By Louise Chen
Originally published on artinfo.com, July 15, 2010
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/contemporary-arts/article/35219-menasa-fair-debuts-in-a-crowded-regional-art-market
Building on the early successes of fledgling Middle-Eastern art fairs like Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art, the inaugural edition of MENASART Fair opened in Beirut on Tuesday — the latest attempt to promote the region's artists and cultivate the growing interest in contemporary-art collecting among wealthy buyers in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
The fair, which was sponsored by Lebanese financial groups MENA Capital and Al-Mawarid Bank, concluded yesterday at the Pavilion Royal in Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center. Among the 30 exhibitors the fair attracted were the U.K.’s Waterhouse & Dodd and Beijing-based nonprofit Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, which presented Zhang Huans large-scale stainless panda sculptures, previously seen at the Shanghai World Expo.
The fair also hosted conferences for dealers, collectors, and curators to address issues such as recent trends for contemporary art inSouth Asia and challenges for emerging Middle Eastern artists in light of globalization.
The board of the fair includes Laure d’Hauteville, who created Beirut's first contemporary art fair, ArtSud, in 1998, and helped the ArtParis fair expand to Abu Dhabi, and Jean-Marc Decrop, who is a former French cultural attache in Paraguay. "This fair is designed to represent art from the cradle of civilization," said MENASART artistic director Pascal Odille in a statement, "and boost the political, social and artistic representation in the region."