Dubai to Host MENA's 1st World Cities Culture Summit

Dubai Culture has announced that this year's forum carries the theme “Tomorrow’s Culture: How Will the Next Generation Shape our World?” WAM
Dubai Culture has announced that this year's forum carries the theme “Tomorrow’s Culture: How Will the Next Generation Shape our World?” WAM
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Dubai to Host MENA's 1st World Cities Culture Summit

Dubai Culture has announced that this year's forum carries the theme “Tomorrow’s Culture: How Will the Next Generation Shape our World?” WAM
Dubai Culture has announced that this year's forum carries the theme “Tomorrow’s Culture: How Will the Next Generation Shape our World?” WAM

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has announced that the World Cities Culture Summit 2024 is set to take place from October 30 to November 1, under the patronage of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture.

Dubai Culture has announced that this year's forum carries the theme “Tomorrow’s Culture: How Will the Next Generation Shape our World?”, inspired by global cities' efforts to engage youth and future generations in reshaping urban life through innovative solutions that contribute to a cultural legacy for the future, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

The summit’s discussions will spotlight the efforts of participating cities to support the creative economy, invest in cultural and creative industries, and nurture talent, providing opportunities for the next generation to contribute to the cultural future of cities. The summit will also provide cultural and creative city leaders with a vast platform to exchange ideas and knowledge, exploring the role of culture in shaping sustainable future cities.

The summit’s global agenda, with its opening ceremony to be held at the Al Shindagha Museum, the UAE’s largest open-air heritage museum, will feature a number of closed sessions discussing the role of youth in global cultural policies, models for funding cultural projects, the role of artificial intelligence in cultural policymaking, the contribution of creative districts to urban innovation, the integration of culture in healthcare, and leveraging culture to address climate issues, WAM said.

Additionally, the summit will showcase strategies developed by cities worldwide to empower the next generation to develop skills and utilize advanced technology to face future challenges. Dubai Culture will also offer one public session discussing how cities, the next generation, and cultural professionals need to thrive in a digital, global, and rapidly changing world.

Several international speakers are scheduled to participate in the Ideas for Tomorrow sessions, presenting their visions for the future of culture. The summit will also witness the launch of the third round of the Leadership Exchange Program supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, fostering cooperation and developing exchanges between cities.



Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)

A painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, selling for more than $121 million at Christie's in New York.

The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was $79 million, set in 2022.

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on Tuesday, "Empire of Light" ("L'Empire des lumieres") was sold for $121,160,000, "achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction", according to auction house Christie's.

The painting -- depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky -- is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.

"Empire of Light" was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania to settle in the United States where she became an influential figure in the arts world.

She died in late 2023 and was married to the late Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded the Atlantic Records label.

The sale of the Magritte painting was an expected highlight of this week's autumn sales season in New York, at a time when the art market has seen a slowdown since last year.

Christie's -- which is controlled by Artemis, the investment holding company owned by the Pinault family -- said sales totaled $2.1 billion in the first half of this year.

That is down for the second straight year, after a peak of $4.1 billion in 2022 as the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the same Christie's auction on Tuesday, a celebrated 1964 painting of a gas station by 86-year-old Ed Ruscha, titled "Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half," sold for $68.26 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.