Mahita El Bacha Urieta

 

A discussion with Mahita El Bacha Urieta curator and winner of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (ACAP) 2010 in collaboration with artist Marwan Sahmarani

Half Lebanese and half Spanish, Mahita is a curator, producer and consultant on arts policy based in London. She has a BA in History and Archaeology from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and an MA in Arts Policy and Management from City University, London. She is working on several major cultural-development projects in the UAE and a PhD in Arab art modernism at the Royal College of Art, London. She is also curating a Live Art project in Abu Dhabi and working with the British Council on a long-term regional project in Arab countries and a conference about Biennials in Bergen, Norway. Mahita was coordinator of the Sharjah Biennial (2004 - 2007). In the UK her work includes curating Arabise Me, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (2006) as part of Ziyarat (www.ziyarat.info), co-producer of Artsworldwide, Veil, New Art Gallery, Walsall, Open Eye Gallery and Bluecoat Art Centre, Liverpool and Modern Art, Oxford (2003). In Europe El Bacha Urieta was part of the Managing Team of Manifesta 6, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Nicosia, Cyprus (2005-06), Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes, 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and Kulturehuset, Stockholm (2004).

Laura Trelford: Having worked in the UAE for a number of years, how do you feel that winning ACAP will enhance your work as a curator?

Mahita El Bacha Urieta: As a curator, wining ACAP feels like a real recognition of my work thus far and a real boost for my curatorial practice, which had been less present in my work over the past years, where I have been more involved with production, policy and management than with curating. It encourages me to further my practice and to strive to develop more projects in the future. It is also important to mention that the profile of ACAP does provide a lot of benefits to the winners of the prize each year as recognition for the prize is growing internationally and to be associated with it is a privilege.

Furthermore, curators do not have many possibilities to develop their practice in the region and there are hardly any awards or funds dedicated to curatorial practice, so I feel very lucky to be benefiting from the support of ACAP this year!

ACAP also provides its winners with wide exposure internationally not only through the media campaign that accompanies winning artists and curators throughout their project development phase but also during Art Dubai itself, where several activities and opening events focus on the winning projects and their protagonists.

I have worked in the UAE on and off for about 6 years now as Coordinator of two editions of the Sharjah Biennial (editions 7 and 8) and in Abu Dhabi, on the Saadiyat Cultural District museum developments for about two years as Public Programming Manager for arts and culture. Both jobs were totally different from one another but what they had in common is the fact that both were government initiatives and therefore involved a highly formal and political dimension.

Although my work in both jobs involved curating, especially in Abu Dhabi, still, there were so many demands on a multitude of other aspects of my work that I could never get close enough to the creative process of artists and I rarely had enough time to truly immerse myself in the aesthetical and conceptual dimension of my work for long enough.

Wining the Abraaj Capital Art Prize is allowing me to spend a long time on a single art project and it is an art commission which involves curating one art work by one artist without having to worry about funding for it. It really is a curator’s dream! These conditions allow me to truly engage on the creative process, the making of the work, for a considerable amount of time and in close collaboration and exchange with artist Marwan Sahmarani, thus allowing for a really mindful process.

It is also wonderful that the Abraaj Capital Art Prize is closely associated with Art Dubai, which I have been close to and involved with since its early days as a collaborator and I am really happy that our project will be featured as part of the art fair, a context which is maturing with every edition and which I am glad for our project to be part of in 2010.

LT: To what extent does the ACAP help promote artists in the region in your opinion?

MEBU: By funding and commissioning unique, new works of art by regional artists, ACAP truly invests in regional artists unlike any other organisation or institution in the region. This is a real help to artists as it gives them the opportunity to work on large scale, ambitious projects that they would not be able to produce without generous funding.

Furthermore, the fact that ACAP requires for each project to be developed by a team made up of an artist and a curator, closely working together, enables artists to benefit from the support of a curator who is totally dedicated to them for an important duration of time.

ACAP also benefits its winning artists through the exposure that it provides them thanks to its international marketing campaign and the touring of the winning art projects following their unveiling in March in Dubai. This raises the profile of artists, shows recognition for their work and opens new doors for them and for the furthering of their art practice.

In addition to this, the unveiling of the winning projects within the context of Art Dubai also provides great potential for exposure to the winning artists as well as a true celebratory unveiling ceremony with all the excitement and joy that comes with it, specially when real focus and importance is given to a small number of projects: this shows a real support for the winning artists and is of great help and encouragement to their art practice and their career.

LT: You are now slightly distanced from the region being based in London, where in the past you have been very proactive on promoting the cause of Arab artists. How is ACAP perceived in London?

MEBU: It is true that I am currently based in London but I am still involved in a great deal of projects in Arab countries and I regularly travel in the region for work. I am still very much involved in developing and promoting Arab arts among others.

ACAP is starting to be known in certain circles in London, especially those which have links to the Arab arts scene and with Art Dubai. It takes time to raise the profile of new projects and initiatives in places like London because there is so much else going on in the city not only British projects but also a large number of international projects competing for attention in London and in other centres of culture around the world. But this is just a matter of time, with every edition, the ACAP is indeed growing in importance and in popularity.

LT: Explain a little about how you came to know Marwan’s work.

MEBU: I first saw the work of Marwan Sahmarani at a friends place in 2004 in Dubai who collected his work. I immediately saw that there was something very special about his work and I became curious about it. His work was drawing and painting based and it emanated an edgy quality (which is rare to find in today’s artistic production, especially in painting). The work was intense with emotion and expressiveness without being “over the top” or decorative per se. A while later, I found out that him and I had several friends in common and we were subsequently introduced to each other by our joint friends. I started to follow his work and projects and then at last year’s Art Dubai art fair, we had several great conversations and it appeared that we were probably well suited for collaborating together on an art project… I was therefore very pleased when Marwan asked me to be his curator for his ACAP application. It is indeed lovely to be collaborating with him!

www.sahmarani.com

Les Cailles / Still Life with Three Dead Quails
Marwan Sahmarani 2008
Oil on Canvas 75 x 75 cm

 

 

 

 

 

 



 






LT: Painting has an importance personal resonance to you. How is the medium perceived today, and do you feel your project with Marwan will spearhead a new definition of the medium?

MEBU: I grew up seeing my father, artist Amine El Bacha draw, paint, accompanied him on travels as a child, attended his private views, spent time at his various studios… So yes, for me arts and painting in particular are “natural” to me. I grew up looking at artworks and started forming opinions about artworks from a young age. It was part of my daily life.

www.aminelbacha.com

Le diner intime / The Intimate Dinner
Amine El Bacha 2004
Oil on Canvas

 

 

 

 

 

 









Increasingly, painting and the forms of art where the artist “get his / her hands dirty” and engages on the “making” of art works have been giving way to more ideas based works that are conceptually based, or focus on gestures, gimmick, twists, media, film etc. This can be strongly felt at art colleges and in museums around the world which are two central arenas for the forming of movements in visual arts practice and where it is very obvious that painting as such is definitely an art form in danger…

I think that the fact that one of the winning projects of the ACAP is painting based makes a powerful statement about the importance and centrality of painting in art history and in current art practice and this will certainly be a positive influence on painters and painting practice in the region.

I think that the format of our project which includes a specially commissioned space as well as the fact that Marwan is integrating drawing, painting and film in one painting based project will demonstrate that painting is versatile and that artists working in painting and drawing can deal with a given space in an innovative way. Furthermore, our project’s format will prove that painting does not have to always be shown or installed in the traditional manner: in a gallery space, hanging on a wall…

At this stage, I cannot say more about how the work will impact viewers or the art form itself. We have to wait until it is produced and observe what happens when it is unveiled!

LT: In the west, cultural regeneration projects are often used to revamp a disadvantaged part of the city, however, in the UAE it is seen as a tool for creating a cultural economy and a form of cultural tourism. How do you think this will affect the region in years to come?

MEBU: In Europe in particular regeneration projects that involve the arts tend to be social, urban and economic regeneration focused projects that mobilise arts and culture for non-cultural purposes, in order to reach objectives such as: re-branding a derelict part of a city or town or an area that might historically have negative associations.

The processes of gentrification involve the introduction of cheap rents in the area and the programming of cultural happenings such as art festivals and the like, which end up attracting artists and “creative” people into this area who gradually contribute to transforming its image and to giving it a new profile. With the passing of time, this area gradually becomes a magnet for people.

This increased interest in the re-branded area in turn raises the price of the land in that area which with the influx of people into it sees many new job opportunities developing and money making activities. Furthermore, thanks to the new identity of the area, it also becomes an attraction for tourists and all of these phenomena together realise the regeneration and gentrification of a certain area.

East London and the Mitte area of Berlin as well as parts of Barcelona are great examples of gentrified areas.

What is happening in the Gulf, especially in the UAE in relation to arts and culture is of a totally different nature. Here, governments have decided to develop the arts and culture sectors in order to enhance the image of their country and their people internationally, in order to “educate” the local population, in order to develop the quality of life of their societies, for cultural diplomacy purposes with countries around the world, and in some cases in order to create new tourism attractions of a cultural nature.

Here too, in many cases, it seems that arts and culture are being activated for purposes other than their own and in order to fulfil agendas of an economic, educational or political nature for example.

Still, in spite of this fact, arts and culture have a power of their own which operates at many levels in tangible and intangible ways and so sooner or later, the arts end up operating independently and impact individuals and societies in powerful and meaningful ways.

As well as enhancing the lives of the people of the Gulf, helping to unlock creative potential and helping to bring about a more open image of Gulf culture, I think that there will be many unforeseen effects that will result from the current cultural developments in the UAE and the region.

These might be best summarised as contributing to “maturing” the growing, modern societies of the new states of the Gulf: the new Qatar and the new UAE, with their precise developmental plans for increased population, increased GDP and others which cannot be realised in a sustainable and healthy way without the unique binding “gel” that is culture (including the arts) which brings genius, joy, imagination, communication, identity, cohesion and hope to societies.


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