This November I was lucky to attend
two ArtExpert Plus courses.
This are the only art lectures on the international level in Dubai. They covered all conceivable aspects of art.
And all the elements of the courses were lovely, the checklist includes:
This are the only art lectures on the international level in Dubai. They covered all conceivable aspects of art.
And all the elements of the courses were lovely, the checklist includes:
The employed professors were world
class
like Giovanni Aloi (who is a Lecturer in History of
Art and Visual Cultures at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
Sotheby`s Institute of Art London and New York, and Tate Galleries).
The courses were held in
fascinating venues, in Salsali Private Museum, the only private museum in Dubai! And at the time of huge art event: Abu
Dhabi Art fair!
What elated me greatly was
meeting people behind the scenes: numerous prominent gallerists, the
owner of the Salsali private museum, the Chairman of Sotheby`s in MENA region,
some renowned artists and our personal guide at Abu Dhabi Art Fair.
Having informal chat with some of
them and with our professors introduced to me a whole world of novel concepts, where quirks and beauty were intertwined.
One course I took was on the Art
Market, given by Prof. Ollesya Zorloni (who penned a couple of books
on how the art market is functioning). The course was dedicated to relationship
between art and money, facts and statistics, peppered over with useful
strategies and tactics of art collectors and famous auction art houses.
But I really enjoyed most the Introduction
to Art and Design course.
It was led by Daniel Pryde- Jarman,
Prof. of Hereford College and Univercity of Brighton. Focusing on
discourses since modernism and onwards, he described major art
movements. The course dealt in how the art, rather than existing in
state of autonomy, is interconnected and interwoven with design, fashion and
architecture. The relationship between the disciplines was explored at length
and the basic and important terminology of each sphere was
acquired.
We reflected in the manner, full of
congruity, on the eclectic array of artists and phenomena:
the change in power hierarchy
between artists and curators,
problem formulation in art of
different time periods,
and the typical post-modern manner,
when the problem is turned up-side-down.
The matters were not discussed in
arbitrary or highly abstract way but rather in a referential, very
comprehensible manner, while attaining a high degree of entertainment.
Those who attended the classes were
a very friendly and visibly affluent crowd, special and likeminded folks,
interested in art. To crown it all, we had fun rides in our classmate`s
customized Rolls Royce!
