Middle East

Christie's will become first global auction house to operate in Saudi Arabia

With the announcement of Riyadh-based managing director Nour Kelani, the firm hopes to deepen ties with the Kingdom's collectors and ambitious cultural projects

London’s Middle Eastern art sales have defied tensions

Auction purchases by Arab cultural entities overcome early uncertainties of Israel-Hamas war

As Saudi Arabia wins bid for 2030 World Expo, a new book lifts the lid on the Kingdom’s push to be a key art world player

Publication examines how the conservative Middle Eastern state is pouring resources into its culture sector

Book Clubfeature

Paper, politics and poetry: why artists’ books from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia deserve a closer look

British Museum show and book by Venetia Porter tap into rich seam of works by non-Western artists

Art Basel increases security for Paris + fair following state of alert in France

Anti-ram barriers will be placed around the venue following a terrorist incident in France, linked to Israel-Hamas war

Abu Dhabi seeks to make waves with first major art biennial

The first "direct commission" unveiled by Public Art Abu Dhabi is a multimedia crashing wave display by the Seoul-based collective d’strict

Derelict ice factory in the desert transformed into UAE's newest contemporary art venue

Opening in time for the Sharjah Biennial, the Kalba Ice Factory building boasts 20,000 sq. m exhibition space

Heritage protection foundation Aliph expands with office in Saudi Arabia

The Geneva-based International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas is to open a second office in 2023 in Riyadh

Can art actually help improve Saudi Arabia's abject human rights record?

Culture is being used by Saudi Arabia to project an image of a state that “enriches lives, celebrates national identity and builds understanding between people”

Perrotin is about to open its first Middle East space in a Dubai tax-free zone

The gallery will focus on secondary market deals with occasional contemporary art programming

New digital art archive launched to help Yazidi community rebuild after genocide

Available on the Google Arts & Culture platform, the project is the result of a year-long series of workshops in northern Iraq

Experts fear for preservation of 'spectacular' mosaic unearthed by farmers in Gaza refugee camp

The Byzantine-era gem has been described as "the most beautiful mosaic floor" found in Palestine

Revamped Museum of Islamic Art in Doha to reopen with more than 1,000 new objects

After 18-month closure, Qatar gallery to relaunch on 5 October in time for Fifa World Cup

Exclusive: German museums latest to be implicated in far-reaching criminal investigation into antiquities trafficking

Case has so far seen Middle Eastern works seized from New York's Met and the indictment of a former Louvre director

Iraqi artists decry Berlin Biennale’s display of photographs showing tortured inmates at Abu Ghraib prison

Artists Raed Mutar and Sajjad Abbas protested against the inclusion of Jean-Jacques Lebel's work and have moved their own pieces

One year after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, artists stage remembrance festival of kite flying

International event—featuring storytelling, music, poetry and dance—aims to bring awareness to the continuing plight of Afghans

Babylon is coming back to life, with its famed Ishtar Gate to be restored by this summer

A new World Monuments Fund project in conjunction with the US embassy in Baghdad aims to repair Iraqi cultural heritage as part of the Future of Babylon project

Christie’s Middle East chairman Michael Jeha is stepping down after 23 years at the end of this month

Jeha began his career at the auction house as an intern in the Impressionism department

Art Dubaipreview

Art Dubai flexes city’s futuristic credentials with focus on NFTs and crypto

Art fair opens in the UAE this week with a new digital arts section and a series of talks on all things metaverse

Saudi Arabia's Desert X AlUla biennial returns for second edition next spring

In a new location in the desert complex, the exhibition will explore ideas of “mirage and oasis”

'Jobless, futureless, in constant fear': Afghan artists sign open letter to world leaders asking for help to escape the Taliban

Non-profit Artists at Risk issue letter to Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and other senior figures urging for better systems for those seeking asylum

Abu Dhabianalysis

Abu Dhabi plans two new museums in addition to Guggenheim and Zayed

Announcement was made at yesterday's preview of Abu Dhabi Art 2021, where cultural leaders were keen to emphasise their commitment to the emirate following its strict lockdown

Al-Ulanews

Unesco strikes partnership deal with Saudi agency to develop AlUla region's rich heritage

Agreement covers developing archaeological programmes and paves the way for kingdom's ambitious long-term plans to attract tourists to the region

An Afghan cultural worker’s life under the Taliban: 'There is nothing left for us here and we can’t go anywhere else'

In a new series "Dispatches from Afghanistan", we speak to artists about their experiences since the rise of the Taliban. Here, Mansoor laments the world’s silence over Afghanistan's fate

An Afghan artist's life under the Taliban: burning art, deleting social media accounts and living in hiding

In a new series "Dispatches from Afghanistan", we speak to artists about their experiences since the rise of the Taliban. Here, contemporary artist and curator Mina recounts the horrors of her failed escape attempt

Guggenheim director Richard Armstrong sets new opening date for long-delayed Abu Dhabi museum

New deputy director Naomi Beckwith says "we can re-centre where the stories of art are told"