Menart, an art fair devoted to Middle East and North African works, is launching next month in Paris.
The project is the brainchild of Laure d’Hauteville, who founded the Beirut Art Fair in 2010. Because of the pandemic and Lebanon’s financial and social crisis, that fair is taking a hiatus, but d’Hauteville has returned to her native France to set up Menart in order to continue her work with regional galleries and artists.
With 22 participating galleries from 13 different countries, Menart will be on the smaller side, and will be hosted in the private mansion that houses the Cornette de Saint Cyr auction house.
Participants include Leila Heller Gallery and Elmarsa from Dubai, Athr Gallery and Mono Gallery from Saudi Arabia, and Jordan's Wadi Finan Art Gallery.
Lebanon is the most represented, with Saleh Barakat Gallery, Galerie Tanit and others, while a number of other French organisations will also take part, including groups from Palais de Tokyo and Centre Pompidou.
Elmarsa will offer a painting by Baya Mahieddine, the Algerian artist whose joyful gouaches are currently on view at the Sharjah Art Museum.
Meanwhile, Galleria Continua, an international gallery that is a regular at Art Dubai, will show a painting by Syrian-American poet, essayist and visual artist Etel Adnan, who has long lived in Paris.
D'Hauteville launched the project with collector Paul de Rosen, and has appointed Lebanese curator Joanna Chevalier as artistic director.
"Some Middle Eastern artists are already well known to institutions and collectors," says Chevalier, citing talents such as Palestinian multimedia and installation artist Mona Hatoum, who lives in London, French artist Kader Attia, who spent his childhood between France and Algeria, and Lebanese-American artist Simone Fattal, who was born in Damascus and grew up in Lebanon.
There will also be a particular focus on female artists.
“Menart fair will permit the discovery of around 60 artists, including many established artists from the 1950s, '60s and '70s, such as [Moroccan painter] Mohammed Hamidi, [Egyptian-Danish painter] Hamed Abdalla, [Lebanese painter] Hussein Madi, and a great number of contemporary artists, many of whom are unknown in France.”
Despite France’s high levels of Covid-19 cases, the event is set to go ahead in person between Thursday and Sunday, May 27 and 30.
A spokeswoman for the fair confirmed that safety measures, such as a one-way circuit and compulsory masks, would be in effect.
The event will take place in Paris’s central eight arrondissement.
More information is at menart-fair.com
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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French business
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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Two stars
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Her most famous song
Aghadan Alqak (Would I Ever Find You Again)?
Would I ever find you again
You, the heaven of my love, my yearning and madness;
You, the kiss to my soul, my cheer and
sadness?
Would your lights ever break the night of my eyes again?
Would I ever find you again?
This world is volume and you're the notion,
This world is night and you're the lifetime,
This world is eyes and you're the vision,
This world is sky and you're the moon time,
Have mercy on the heart that belongs to you.
Lyrics: Al Hadi Adam; Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
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Sand storm
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Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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DSC Eagles 23 Dubai Hurricanes 36
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Tries: Bright, O’Driscoll
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey 3
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Tries: Knight 2, Lewis, Finck, Powell, Perry
Cons: Powell 3
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DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
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Jawan
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
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