Art + Auction Power 100, 2011

The only list that matters.

Art + Auction announced their annual Power 100 list earlier today, and celebrated it with a big party in Miami last night.  No, I am not in Miami for Basel, I am but a humble graduate student doing hours and hours of thesis research.  (Next year I’ll be forced to go by my fabulous future job.)  I did take the time to comb through the entire slide show on Artinfo.com. For thesis research… Here are some facts:

King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture

AAM Conference Expo

Everyone knows the United Arab Emirates are going through some serious development.  Dubai first captured my imagination when “The World” was featured (years ago) on Vh1’s Fabulous Life Of series.  Currently Abu Dhabi and Qatar (not an emirate) are going head-to-head to see who can build the most and more lavish museums.  In Doha, Qatar, there is the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei, and the National Museum designed by Jean Nouvel. In the other corner is Abu Dhabi where a whole island of museums is being constructed.  Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island (now just a glorified sandbar) will get not only a Performing Arts Centre designed by Zaha Hadid, and a Foster+Partners-designed Zayed National Museum, but also a branch of the Guggenheim (designed of course by Frank Gehry), and a branch of the Louvre (also designed by Nouvel).  I wrote a piece about an artists’ boycott of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi over immigrant labors rights, or lack thereof.  You can read the whole story here.

Starchitecture face-off!