This year, Art Dubai's Marker section – which focuses on a different geographical region during each edition – shines the spotlight on the Philippines, offering visitors a chance to find out more about this highly creative community.
Marker curator Ringo Bunoan decided to focus on non-commercial spaces based in the Philippines, each run by home-grown artists, which have been instrumental in shaping the history of and popularising contemporary art in the country.
Bunoan says that the history of such galleries dates back to the 1930s, when an artist called Victorio Edades and his friends created their own studio in Manila, where they painted images that went against the grain.
The late Roberto Chabet, considered to be the father of Filipino conceptual art, taught students how to put on their own shows during his time lecturing at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Art. As such, he has been influential in the start-up of many of these grass-roots initiatives.
When Bunoan was tasked with condensing Philippine art into a subsection of the annual art fair in Dubai, she decided to select four artist-run spaces – 89B, Post Gallery, Thousandfold and Project 20 – from different districts in Manila.
The galleries represent young and emerging contemporary Filipino artists, and the exhibition includes photographs, videos, paintings, soft sculptures, works on paper and textiles.
Also on show will be key pieces of work by Chabet, with whom Bunoan has curated several exhibitions and edited a monograph.
The exhibition will also feature books on Philippine modern and contemporary art from www. artbooks.ph, an independent bookstore specialising in Filipino art and culture, which Bunoan and artist Katya Guerrero founded in November 2014.
“Marker 2016 is not a summary of Filipino art,” she says. “It does attempt, however, to tell a story about artist-run spaces in the Philippines and offer a glimpse into its history and the various types of works and practices that are currently being shown in these spaces.
“This exhibition aims to resist stereotypes about Filipino art – it does not follow the usual themes or narratives associated with the Philippines.
It is more open and inclusive. It is also not limited to painting and includes works using various media.”
Filipino Mark Barretto, who specialises in graffiti and street art, is one of six artists from 98B, which was founded in 2012 by Filipino artist Mark Salvatus and Japanese curator and researcher Mayumi Hirano.
Barretto, who is the only UAE-based Filipino showing in Marker this year, has spent the past few months working in his home studio in Bur Dubai on a mural for the fair, and Bunoan hopes his participation will create new opportunities for exchange between Filipino artists in Manila and Dubai.
Barretto’s pieces, painted in several sections that will be joined together at the event, is an abstract amalgamation of architecture, signs and other urban patterns. It also features an angular face that regularly appears in most of his art.
“All of my work is inspired by the things I see around me, including the pattern and the face,” he says.
“It doesn’t refer to anyone in particular but I feel it is my way of working out what is around me, giving a face to the unknown. I am a migrant and my art is my way of communicating with the world around me.”
“We don’t usually get any serious attention for this kind of art,” adds Barretto, who has lived in the UAE for nine years.
“Art institutions and galleries are not really into what we do. That is part of the reason that artist-run spaces are so popular in my home country.”
• Art Dubai runs from March 16 to 19 at Madinat Jumeirah. For more information, visit www.artdubai.ae
aseaman@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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.”
Ways to control drones
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
