London’s Whitechapel Gallery has announced plans for an ambitious exhibition of Arab art, pulling more than 100 works from the Barjeel Art Foundation, and noted as “the broadest single overview of Arab art to be shown in the UK to date,” the Art Newspaper reports.  “The Barjeel foundation’s guiding principle is to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by building a prominent, publicly accessible art collection in the UAE,” the foundation said in a statement. (more…)

Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her works depicting national politicians as monkeys and goats as protest over plans to outlaw voluntary sterilisation and restrict access to contraception.  “Atena Farghadani has effectively been punished for her cartoons with a sentence that is itself a gross caricature of justice,” says Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for  Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa. (more…)

Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar passed away unexpectedly this week at his home in London.  The former president of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage from 1997 to 2005, Al-Thani was at one point considered among the most influential art buyers in the world, and oversaw the initial stages of a massive museum-building project in the Gulf. (more…)

Kader Attia, Repair, Culture’s Agency (2014), via Art Observed

In light of its subject matter, the New Museum wastes no time in describing the challenges ahead of Here and Elsewhere, its current exhibition focusing on contemporary Arabic and Middle Eastern art.  Taking its title from the 1976 Jean-Luc Godard documentary of the same name, the museum effectively poses the same questions that plagued Godard’s quasi-documentary on the Palestinian army.  Faced with an inability to complete his statement on the complex social issues and the subsequent defeat of Palestine in the Six Days War, Godard instead sought a middle ground between the embattled nation and his French homeland.  The film is spiked with cinema verité segments, abstract performance and experimental camerawork that ultimately places a considerable distance between the film and any sense of cohesive, authoritative statement. (more…)

The Louvre’s new expansion in Abu Dhabi will be announcing 300 loans from its Paris counterpart and twelve other French museum partners by the end of the year, The Art Newspaper reports.  The works on loan will rotate over the course of the next ten years, joining up with about 500 new acquisitions that will make up the new museum’s permanent collection.   (more…)

Ali Banisadr, Ran (2014), all images courtesy Sperone Westwater

Currently on view at Sperone Westwater in New York is an exhibition of new works by Iranian painter Ali Banisadr.  Entitled Motherboard, the exhibition is Banisadr’s first solo show at at the gallery, and will remain on view through April 19, 2014.

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The New York Times has profiled Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the head of the Qatar Museums Authority in its year-end look at the art world, calling the young sheikha a “power player” on the global stage.  “It’s most important to allow young artists today to see what’s happening,” she says. “Seventy percent of our population is under the age of 30.” (more…)

Damien Hirst’s newest sculptures, depicting the stages of life for a gestating fetus, have been unveiled in Qatar.  Monumental in scale, the 14 bronze statues are estimated to have cost $20 million, and signal a new step towards acceptance of western art and artists in the country.  “To have something like this is less daring than having a lot of nudity,” said Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of the Qatar Museum Authority . “There is a verse in the Koran about the miracle of birth,” she said. “It is not against our culture or our religion.” (more…)

In anticipation of the upcoming Istanbul Biennial, opening later this fall,the New York Times has published a profile on the emerging contemporary art scene of the Turkish metropolis, exploring both the largest new galleries like SALT, and the fervent underground political arts scene of artists like Ha Za Vu Zu. (more…)

Details are emerging about a major exhibition of work by Damien Hirst, billed as the largest exhibition of work by the artist yet to be assembled, slated to open later this year in Doha, Qatar.  The show, titled Relics, will cull work from the full range of the artist’s work, and will include a number of the artist’s diamond-encrusted work. (more…)

Sabine Moritz, Mother (2010), via Marian Goodman

Limbo, the state of being suspended in time, between past and future, repose and action, is the title of Sabine Moritz’s first solo show with Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris.  Spread over two floors, the exhibition includes eighteen oil on canvas paintings, and over sixty drawings, a dense body of work started in late 2001.  Moritz, who lives and works in Cologne, Germany, was on her way to New York City on September 11th, when her plane was diverted up to Nova Scotia. For three days she was stuck in this remote landscape, with thousands of other displaced travelers, watching the events and its aftermath unfold. This period of waiting and disconnect, gave her time to reflect about the changing nature of borders, conflict, and the technology of war.

Sabine Moritz, Limbo (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

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The new airport currently under construction in Doha, Qatar is commissioning major art pieces by some of the world’s most prominent artists, says an undisclosed source.  While contractors, staff and dealers are bound by a non-disclosure agreement, a Qatar Museums Authority official confirmed 14 new commission projects from highly recognized international artists recently on a local blog. (more…)

The 2013 Edition of Art Dubai opens this week, featuring a number of high-profile works from Yayoi Kusama, Chris Burden, and Wim Delvoye.  Featuring 75 museum groups from over 30 countries, the show has brought $45 Million in art to the Middle Eastern City.  “From the perspective of business, Dubai has centrality no one can deny,” said Arif Naqvi, a Dubai real estate executive. “In the regional cultural perspective, the city is acquiring the same centrality.” (more…)

Pablo Picasso’s never before exhibited collage Portrait of a Lady will be exhibited for the first time at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.  The work was acquired last December, and will go on view next month as part of the Birth of a Museum exhibition.  “Being a collage, it’s one of the key elements that Picasso used and it’s not something that is always seen in other museums. It’s a very distinct style that he developed at that time.”  Says Louvre project manager Hissa Al Dhaheri. (more…)