Arts Council England’s Export Licensing Unit (ELU), the body in charge of approving the export out of the UK of cultural goods above a certain age and monetary value, has closed until further notice due to coronavirus. In a notice sent out on 20 March, ACE instructed exporters of cultural goods not to submit any applications for export licences until the ELU reopens.
For decades, the story of the Arab world has often been told through the eyes of outsiders. At the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation on Saadiyat Island, a new exhibition is shifting that perspective entirely.