Global auction house, Sotheby’s, is hosting its annual Doha International Contemporary Art auction today.
For the first time in Qatar, a number of younger emerging artists from the region, including Mohammed Obaidi (Iraq), Ali Banisadr (Iran), Rashed Al Shashai (Saudi Arabia), Moataz Nasr (Egypt), and Thaier Helal (Syria), will have their works featured in the auction alongside those of established international contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst (both from the UK).
Last year, the auction raised a breakthrough sum of US $15 million (AED/SAR 55 million) and went on to break nine records, including the highest price ever achieved for a work by a living Arab artist (Icons of the Nile by Chant Avedissian, which sold for US $1.56 million—AED/SAR 5 million).
Expectations are running high for this year’s tightly edited private sale, which includes 53 lots. One to watch is the first video artwork by internationally acclaimed Iranian artist, Shirin Neshat. Known for her evocative and cinematic films that explore feminism and Islamic culture, Neshat’s Passage is considered as the most significant film installation of her career and is estimated at US $200,000 (AED/SAR 735,000).
