Reza Aramesh

REORIENT Radio - Myrna Ayad

Why Art Dubai’s new Director is excited - and nervous - about the fair’s eleventh edition

Art Dubai‘s come a long way, baby - as has Myrna Ayad. A former journalist, Myrna watched the fair grow from its humble beginnings in 2007 to the extravaganza it is today. In the process, she also headed the prominent local arts publication Canvas, until a phone call changed everything. ‘Do it for your country’, she was told. Or something like that.

Its record-breaking scale aside, there are reasons aplenty not to miss this year’s edition of the fair. There will, amongst other things, be a spotlight on performance art; nobody is going to go hungry, because Aftal Ahdath is going to feed everyone; and Iranians can have their tahdig and eat it, too, as this time, everything is going down a week before the Iranian New Year (instead of coinciding with it, as it often does).

Don’t take my word for it, though. For the seventh edition of REORIENT Radio, Myrna’s spilled the beans on what to expect at Art Dubai 2017. Is she excited? Naturally. Nervous? You betcha. Hey, I would be, too …

Art Dubai runs between March 15 - 18 at Madinat Jumeirah.

Cover image: Reza Aramesh - Action: 165 (courtesy Ab Anbar and Art Dubai).

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Filed under: Art

About the Author

Joobin Bekhrad
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An award-winning writer, Joobin Bekhrad (BBA, MSc.) is the founder and Editor of REORIENT. He has contributed to such publications as The Guardian, The Economist, the BBC, Forbes, i-D/Vice, Frieze, The Columbia Journal (whose Guest Editor he served as in 2016), The British Library's Untold Lives, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Aesthetica, Artsy, and Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia, been interviewed by news outlets including Newsweek, The Art Newspaper, and the CBC, and seen his writings republished and translated into a variety of languages. He is the author of a translation of Omar Khayyam’s Robaiyat, a novella (Coming Down Again), a collection of stories (With My Head in the Clouds and Stars in My Eyes), and a volume of poetry (Lovers of Light).