alserkal Avenue within the next month, in an online exhibition.”
This sounds like the artworks were only bought from the galleries in Alserkal Avenue. Only a handful of galleries represent a handful of Emirati artists there, begging the question how many artworks were actually purchased, and was this an opportunity for bargain art shopping by the ministry? Additionally, if this is about trying to support artists (and galleries), why be so selective with the galleries, and what about artists from other nationalities that live here?
-Dubai Culture postponed Sikka Art Festival to October.
On March 26, a Letter to the Cultural Industry was published, thanking “the creative community for the many wonderful initiatives” which was predominately the commercial art sector.
On April 2 Dubai Culture Authority and Art Dubai Group launched Dubai Ideation, “an open call for ideas that can support cultural industries during the crisis”. Crowdsourcing ideas with no clear indication on how the people contributing their ideas will be rewarded. I asked, but got no answer.
Some of the language used to promote Dubai Ideation was quite bizarre, “Got an idea about how businesses might be able to generate revenue from digital venues? Or how to improve company to client collaborations?”
On April 4, Dubai Culture also announced a “package of business relief measures for tenants in its cultural and heritage properties”.
Not to mention the recent parade of productivity porn, countless images of people in their Zoom meetings, emails and social media updates about galleries and museum websites that can be visited anytime “we are open 24 hours”, emails from art organisations asking artists to share work that’s being produced whilst at home that can be shared on their social media accounts - treating artists like an art on demand resource, to entertain their followers. I’m already seeing slate of bad corona art which will probably be part of coronavirus themed exhibitions venues are already thinking about.
I suppose this constant scrambling for ‘content’ is for brand presence, to show solutions and ways to keep people busy and entertained. But there’s also this romanticised notion that all artists at home are busy making work and ready to show it at a drop.
Not once did any of the above organisations make any announcements about how to assist or support artists and freelancers in the culture sector during this crisis.
Theaterdiscounter, Berlin, February 2020, © Hind Mezaina
It would have been great to hear from governmental cultural entities about solutions to help people in the culture sector that have lost jobs or work/opportunities during this time. This should include music industry too - bands/singers/musicians/DJs out of work. How will they pay their rents and have enough to keep them going till things ease off? (Dubai Calendar launched an initiative called Live From Dubai #Stay Home with “performances, workshops and demonstrations by Dubai's greatest talents” streamed online this month. I assume the artists involved are being paid for this.)
Same applies to the people working in the film sector, many are self employed and there’s not enough work to keep them going. How can they support themselves? Dubai & TV Film Commission has just been promoting messages about filming in Dubai and posting pretty images of Dubai on its social media accounts, and Image Nation in Abu Dhabi has mostly been promoting the films they’ve made. No attempt (at least publicly) to find ways to support UAE filmmakers during this time.
To date, I’ve only seen two initiatives trying to support artists and freelancers out of work.
On March 20, NAQD, an independently run art criticism collective in the UAE announced it will assist artists/freelancers in creative sector to find jobs.
On April 1, Jameel Arts Centre announced a “new rapid-response scheme offering artists support through the allocation of micro-fees towards their ongoing or new projects…primarily for those who work on a per-project basis and whose practices have been affected by programme cancellations and project changes, locally or globally.
It was inspiring to read how the Berlin government distributed €500 million to artists and freelancers within four days of launching its grant program, and stating “there will be enough for everyone”.
The Arts Council in England announced “£160 million of emergency funding available for those organisations and individuals who will need it during this crisis, and we have also changed the funding requirements for individuals and organisations currently in receipt of our funding, to help alleviate pressure on them as best we can.”
These examples makes it quite apparent what’s been missing in the arts and culture sector in the UAE and what’s been amplified during this period is how the arts and culture in general, especially in Dubai is mostly about PR and making headlines and less about communal responsibility. It mostly comes across as me, me, me and less about us, us, us.
Words like community gets bandied about a lot in general — and especially now, including phrases like ‘we’re all in this together’. It’s important to be cautious of who says it and to be aware of who is included and most importantly, who is excluded when the word community is used. Who does it benefit economically and financially?
Community isn’t just about showing up for art openings, supporting commercial art galleries and buying art.
In Dubai specifically, whilst the commercial art galleries (and the other establishments?) in Alserkal Avenue have a landlord that is finding ways to support them, what about the rest of the art and culture spaces outside this ‘district’ as it now likes to refer to itself. Especially small community run spaces like Courtyard Playhouse that publicly announced they are facing permanent closure because of this crisis and is asking their supporters and the Dubai community to help.
I keep wondering if the money that went into building virtual tours could perhaps been more helpful longterm if it was used to create a relief fund to support artist, freelancers and spaces like the Courtyard Playhouse.
Could it be possible for the likes of Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art join hands to set up a relief fund?
Can the Dubai government announce a relief fund or the Ministry of Culture announce something that can show financial support to the arts and culture across the country?
This crisis is an opportunity to reflect on what many of the art organisations here represent? Now more than ever we need what we’ve lacked all this time, centralised bodies that represent artists and the culture sector. Entities like an arts council, institutes for film, music, performances, a freelancers association.
Many art organisations here seek institutional recognition and respect, but are run as businesses and corporate entities.
Now would also be a time for cultural organisations in the UAE to look into their bureaucratic procedures when it comes to approving new art initiatives and payment procedures. An opportunity to rethink existing structures, and incorporate new and better ways that engage with the arts and culture sector. An opportunity in creating an environment of culture that allows spontaneous initiatives, engage with the diverse and many independent creative community here, and not just the established names and gatekeepers.
In this crisis, people have turned to film, music, art and literature. Many people are engaged with the arts now more than ever because they are stuck at home. And yet, many that work in the arts/culture sector including artists are overworked and underpaid.
This amplifies the importance of the arts and hope the culture and education ministries here can work together to invest in art education in schools once things go back to a level of normalcy. It’s high time, especially here, to not think of the arts as a hobby or just for entertainment, but a professional sector.
Most importantly, the arts needs to be considered essential for the population here, and not a PR exercise to attract tourists and attracting international press during our art fairs and biennials.
Culture isn’t just to be consumed and to entertain. Kevin Jones, art writer and founder of Juniper, recently posted on his Instagram page, “When can we start considering artists as thinkers?”
The arts in all its forms helps us makes sense of the world, interrogating the past, thinking about the present, dreaming of a better future. I don’t believe art can change the world, otherwise we wouldn’t see so many injustices still happening. But art engages us intellectually and emotionally, feeds the mind and soul.
Whilst people are enjoying being entertained by live concerts, DJ sets, free films to watch online, free art lessons - now would be a good time to ask yourself how can you support these artists.
In an essay for Financial Times, Ben Okri wrote “…we need art more than ever. We need art to remind us why life is worth living.” We do, but not at the expense of free labour by people creating art.
The culture sector here is being faced with questions they’ve not thought about before.
I hope artists can be invited and involved in discussions within the relevant arts and culture authorities here.
I also hope there can be more independent collective initiatives rallying to support artists in need if authorised state sanctioned solutions will take time. And if there are any presently, please let me know.
I hope this piece can provoke meaningful discussions and questions, but most importantly I hope we get to see positive actions and results compared to what I’m seeing now.