Art Dubai 2015
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Index, installation view, Sydney (2010) | Plasma screen or projector, computer, digital microscope, industrial camera, metal enclosure, custom software | courtesy of Carroll/Fletcher | 58 inch Plasma monitor, projection can be any size
The ninth edition of Art Dubai is on from 18th-21st March in Madinat Jumeriah Arena and Mina Salaam Hotel which is right next to the arena. Information about location, how to get there, hours can be found here.
For the past week I've been busy setting up my piece I've done during the artist residency I wrote about a couple of months ago, along with the other artists that are part of the residency. I will share my my work and write about my experience after Art Dubai.
In the meantime, here's a breakdown of what's happening at this year's Art Dubai. As always, there's a packed schedule of events, talks, film screenings and performances. Here's what to expect. There's something for everyone, so do pay a visit.
Contemporary
Etel Adnan, le Soleil amoureux de la lune (2014) | hand-painted ceramic on matt rough polish | Courtesy : the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins | Dimension : 9 panels: 390 x 220 cm each
More info www.artdubai.ae/art-dubai-contemporary-2015
Modern
Mahmoud Hammad, The shepherds (1963) | Oil on canvas | Courtesy of Green Art Gallery, Dubai | 90 x 75 cm
More info www.artdubai.ae/art-dubai-modern-2015
The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2015
Yto Barrada. © Benoît Peverelli.
Building further on the format of recent years, The Abraaj Group Art Prize, following the application and jury process, now shortlists four artists and one (of the four) artists awarded the $100,000 commission. The three shortlisted artists receive a cash prize and are represented in a group exhibition at Art Dubai (March 18-21, 2015) through previous works, which will be carefully selected by the guest curator in liaison with the artist. awards the $100,000 commission to one artist.
Yto Barrada’s newly commissioned work, produced for The Abraaj Group Art Prize, is part of an exhibition at Art Dubai, March 18-21, 2015.
The exhibition features previous works by the three shortlisted artists—Sarnath Banerjee, Setareh Shahbazi and Mounira Al Solh.
The exhibition is curated by Omar Kholeif, who has been selected as The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2015 Guest Curator, and who has worked closely with all the artists to curate and produce the exhibition as well as an accompanying catalogue.
More info www.artdubai.ae/abraaj-group-art-prize/2015
Art Dubai Projects
Mohammed Ibrahim, Mountain Rocks Wrapped with Copper Wire. Courtesy of Cuadro Gallery, Dubai.
Art Dubai Commissions, as part of the extensive non-for-profit programme, gives regional and international artists the opportunity to develop dynamic site-specific works for both the grounds of the fair and the city-at-large. The commissions are developed with local and international partner organisations creating a collaborative model that is designed to extend the life and influence of the project beyond the fair in March.
A.i.R Dubai, the three month artist in residence programme sees six artists develop their projects for Art Dubai while in-residence in the UAE, working together in studios, and taking part in an expanded outreach programme of talks, reading groups, screenings, publications and open studios.
Both commissions and AiR are curated by Lara Khaldi.
Artists selected for the 2015 programme include: Fari Bradley and Chris Weaver, Jumana Emil Abboud, Maria Thereza Alves, Mehreen Murataza and the collective Umashankar and the Earchaeologists.
Artists selected for AiR include: Khorfakkan-based artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim; photographer and writer Hind Mezaina; Sharmeen Syed, whose practice references architectural research; and multi-media artist Jessica Mein. The artists joining them in the residency from abroad are the Amsterdam-based, former Rijksakademie resident Mehraneh Atashi, who works in photography, video and installation and has been recently pre-occupied with the concept of entropy, as well as Beirut-based artist Rheim Alkadhi, who weaves poetic collages from objects, texts, and images.
More info www.artdubai.ae/projects
Marker
Rosangela Renno, Venetian tour scrapbook (2010) | 3 books with digital laminated print | Courtesy : the artist; Vermelho gallery. Copyright Marcos Pinto | 58x58x38 CM
In 2015, Marker turns its focus to Latin America, and the connections between this region and the Arab world–from hundreds of years of migration to today’s trading relationships, via a shared sensibility and approach to art practices.
Curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, Marker takes – for the first time – a multidisciplinary approach, dwelling on its broad theme through honed, specific lines of enquiry. The programme, located within the Art Dubai Contemporary gallery halls, includes artists’ books, sound projects, performance and film, as well as drawing, painting and installation. Teixeira de Freitas has worked with artists and commercial and non-commercial organisations across the region to develop this dynamic programme.
More info www.artdubai.ae/marker/2015
Art Dubai Cinema
Cristiano Lenhardt, Frame from Solenidade de Hasteamento Da Bandeira “AO VIVO” (2009) |Video, 6’ | Courtesy of Videobrasil Archive
Hosted by Art Dubai Cinema and developed exclusively for Art Dubai's 2015 edition of Marker: Latin America, this programme gathers films and moving image works screened across the last four editions of the Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil.
Featuring emerging artists including Guilherme Peters and Eder Santos, one of Brazil's pioneering video makers, this extensive programme features a number of contemporary Brazilian artists in conversation with counterparts in Lebanon including Akram Zaatari and Ali Cherri, highlighting relationships between Latin America and the MENA region championed by Videobrasil since its founding.
More info www.artdubai.ae/galleries/marker/2015/art-dubai-cinema
Global Art Forum_9
Cécile B. Evans, Suddenly The Human Voice - La Voix Humaine (2014) | Courtesy of the artist
The ninth edition of the Global Art Forum takes on the theme of technologies and their impact on the world of art and culture. Titled Download Update?, the Forum is co-directed by Turi Munthe and Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, with Shumon Basar as Director-at-Large.
Drawing in a range of speakers from across art, new media, web, design and literature, the Global Art Forum will debate how technologies have transformed not only the way we work, but how we think, interact, learn and create.
More info www.artdubai.ae/global-art-forum/2015
RCA Secret Dubai
RCA Secret Dubai, introduced by Paul Smith, is an exhibition and sale of original postcard-sized artworks by regional and internationally acclaimed artists and designers, plus up-and-coming graduates from the Royal College of Art.
Taking place at Art Dubai, it's a chance to get your hands on original works of art for a small price, while supporting students at a formative time in their careers. Each postcard in RCA Secret Dubai is signed only on the back, so collectors don't know the identity of the artists until they have made their purchases.
More info www.artdubai.ae/rca-secret-dubai and www.dubai.secret.rca.ac.uk/2015
Art Bar by Absolut
Art Dubai and Absolut have commissioned Palestinian artist Yazan Khalili to conceive this year’s large-scale Art Bar installation titled The Island.
The Island is an extension of Khalili’s artistic practice, which uses photography and the written word to unpack historically constructed landscapes. Working closely with artist Arnar Ásgeirsson, Khalili creates a space that is neither here nor there; a space that doesn’t belong to this world; secluded and adrift. Through realities, fiction and façades, the notion of belonging, isolation and the theatrical nature of life itself are explored and confronted.
More info www.artdubai.ae/absolut-art-bar/2015