Rachel Rekkab: UNFOLD BRICS

Art can be a divisive subject. It is one of those things where the same piece can get some people riled up and calm others down. It can create controversy and it can bring people together. It can leave some people aghast and others in ecstasy like nothing else, and it is absolutely massive. Art in the Middle East is a growing fascination, and we have got an interview with one of Dubai’s biggest art shakers. Here GEDD!T chats with Rachel Rekkab from UNFOLD BRICS

How was the name UNFOLD BRICS conceived?

UNFOLD as a name was conceived through the ideas conveyed in the words ‘Emerge’ and ‘Reveal’, which we find quite evocative. ‘Emerge’ refers to the association of five major emerging national economies expressed by the acronym BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. ‘Reveal’ reflects the idea of Art as a tool that allows humans to experience new ways of seeing the world, and its ability to create new synergies and enable a fruitful dialogue with other areas of human activity in an exciting manner. Our ambition is to offer unprecedented access to a larger, diverse and inclusive market that draws its inspiration from fast developing areas of the world outside the hegemonic centres.

What does UNFOLD BRICS do?

UNFOLD BRICS is the brand name behind the company, Artem Holdings that hosts its annual UNFOLD Art Xchange; an unparalleled Business to Business conference and summits platform dedicated to the Global Art Market.

Who is your audience?

Our audience is extremely diverse. Besides art market professionals, we target the world’s premier private bankers, financial advisors, wealth managers, government authorities, spatial designers, real estate developers, hoteliers and FinTech specialists that operate in Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics and even Virtual Reality.

How long has UNFOLD BRICS been operating?

UNFOLD BRICS was launched in November 2016 in Dubai and has been operating for over 2 years now.

What is going to be different about the event this year than last year?

This year we will be integrating our 2^nd Annual UNFOLD Art XChange as part of the 4^th edition of ArtBAB, Bahrain’s foremost international art fair, held under the Royal patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King of Bahrain and President of the Supreme Council of Women, in collaboration with Tamkeen. We are going to launch the world’s first ever Art, Culture+ Fintech Summit where it’s all about bridging Cultural Leaders; Museums and Cultural Institutions with FinTech Specialists to explore technologies in the area of Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Big data and Analytics for the art market. We will also be launching our UNFOLD dedicated VR Corner at ArtBAB that will be powered by VIVE Arts and MSi, the world’s leading gaming computers, and we will be showcasing three Virtual Reality experiences from Europe that will be in the Middle East for the very first time. The public will be able to enjoy both contemporary art and old masters in the setting of a virtual reality museum. This is done in partnership with the dslcollection in Paris, The Kremer Collection in Amsterdam and Khora Contemporary in Copenhagen.

Last year, our Art Talks was divided in two interconnected thematic clusters. Art Talks I: Art, Real Estate and the Built Environment that took place on the 19-20 March 2018 brought together government authorities and non-profit organisations; real estate and hospitality professionals; architects and designers; with art market professionals to explore new public art initiatives for the built environment and the importance of real estate and hospitality art. Art Talks II: Evolving Cultures, Developing Collections that took place on the 21-22 of March 2018 brought together corporate collectors, public and private museums and foundations to explore Private-Public-Corporate partnerships and the importance of Corporate Art Collecting. It also brought together industry experts in the field of finance, risk and wealth management to uncover areas around art and finance.

How does the Middle East differ from other markets?

I believe the Middle East art market is still an emerging one, and there is a lot it can learn from more established art markets like Europe, the United Kingdom and the US, especially in the area of ArtTech, Art and Finance, Corporate Art Collecting, Public art Initiatives and Hospitality art. This makes the Middle East market an extremely lucrative one to bring in talks like we do, where the region can benchmark themselves and learn from industry practitioners across the globe.

Who have you got speaking this year and can you give us an overview of the talks programme?

This year we have over 40 speakers from across 20 countries that will be speaking. For the first day of the talks programme on the 7^th of March, UNFOLD have partnered with the chair of the Global Cultural District Network (GCDN) in New York to include prominent case studies of Cultural districts around the world with its members; West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Hong Kong, The National Museum Singapore, Poblenou Urban District Barcelona, East Bank London and The Kuwait National Cultural District.

With a boom in arts philanthropy and arts patronage to empower cultural development in the Arab world, UNFOLD have brought on The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC) in Lebanon to chair a panel on this subject with The Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Abu Dhabi, The Kamel Lazaar Foundation Tunis, the A.M Qattan Foundation London, the MMAG Foundation Amman and the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Ramallah.

Finally to close off the first day and to go into the FinTech days, UNFOLD has partnered with the founder of New Art Academy who is also a contributing writer with the Forbes to launch an ArtTech Fireside chat with one of the world’s top art collectors and top fine art fairs to discuss how tech is disrupting the world of art collecting.

Following our Art & Finance sequel from our inaugural edition, UNFOLD will be launching a world Premier on Art and Islamic Finance on the second day of the talks programme on the 8^th of March, as a debate between Deloitte Art & Finance Luxembourg and Deloitte Islamic Finance and Knowledge Centre (IFKC) Bahrain. The use of big data and analytics in helping collectors better manage liquidity, risk and volatility will also be explored with valuable insights from CollectorIQ New York, MutualArt, Pi-eX , ArtTactic and Christie’s from London.

There are several debates on the impact of technology and how it is disrupting the art economy. BlockchainHub from Berlin will give an overview of blockchain in a nutshell and how the art world can benefit from it during an interview by Deloitte Art & Finance. We will also explore the role of blockchain and artificial intelligence to improve transparency, attribution and authentication with industry leaders; Bahrain Fintech Bay, Verisart London, Arius Technology Vancouver, Artory New York, ArtWook Shanghai and ID4ARTS New York. Dadiani Syndicate from London will then discuss on pioneering digital trade routes via blockchain and cryptocurrency. The use of AI Innovations for Augmented Creativity and Forecasting Art Trends will later be uncovered with Artrendex New York, ArtVenture Montreal, RunwayML New York and Thread Genius, an AI SaaS startup, based in New York that was recently acquired by Sotheby’s early 2018.

On the final day of the talks programme, on the 9^th of March, Artnome, the world’s largest analytical database will chair one of the art world’s biggest debates on AI VS Artistic Creation. Artnome will explore the role of AI and machine learning in replacing humans and will speak with Klaris Law New York on copyright issues that are one of the key challenges, derived from the recent AI Generated Portrait of Edmond de Belamy by the Paris collective, Obvious, that was auctioned at Christie’s for $432,500. We will also be having two pioneering AI artists, Robbie Barrat from New York that developed the code for this AI Generated Painting who will be speaking alongside Mario Klingemann, a pioneer in the use of computer learning in the arts and a Google Arts and Culture resident based out of Munich as well as one of India’s top contemporary art galleries, Nature Morte New Delhi. Artnome will also conduct an interview with TED Talks speaker, Maurizio Seracini, Founder Editech to discuss the breakthrough of AI and Applied Science to safeguard Cultural heritage.

To close off the summit, VRFocus, a virtual reality specialist website based in London will chair a panel around the role of VR as a Game Changer for the Arts where three leading names in the VR Space for arts; dslcollection Paris, The Kremer Collection Berlin and Khora Contemporary Copenhagen will speak alongside The National Gallery London and Vastari, an online service provider from London that connects collectors with museums.

Where have the biggest changes in the art movement been?

I feel that currently one of the biggest changes in the art movement is the focus on Art in today’s Digital Age. It’s all about the use of technology. For instance, there is a lot of debate around the use of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence to improve transparency and provenance. There is also a lot of attention paid to the rise of Big Data & Analytic tools in the art market to help collectors better manage liquidity, volatility and risk. Lastly, there has also been a focus around Virtual Reality as a new game changer for the art market to reach a wider audience and to educate school children. All these will be discussed at our 2^nd Annual UNFOLD Art XChange that will be taking place during the 4^th edition of ArtBAB from the 7-10 March 2019.

Where do you see UNFOLD BRICS heading in the future?

We see a great future for UNFOLD BRICS as there is no similar art talks platform as diverse as UNFOLD Art XChange in the Global Art Market. We hope for UNFOLD Art XChange to become the world’s largest multicultural art exchanges and the referential art talks platform that brings together diverse cultures across international art landscapes. We also hope to have our upcoming editions for UNFOLD Art XChange integrated as part of the talks programme for major art fairs across the globe.