Dubai: Art enthusiasts would term it a directory, but Shumon Basar, director of the Global Art Forum at the recent Art Dubai fair, called it the "missing link" in the art history of the country.
Referring to the multimedia research project, ‘Dubai Art World Cartography', presented by Brusselssprout, the design outfit that produces work on contemporary art, Basar expounded on how it is the missing link in the art history of the UAE.
"I believe that until the economic crisis there was little priority given to documenting the cultural past," he told Gulf News.
The project focused on a visual exploration of art history since 2005, distilling more than 2,500 entries spanning galleries, exhibitions, fairs, artists, curators, patrons, biennials, and awards and institutions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Ignacio Gomez, the editor at Brusselssprout, Dubai, told Gulf News: "The digital plotting is based on objectivity. It has factual data on various art events that have taken place from 2005 to 2011, including the details of every artist local and international."
Basar said: "The project has an incredible constellation of the country's art history. When we heard about it and the kind of complexity and richness it had, we were thrilled. It was the first time that someone was doing this kind of archiving in such a systematic manner and presenting history in an innovative form."
