After two years and trying multiple avenues, she partnered with a new transplant to Dubai, the art consultant Claudia Cellini, to found an independent art space. They set up with a “framing and novelty trading license”—the same as a craft booth at a mall—and operated somewhere between a commercial gallery and an artists’ space. Sales halted as both people and cash left Dubai; The Third Line closed its Doha space less than two years after it launched. “When we started, we craved external validation, like getting into Frieze [London] or having one of our artists show at MoMA,” says Rahbar. If they do a show at Mathaf [Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha], that counts just as much for them.