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LISA
BALL-LECHGAR
Editor of Canvas magazine
and Expert in Contemporary Middle Eastern Art.
 After launching Scotland’s first international
university theatre festival with Sean Connery, Lisa
Ball-Lechgar moved to Morocco where she worked in
the performing arts. On her return to the UK, she
joined the NGO Arts & Business where she became
Head of Information and International Affairs, serving
as a cultural advisor to private companies as well
as institutions such as the World Bank, European Commission
and the British Government. Following a research project
on the cultural sectors of Egypt and Lebanon for the
European Cultural Foundation and Visiting Arts (UK),
Ball-Lechgar moved to Beirut in 2002 where she combined
international arts consultancy, the editorships of
several magazines and the management of Ashkal Alwan
– The Lebanese Association of Plastic Arts.
She joined Mixed Media Publishing as Editor in October
2005 and is responsible for all its publications including
Canvas, the premier magazine for art and culture from
the Middle East and Arab world. Lisa has lectured
at universities across the world. In her spare time,
she delivers arts consultancy in South Africa and
the Middle East.
SALEH
BARAKAT
Founder of Agial Art Gallery
and Leading Expert in Modern and Contemporary Arab
Art.
A
leading
expert
in
Contemporary
Arab
art,
Saleh
Barakat
founded
Agial
Art
Gallery
in
1990
in
Beirut.
Barakat
actively
participates
in
building
some
major
collections
of
Modern
and
Contemporary
Arab
art.
He
curated
several
pan-Arab
exhibitions,
including
the
IXth
Francophone
Summit
in
Beirut
and
the
2003
World
Bank
Summit
in
Dubai,
and
recently
he
co-curated
the
first
national
pavilion
for
Lebanon
at
the
52nd
Venice
Biennale.
Barakat
serves
on
the
steering
committee
of
the
Arts
Centre
at
the
American
University
of
Beirut
and
is
a
founding
member
of
the
Kinda
Foundation,
which
is
dedicated
to
the
promotion
of
Contemporary
Arab
artistic
expression.
He
was
nominated
as
a
Yale
World
Fellow
in
2006
and
in
October
2007,
delivered
a
lecture
‘Similar
and
Different:
Perspectives
from
the
Modern
art
of
the
Arab
world’
at
Princeton
University
and
the
Metropolitan
Museum
of
New
York.
CATHERINE
CARIOU
Museum and Heritage Curator,
Van Cleef & Arpels.
Catherine Cariou graduated from the Faculty of Law
and History at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. After
working in various auction houses in the French capital,
she joined Van Cleef & Arpels in 2000 as Heritage
Director. Her mission is to enrich the Van Cleef &
Arpels private collection, which charts the company’s
historic, artistic and technical evolution. The Van
Cleef & Arpels collection consists of 400 jewellery
items, time pieces and fashion accessories that date
back to 1906. Housed at 22 Place Vendôme, selected
objects from the collection are frequently displayed
in prestigious museums, galleries and foundations,
so that connoisseurs and jewellery lovers around the
world may enjoy the imagination and beauty of Van
Cleef & Arpels.
SUKAIYNA
GOKAL
Brand Manager for the Middle
East, A. Lange & Söhne.
Sukaiyna Gokal grew up in London, England and Geneva,
Switzerland and has more recently lived in cities
such as Hong Kong, Paris and Dubai. Following a similarly
globetrotting career in the maritime industry, in
2004 Sukaiyna joined the luxury watch brand A Lange
& Söhne, which is based in Glashütte
near Dresden, Germany. Responsible for Sales, Marketing
and PR for the Middle East Region, she is also overseeing
the brand’s entry into India, the newest market
for A Lange & Söhne.
JOANNA
GRIBBEN
Head of the A. Lange &
Söhne Akademie.
Joanna Gribben joined the German luxury watch brand
A. Lange & Söhne in 2001 after collecting
first experiences at DaimlerChrysler. Since 2005 she
has created the Lange Akademie, a new concept to train
Lange retailer staff. Since then, approximately 200
people have successfully become Ambassadors of the
brand. This entails a three day programme taking place
in Glashütte, including a detailed manufactory
tour, lessons about the specialities and technical
features of Lange watches, historic pocket watches
and details of the manufacturing processes.
PAUL
HEWITT
International Business Development
Director, Christie’s.
Since 2001, Paul Hewitt has overseen an 80-strong
business development team spanning 15 European countries.
Tireless and energetic and with extensive knowledge
and experience of the auction business, its sales
categories and regional markets, Paul joined Christie’s
in 1999 as European and Asian Marketing Director.
Prior to joining the world’s leading auction
house, he was based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan
and held key senior positions with the LVMH Group,
Moet Hennessy Asia and Riche Monde.
PHILIP
HOFFMAN
Chief Executive, The Fine
Art Fund.
Philip Hoffman spent over a decade working for Christie’s,
one of the two leading auction houses in the international
art market, which he joined from KPMG. During his
time at Christie’s he managed the European Old
Masters Division and went on to run part of Christie’s
highly regarded Fine Art dealing operation. At 33,
he became the youngest member of the Christie’s
International Management Board. He qualified as a
Chartered Accountant after taking a degree in economics
at York University, UK.
ROSE
ISSA
Curator, Art Critic, Author
and specialist in the visual arts and film of the
Near East and North Africa.
For the last 20 years Rose Issa has been curating
film festivals and exhibitions on Contemporary arts
from the Arab world and Iran in collaboration with
private and public institutions, such as Channel 4
Television; The Brunei Gallery (SOAS), The National
Film Theatre and British Film Institute (NFT &
BFI); The Berlinale - International Berlin Film Festival
(2003-2006); Parc de la Villette Paris; and Asia House
in New York. She has advised major institutions on
their acquisition of Contemporary artworks from the
Middle East -such as The British Museum and the Victoria
and Albert Museum in London, UK; The Smithsonian Institution
and the World Bank in Washington DC, USA; Tropenmuseum
in Amsterdam, Holland; and The National Gallery of
Jordan. She was an advisor to the London, Rotterdam,
and the Berlinale film festivals. Issa was a member
of the Jury of National Pavilions at the 50th Biennial
of Venice (June 2003); a jury member for the Mondriaan
Foundation (2006); and has written several books and
essays on Iranian and Arab Contemporary arts.
RUTH
JOHNSON
Head of Operations &
Client Relations, The Fine Art Fund.
Ruth Johnson was educated at Durham University where
she earned a degree in European Studies with a focus
on German and Spanish. She recently qualified as a
Company Secretary and is now a member of the Institute
of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. Johnson
has been working with Philip Hoffman for over five
years since the inception of Fine Art Management Services
Ltd, and was instrumental in developing and structuring
The Fine Art Fund. She specializes in fund administration,
investor relations and marketing.
WILLIAM
LAWRIE
Specialist in Modern and
Contemporary Arab and Iranian Art, Christie’s.
Having studied History of Art at Edinburgh University,
UK, William Lawrie joined Christie’s Islamic
Art Department in London in 2004 and established the
permanent category of Contemporary Arab and Iranian
art on the Christie's auction calendar. Having staged
an exhibition of Islamic Art to mark the opening of
the Christie’s Dubai office in April 2005, the
auction house’s first sale in the UAE was held
in May 2006, and was followed by two record-breaking
sales in February 2007 and October 2007.
DAVID
WARREN
Senior Director London,
Director of the Jewellery Department London &
Head of Jewellery Sales Dubai, Christie’s.
David Warren began his career with Christie’s
in 1978. In 1991, he was re-located to Hong Kong where
he developed Christie’s Asian jewellery operations.
Today, Hong Kong is one of Christie’s most important
jewellery centres with annual sales of around $75
million. Warren has achieved many world record prices
at auction including among which the sale of the 42.92carats
Tereschenko blue diamond for $4,508,000 (world record
price for a blue diamond). Christie’s first
auction of Contemporary Jewels and watches in Dubai
on 31st January 2007 was organised by Warren realising
$11.8 million and successfully opened a very significant
new market. A respected authority on gems and jewellery,
David Warren has written many articles, including
a chapter in The Encyclopaedia of World Antiques (Acropolis,
1991), and has lectured extensively in South East
Asia, South America, Europe the UK and the Channel
Islands.
RAY
WATERHOUSE
Founder of Waterhouse &
Dodd and Art Advisor.
In 1987, Waterhouse started his own art dealership
with Jonathan Dodd, Waterhouse & Dodd. The gallery
now exhibits at many of the major art fairs, including
New York, Maastricht, Palm Beach, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
In 1995, he founded the art advisory company Fine
Art Brokers to help existing clients buy and sell
paintings that were out of the specialist fields of
his gallery. This has now developed into an international
business with offices in London, Paris and New York,
and Ray now devotes the majority of his time to being
an art consultant. One of his recent successes was
buying a Matisse for a client in 2000 for US $7.5
million and advising on its sale for a world record
US $21.5 million in 2007. Waterhouse has written widely
on the subject of art collecting, and has presented
many talks on investing in art in the UK, US and Asia,
including Art Basel and to clients of Merrill Lynch,
UBS, Goldman Sachs, and at The Asian Family Office
Forum.
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