Art Basel Qatar: Glamorous, Symbolic, and the Future of Art Fairs? with Tina Corinteli
An honest conversation with art advisor Tina Corinteli about Basel's Qatar experiment
When Art Basel announced it was heading to Doha with a completely reimagined format—ditching traditional booths for museum-style flow and covering all costs for galleries—the art world buzzed with curiosity. Was this the future of art fairs? A cultural investment? Or just an expensive experiment in the desert?
I caught up with art advisor Tina Corinteli as she was literally packing her bags to leave Qatar, fresh from three days on the ground at what might be the most talked-about (and most divisive) fair of the season.
Her verdict? "Glamorous" and "symbolic"- and those two words tell you everything you need to know.
The Format: Museum Flow, Not Trade Show Chaos
Let's start with what everyone's been asking: Did the new format actually work?
"You didn't reinvent the wheel," Tina admits, "but I really enjoyed it."
Unlike the overwhelming chaos of a typical VIP day at Basel, where you're dodging crowds and making split-second decisions about which booth to hit next, Qatar offered something rare in the art fair world: room to breathe.
The fair was split across two buildings (a detail Tina didn't even realize until after the first day), with galleries arranged in actual rooms rather than traditional booth configurations. Some galleries, like Mennour, chose to showcase just one or two major installations rather than cramming in 10-15 works. Lisson had blue walls. Pace presented Lynda Benglis in what Tina describes as a "free range" setup that she almost missed because it felt so integrated into the space.
"It was much more of a museum flow," she explains, "but not a MoMA flow—more like a contemporary art museum where you walk in and kind of explore."
The energy felt different too. "No one looked exhausted," Tina notes. "So many times my friends and colleagues will be standing at a booth and they're just already so overstimulated. This was much more of a 'come take a look, have a conversation if you'd like to' vibe."
The Real Question: Who Was This Fair For?
Here's where things get interesting—and complicated.
When Tina asked galleries on the first day whether they'd placed any works, the answer was almost universally: "No, we'll place second or third day, and our goal is local collectors."
This wasn't Art Basel Miami, where international collectors descend with checkbooks open. This was a deliberate play to cultivate a new generation of collectors in the Gulf region.
"For so long, yes, there has always been money in the Gulf," Tina explains, "but what's happening now is there's a new generation—our generation, the generation younger—they want to take that wealth and grow it on a global scale."
Think of it as a cultural handshake between the established international art market and Qatar's emerging collector base. If you went expecting record sales, you'd be disappointed. If you went to build relationships and start conversations, it was brilliant.
"I think the biggest conversation I've been having is: what's your goal?" Tina says. "If you want to look at it from the social forward global art movement side, I think it's fantastic. But if for you a successful fair equals sales, probably not going to work fantastically."
The Standout Moments
Despite the ambiguity around sales, there were undeniable highlights:
Sadie Coles HQ x Alvaro Barrington: Tina's favorite booth featured Barrington's new frame works—pieces where the art feels like it expands beyond the canvas. "They were so majestic in person because of the scale," she gushes.
The Alex Katz Moment: A 1969 work at Gladstone Gallery that had never left private collection, being seen publicly for the first time. Tina stopped dead in her tracks. By day one, it had been placed with an institution for $3.6 million. "How great would it be if it was a local institution?" she muses. "If that's not the handshake of the art markets, I don't know what would be."
Desert Installations: Olafur Eliasson and Richard Serra had works in the desert that took full advantage of scale, light, and shadow in ways that felt impossible anywhere else.
The Fire Station: One of several venues in Doha's cultural district that demonstrated the city's commitment to building lasting infrastructure, not just hosting a one-off event.
What They're Not Saying Out Loud
I asked Tina the dangerous question: What are people saying on the ground that they won't say publicly?
The responses were split down the middle.
On one hand: A local collector experiencing his first major art fair told Tina he loved it. He got to connect with people, learn about artists outside Dubai's scene, and didn't feel overwhelmed.
On the other hand: Gallery professionals were more skeptical. "There were no sales. I don't think something like this... yeah, it was nice you enjoyed it for the novelty, but would you come back next year?"
The elephant in the room? Basel covered all costs—booth fees, housing, everything. That's not a sustainable model for Miami or Basel, where the existing format has been generating revenue for decades.
When I asked Tina in our quick-fire round whether galleries would return next year, her answer was immediate: "If it's for free."
Could This Work Anywhere Else?
Short answer: Probably not.
"No other Art Basel's gonna come out and be like, 'Hey, this is Art Basel Basel, we've been around for so many decades, we're gonna house you for free,'" Tina laughs. "Absolutely not gonna happen because the model's been working."
This is all reminiscent of Seattle Art Fair, launched by Paul Allen's team to cultivate the Pacific Northwest's tech wealth into art collectors. They hoped that by bringing blue chip programs and blue chip artists, they would help cultivate new collectors. Whether this has worked or not remains to be seen, as the fair is still in it’s infancy.
The difference? Seattle wasn't subsidizing the entire operation. Qatar is making an initial investment in hopes of building something bigger—a long-term play, not a quick flip.
The Verdict: Sustainable or Symbolic?
In our quick-fire round, I asked Tina to choose one word: sustainable or symbolic?
"Symbolic," she answered without hesitation.
But here's the thing: symbolic doesn't mean pointless. If Art Basel Qatar is the opening move in a longer game—one that involves building permanent institutions like world-class museums, bringing international artists to the region, and elevating local artists onto the global stage—then maybe "symbolic" is exactly what it needs to be right now.
"Art markets aren't built in a day," Tina reminds us. "If it's about cultural relations, I think it was a 10 out of 10. If it's about sales, I don't know the numbers, but I don't know if it would pass."
The Unexpected Benefit: Space to Actually Experience Art
Perhaps the most revealing insight came when Tina compared Doha to other major fairs.
"Whenever I go to the other fairs, whether it's Paris or Miami or Basel, I get super overwhelmed. It's like so many things to get to, so many studio visits. How do I package all 15 things in one day? And then I have to go to a party and go to dinner."
In Doha? "I was actually able to do everything I wanted, take a beat, digest it."
She even got to lie out in the sun. (Side note: Basel, if you're listening—all art fairs in winter months should be in sun destinations. We're all tired of freezing in Switzerland and Miami's "winter.")
Final Thoughts
Art Basel Doha won't replace Miami or Basel or Paris. It's not trying to. What it is trying to do is create a new conversation—one where the Gulf region isn't just a source of collector capital but an active participant in shaping the global art market.
Will it work? That depends entirely on how you define success.
If you measure success in immediate sales, Doha was likely underwhelming. If you measure it in relationships built, artists discovered, and infrastructure established for the future, it was exactly what it needed to be.
Tina's closing thought feels like the perfect summary: "I went in with no expectations. And so the experience for me was very enjoyable. By the third day, I'm like, clearly I don't want to leave yet."
She'll be at LA Art Fairs next. And yes, she'll go back to Doha if her schedule permits—not because it's the hottest ticket in the art world, but because there's something genuine happening there.
Sometimes the most valuable conversations in art aren't about what sold. They're about what's being built.