LONDON.- Ali Khadra, the Founder and Publisher of Canvas, the premier magazine for art and culture from the Middle East and the Arab world unveiled the logo of Canvas TV, a new global arts network which will go live in 2010. The announcement took place last week in London at The Serpentine Gallery’s legendary annual Summer Party which was sponsored by Canvas TV and is the highlight of the social summer calendar attended by a host of international cultural luminaries, artists and celebrities.

Ali Khadra was co-host of the party alongside Lord Palumbo, Chairman, Serpentine Gallery Board of Trustees, Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery and Tim Jefferies, Chairman, Serpentine Gallery Summer Party.

For the occasion a spectacular Canvas TV logo designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid was unveiled. A life-size sculpture of the logo was the center piece of the Canvas TV mobile film studio. Guests, including Hussein Chalayan, Hassan Hajjaj, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Damien Hirst, Nadia Swarovski, Mario Testino, Ben Bradshaw (the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport), Sir Peter Blake and Afruz Amighi, were interviewed on the spot by Rory Bremner, Lauren Laverne and CNN’s Monita Rajpal.

The event was held in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by the world-renowned architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. The Pavilion is the ninth commission in the Gallery’s annual series that brings the best of international architecture to London.

Canvas magazine aims to stimulate a broader debate about Middle Eastern art and culture. The next project for Khadra and the Canvas team is a panel discussion as part of Canvas Education - an international initiative that aims to build a platform of informed collectors in the Middle East and also raise awareness of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art internationally. The first, entitled Gender, Wars and Chadors was held during Art Basel `09 and saw prominent collectors brought together to participate in a lively debate which covered issues of regional stereotypes and national identity. Forthcoming panels will be addressed by curators and artists respectively, with the next talk scheduled to take place in London during October to coincide with Frieze Art Fair at which Canvas are exhibitors.