Worldwide | Through December 2021




Christie’s is proud to launch an unprecedented collaboration to support a global response to Covid-19 through the arts, in partnership with the WHO Foundation, and UN75, the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations and CULTURUNNERS.

The Future is Unwritten: Healing Arts Initiative aims to increase awareness around a global path to recovery and raise critical funds to mobilise artists and health professionals in support of communities most vulnerable, at-risk and with the weakest health systems. The initiative will include a series of auctions through December 2021 alongside a programme of educational events covering urgent thematic areas, including emergency response, mental health, the health effects of the environmental crisis and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage, each through the lens of the supportive power of the arts.

All proceeds from this initiative will benefit the WHO Foundation, supporting the urgently needed mental health response to the pandemic through the applied use of arts in health-giving and recovery; and The Future is Unwritten’s Artist Response Fund, supporting artist-led projects that directly facilitate community healing and healthcare messaging in the aftermath of the pandemic.


Join the movement

The Healing Arts Initiative

Works to be offered in a number of sales across a wide range of genres

Modern & Contemporary
Middle Eastern Art


Offering a diverse selection of contemporary works,
and modernist icons


ONLINE AUCTION
LONDON, 11 - 24 NOVEMBER
Browse



Highlight

  • Ahmed Mater (Saudi Arabian, b. 1979)

    Magnetism
    installation of iron filings and magnets on a white cabinet within a glass case
    Cabinet Base: 47 ¼ x 35 ⅜ x 35 ⅜ in. (120 x 90 x 90 cm.)
    Glass Case: 28 ¾ x 35 ⅜ x 35 ⅜ in.(73 x 90 x 90 cm.)
    Executed in 2009, this work is unique in a variation of five plus one artist proof
    Estimate
    £80,000-120,000
    Related sale
    Middle Eastern, Modern and Contemporary Art, Online, 11-24 November


Founding organizations

The Future is Unwritten (TFIU) is a New York-based initiative by CULTURUNNERS and World Council of Peoples for the United Nations Arts & Culture Advisory Council. As 2020 marks the beginning of the UN's Decade of Action, TFIU facilitates urgent cooperation between the international Arts and Culture sector and the United Nations in order to accelerate implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Future is Unwritten Healing Arts Initiative launched in 2020 with WHO's Arts & Health Program, WHO Foundation and the United Nations' 75th anniversary initiative, UN75.

TFIU’s 2020 Program is presented in partnership with the Open Mind Project.


Founding Organizations

Magnetism (Installation) by Ahmed Mater will be the first artwork to be auctioned in November 2020.

A note from Christie’s leadership


‘Christie’s is honoured to be working with the WHO Foundation and UN75, offering a platform for artists and works in the coming year, to assist individuals and communities. We’re also very pleased to present the work of Ahmed Mater as the debut lot in our year-long auction collaboration, today one of the most celebrated artists from Saudi Arabia, as well as a doctor and an individual who is very active in promoting the different artistic strengths of his region, dedicated to making culture accessible to as many as possible.’

— Dirk Boll, President of Christie’s Europe, Middle East and Africa



Our partners

Global health matters for everyone, everywhere.



More about Charity Auctions at Christie’s



Christie’s is proud to support philanthropic initiatives through our networks, whether by facilitating the sale of artwork to benefit important causes; offering, when we can, our salerooms as a venue for fundraising events; or providing expert charity auctioneers.

Find out more