Abu Dhabi Art: Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary is a London-based Iranian artist who rose to prominence in the 1980s as a sculptor and is perhaps most famous for designing the new church window of the St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, which was installed in 2008. She visited Abu Dhabi Art to give a talk in the auditorium and here we caught up with her for a quick interview:

Q: Is this your first time in Abu Dhabi?

A: This is my first time here but my second time in the UAE. It is a new discovery for me.

Q: What is your opinion of the art scene here?

A: I think this is a new model that has never happened anywhere else before. Usually there is a group of artists who get together and create a situation and all the other people move in but here you have the reverse. It is a new model that nobody is familiar with, it is an experiment and we don't know what will happen. We will find out in 20 years time.

Q: Is this unique to the region?

A: Well I think it is happening all over the world that people are creating new models and new cities. In the past it all happened organically but here everything is organised and gridded and decided before. It is interesting to see where it will go. I don't want to make a judgement at this stage because I think you can't and human beings have the tendency to reject what they don't know.

Q: Why are you here?

A: I am here to give a talk about my work. I showed one of my early films and a series of my work from over the years. In a way it was an introduction about who I am and my work.

Q: Can you describe your work?

A: The kind of work I do is contemporary and meditative and I think people need time to take it in and enjoy the silence of it.

Q: Your church window is perhaps your most famous work. Can you describe the process?

A: After I won the competition it took two years to complete because I had to get the right team together. Almost everyone was against it because, as I said, it is easy to reject anything new. There was only one priest who was with me and so we continued and eventually got it done. Of course now, everyone loves it but this is the reality of life.

Q: Do you feel defined by it?

A: Well, no I don't want to be that is not be because that is not only what I am about. But that is more visual and it is in a public place where thousands of people see it every day so I think that is why people know me for it. Maybe I can't escape it but I don't mind. I am very proud of the work and the way it turned out.

* The works of Lisson Gallery can be viewed in Hall Two, stand 21.

* Abu Dhabi Art continues today until 10pm and tomorrow from 2pm-10pm at Manarat Al Saadiyat

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers