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The Sotheby's auction in Saudi Arabia offered a range of contemporary art pieces

Banksy and Magritte fetch millions at first Saudi art auction

Saudi Arabia’s first-ever international commercial art auction, staged by troubled Abu Dhabi-backed Sotheby’s over the weekend, raised more than $17 million in sales of works by Arab and international artists, and of luxury goods and sports memorabilia. Banksy’s Subject to Availability – from his series of vandalized oils – and René Magritte’s L’État de Veille each […]

Saudi Arabia Pompidou Centre

Saudi Arabia donates $52m for Paris Pompidou Centre renovation

Saudi Arabia has agreed to donate €50 million ($52 million) towards the renovation of the Pompidou Centre, one of the landmark buildings in Paris.  Officially named Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, the building is closing next year for five years for renovation works. Famous for its inside-out architecture and colourful exterior, it […]

Salvator Mundi Salman park

Salvator Mundi destined for Riyadh giga-park

The $450 million Leonardo Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi is destined for a museum of art inside the King Salman Park giga-project in Riyadh in time for hosting the World Expo in 2030, two separate sources have said.   The artwork is a big part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to rebrand itself globally as a socially […]

Saudi cultural Music is one of the sectors to benefit from funding as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme

Five Saudi banks to finance cultural development fund

Five Saudi banks have agreed to provide financing for a new arts fund managed by Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund, which has been leading government support for the arts since 2021.  The agreement with Al-Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Arab National Bank and Bank Aljazira will provide support to private sector projects in […]

Paramount The Godfather An offer they can't refuse? Among the best-known films from Paramount Pictures, currently the subject of two takeover bids, is The Godfather, from 1972

Abu Dhabi-backed financier among bidders for Hollywood giant

A New York investment company backed by Abu Dhabi is part of a group that has launched a bid to take over Paramount Global, one of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment companies. The conglomerate, led by the industry veteran Edgar Bronfman Jr, a former CEO of Warner Music Group, submitted a $4.3 billion bid on Monday to […]

ADQ's investment will support Sotheby’s' expansion into new markets, including establishing a robust presence in the Middle East

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ buys minority stake in Sotheby’s

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ and Patrick Drahi, majority owner of auction house Sotheby’s, will jointly invest $1 billion in the company to support its expansion plans. As part of the agreement, ADQ will acquire a minority stake in Sotheby’s, a British-founded company that has its headquarters in New York. The value of the sovereign […]

Videos released last month show construction of the Royal Arts Complex at King Salman Park is well underway

Full steam ahead on ‘largest urban park in the world’

Saudi Arabia is forging ahead with construction of what it calls the “largest urban park in the world”, publishing videos of its first buildings under construction after a tunnel opened earlier this year.  King Salman Park in Riyadh is owned by the Public Investment Fund and was recently valued by real estate consultancy Knight Frank […]

The arts centre, designed by Tom Wiscombe, will be a futuristic building that straddles rugged mountains outside Riyadh

Futuristic architect lands arts centre in Saudi’s Qiddiya

Saudi sports and entertainment city Qiddiya is to build a performing arts centre designed by leading architect Tom Wiscombe, whose futuristic building will straddle rugged mountains outside Riyadh.  The centre will include 3,000 seats spread across three theatres including an amphitheatre with views of the capital.  Qiddiya, one of the Public Investment Fund’s giga-projects, said […]

Oman's Film City iwill provide more than 100 job opportunities for Omanis and aims to produce and export films

Oman to build $31m Film City

Oman is to build an OR12 million ($31.2 million) ‘Film City’ to boost its entertainment sector, a news report said. The project follows the outcomes of workshops held in March by the ministry of sports, culture and youth, Oman Daily Observer reported, citing a government official. The city is expected to provide more than 100 […]

Tawfik Alzaidi

Saudi director’s labour of love takes the kingdom to Cannes

For the first time a Saudi film has been selected to compete in the Cannes film festival, catapulting its little-known self-taught director into the limelight. Tawfik Alzaidi was so surprised that he’d managed to break through to the big time that he kept the news that his film Norah had been accepted for the ‘Un […]

Art NFTs Video length: 04:13

Dubai art dealer uses NFTs for fractional art ownership

A Dubai tech startup is introducing tokenisation to the art world, after the NFT bubble burst spectacularly. 10101.art aims to make investing in art accessible to all by selling digitised fragments of works by artists including Andy Warhol, Banksy and Picasso, allowing for collective ownership of a masterpiece for as little as $100 a fragment. […]

Emirati director Nayla Al Khaja. Her film 'Three' is currently being shown in UAE theatres in Mandarin using Camb.ai's AI translation programme

Dubai startup helps AI-voice cloning take centre stage

A YouTube video released in January of Novak Djokovic shows the tennis star speaking fluent Spanish at a post-match press conference.  While the Serbian champion is renowned for speaking several languages, in this case his voice was created by an artificial intelligence tool developed by a Dubai-based startup, Camb.ai. The original Djokovic footage was taken […]

Sylvain P. Gaillard, director of the Opera Gallery in Dubai

Art trumps diamonds when it comes to luxury investment

For Middle East investors, works of art are worth hanging on to. Artworks have more than doubled in value over the past decade, the latest edition of the Knight Frank Global Wealth Report reveals. It was a mixed year for luxury investments last year. Whisky, cars, handbags, furniture and wine lost value. Diamonds, coins and […]

The Big Time fund will be used to support pan-Arab cinema and production facilities have already been developed at AlUla

Saudi Arabia sets up Big Time film investment fund

Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority has set up the Big Time investment fund to support pan-Arab cinema, in Riyadh’s latest push to develop soft power through sports and culture. The authority’s head Turki Alalshikh said during a visit to Cairo that the entertainment authority would act as the Big Time fund’s main sponsor along with […]

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attending the Arab Strategy Forum 2024

Dubai unveils $56bn plan to improve standard of living

Dubai has unveiled a AED208 billion ($56.64 billion) ten-year strategy aimed at making the city one of the top three in the world for standard of living. There are also plans to double the number of Emirati families and triple the number of citizens working in the private sector by 2033. “We aim to double […]