London’s Victoria & Albert Museum opened its Photography Centre, consisting of four new galleries, this week, with the exhibition Photography Spotlight.
Charting two centuries of photographic history from the early pioneers to digital smartphone snappers, the exhibition “tells the story of photography as a way of collecting the world, from the medium’s invention to today,” V&A director Tristram Hunt says.
“In an era when everyone’s iPhone makes them a photographer, the V&A’s Photography Centre explores and explains the medium in a compelling way.”
Visitors enter the exhibition through an installation of more than 150 cameras that span a period of 160 years.
Those viewing the works are also invited to handle the devices and witness the improvements in technology – from an 1820s camera obscura through a 1920s Kodak No.2 Brownie to a 1930s Leica II rangefinder and 1970s Polaroid 1000 instant camera.
Through stereoscopic viewers, visitors can see 3D pictures from the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London, and some of the earliest photographs of Japan.
Photography Spotlight also includes photojournalism, with 1930s copies of the United Kingdom's Picture Post magazine, which displays the harsh realities of war overseas.
The collection includes pictures donated by Paul McCartney, where were taken by his late wife Linda, herself a professional photographer. The pictures also include shots of 1960s stars such as Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds and model Twiggy.
The exhibition contains a selection of British photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot’s pictures and cameras, including an 1840s wooden tripod camera.
The new centre also includes a project space filled with works by German photographer Thomas Ruff, who has digitally reinterpreted Linnaeus Tripe’s 1850s paper negatives of India and Myanmar, bringing modern developing techniques to the landmark originals.
The catalyst for developing the new exhibition space and opening its four galleries was the transfer last year of the Royal Photographic Society’s collection of 270,000 photographs, 6,000 cameras and 26,000 books to the V&A.
The museum’s archive of more than 800,000 photographs is now one of the world’s largest and most important collections of historic and contemporary pictures.
A second section of the centre, due to open in 2022, will include a teaching space, browsing library and a studio for residencies by photographers.
AFP
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
French Touch
Carla Bruni
(Verve)
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
