sold - canvas magazine daily/ad2013/issue3/ccdad3en.pdf · brussels-based galerie rodolphe janssen...

21 MARCH 2013 I ISSUE 3 I ART DUBAI EDITION

SOLDStarting with Ladies Day, the public opening of Art Dubai saw a steady crowd and a buoyant mood among gallerists, with many sales made to new collectors.

Rayyane Tabet. (Detail, one of 5000 pieces) FIRE/CAST/DRAW. 2013. Lead. 3 cm squared each.

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THE BIG SALES of the night came at first-time fair participant Victoria Miro (A18) with three works by Yayoi Kusama selling to collectors familiar to the gallery for between $250,000–650,000. Berlin-based Arndt (A29) sold a nickeled bronze sculpture by Wim Delvoye for between $250,000–400,000 to a collector new to the gallery. London-based Rose Issa Projects (A21) sold Brighter Than a Thousand Suns by Tagreed Darghouth, Heap 2013 by Mohamed Said Baalbaki, Veiled Nonsense by Meliheh Afnan and several works by Irada Icaza for undisclosed prices.

Melbourne-based Sutton Gallery (J30) made their first sale at the fair with two works by Egyptian artist Raafat Ishak, entitled New Egypt and Old Egypt selling to an

THE ‘EXTRA’ IN ORDINARYTHE WINNERS OF the 2013 Abraaj Group Art Prize (AGAP) have been hard at work since last year’s fair when they were announced as the recipients of the world’s most expensive art prize. At $500,000 split up between five artists, AGAP sees winners Vartan Avakian (Lebanon), Iman Issa (Egypt), Huma Mulji (Pakistan), Hrair Sarkissian (Syria) and Rayyane Tabet (Lebanon) present the fruit of their labour with guest curator Murtaza Vali through extra | ordinary, Abraaj's 2013 exhibition. Vali takes Canvas Daily through each of the works.

“Rayyane’s work is situated at the surprising intersection of art history, superstition and the conflict-ridden recent past of the Middle East. He produced 5000 tiny works in lead as a reference to a divining ritual his grandmother performed on him to ward off the evil eye, producing a few pieces every day as a daily routine.”

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Mohammed Kazem. Directions (Triangle). 2006. Aluminium and LED light. 88 x 214 cm. Image courtesy Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai.

institution for a combined $38,000. Founding partner of Bangalore-based Tasveer Gallery (J28) Abhishek Poddar noted tremendous interest and was pleased to have made sales to new collectors. The gallery, which presents a solo booth by Karen Knorr, sold all five editions of A Place like Amravali, Udaipur City, Sairus Crane, one edition of Survivors, Deogarth Palace, Deogarth and one edition of Bakhti, Path of Saints, Shiva Temple, Hampi – all for between $11,000–19,000.

Milan-based Laura Bulian Gallery (J27) made one sale – Hotel, a C-Print by Kyrgyzstani duo Gulanara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev, which is part of their New Silk

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Road project. The work went to a collector familiar to the gallery for $6000.

Paris-based Galerie Hussenot (J21) did not disclose prices but sold three works by Mounir Fatmi and a work by Kirsten Everberg, all to international collectors new to the gallery. London-based Bischoff/Weiss (A10) continued to do well, selling four works by Rana Begum for between $8000–15,000 each, one work by Raphael Zarka for $5000 and a C-print by Aya Haider for $8000, all to undisclosed collectors. Brussels-based Galerie Rodolphe Janssen (A15) sold a sculpture entitled Mutus Liber 20 by Kendell Geers for over $31,000 to a European collector.

Ayyam Gallery (A45) saw strong sales with Syrian artist Tammam Azzam’s Syrian Museum – Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (Freedom Graffiti), a

work that recently created a great deal of online buzz. The gallery also

sold Nadim Karam's Complicity, a unique edition, to a collector

from Saudi Arabia, two concrete footballs by Khaled Jarrar, a work on canvas by Thaier Helal, which consists of 1500 metal spoons, and multiple editions of video paintings by Safwan Dahoul.

All prices were undisclosed. London-based Selma Feriani

(A1) sold another photograph by Roula Halawani for $10,000 and a

bronze sculpture by Egyptian-Armenian Armin Agop for $15,000, both to regional

collectors. Madrid-based Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery (J7) had a very busy booth and sold four more pieces from UBIK’s Rant series for $3000 each and four pieces by Waqas Khan from his Forming Spaces series for a total of $7200.

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Global Art Forum_7: Frant: Futurity. A talk by writer Douglas Coupland.

Global Art Forum_7: Discussion: Place (Ramallah). Hosted by Shumon Basar, with Mourid Barghouti, Shuruq Harb and Guy Mannes–Abbott.

Global Art Forum_7: Lecture: Score (in Arab Music). By sound artist Tarek Atoui.

Global Art Forum_7: Readings: Drone Fiction.

Global Art Forum_7: Discussion: Score. Hosted by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Tarek Atoui, Tristan Bera, Dominique Gonzalez–Foerster and André Vida.

Global Art Forum_7: Presentation: Purity. By artist Hassan Khan.

Book Launch: On the Banks of Geniuses: The First Harbor – Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-MaktoumYola Bahnassi

Tour: Art Dubai Projects*Meet curators and artists participating in a dynamic programme of new commissions, performances, radio and other projects featuring over 40 artists from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Workshop: Sheikha Manal Little Artists Shadow Puppet Workshop (Ages 5–10). Repeated from 18:30–19:30

Book Signing: Youssef Nabil. Bookshop Foyer.

Tour: Sheikha Manal Little Artists Discovery Tour

Tour: Marker*Join Bisi Silva on a tour of the curated section of concept stands which focus on West Africa.

Tour: The Abraaj Group Art Prize Visit extra | ordinary

Book launch and panel discussion: The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2013 extra | ordinaryThe winners discuss the themes of the exhibition.

Tour: Sculpture on the BeachVisit the sculpture park on the Mina A'Salam Beach to see installation and sculptural works selected by guest curator Chus Martinez.

Absolut Lounge | Absolut Art NightsMina A'Salam Beach.

For more information visit www.artdubai.ae

*Book a place on the tour at any of the information desks. All Global Art Forum_7 sessions are held at Fort Island.

Proceeds from ticket, catalogue and bag sales at Art Dubai will be donated to the

World Food Programme operations to assist families in need through the Arab world, particularly those affected by the

conflict in Syria. Follow us on Twitter @CanvasTweet Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/CanvasMagazine

Follow us on Pintrest canvasmag Follow us on Instagram @CanvasTweet

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IN THE CANVAS MARCH/APRIL ISSUEFive neon colours celebrate our second annual Power 50 edition, which presents the movers and shakers who galvanise the regional art scene. In tribute to the late Farideh Lashai, each cover features a rabbit from her Catching the Moon artist book.

Gallery feature on Nathalie Obadia's three spaces and

eclectic roster.

Inside Iranian artist Reza

Derakshani’s Dubai studio.

Tunisian-born Nadia Kaabi-

Linke's conceptual practices.

Palestinian artist Shadi Habib

Allah's exploration of new media.

Lebanese-born Abraaj Group Art Prize 2013 winner Rayyane Tabet.

Exclusive preview of Youssef Nabil's

Mediterranean Women.

SOLD (CONT.)

SUBSCRIBE TO CANVAS NOW!VIEW OUR EXCLUSIVE

SUBSCRIPTION PROMOTION

ON PAGE 21

We apologise for the printing error that ran in Canvas Daily in Issue 2 with Idris Khan's Impossible Guidence artwork in our Satellite Exhibitions feature on page 08.

ERRATUM

Idris Khan. (Detail) Impossible Existence. 2013. Oil base relief on ink on screened 410gsm acid free paper. 100 x 118 cm. Image courtesy Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai.

Wim Delvoye. (Detail) Nautilus. 2012. Nickeled bronze. 32 x 16 x 30 cm. Image courtesy Arndt Berlin/Singapore.

Gallery Wendi Norris (J12) sold a piece by Kelly Barrie, Slow Dance (Enta Omry), an archival lightjet print for $18,000 to a Singapore- based collector.

Dubai-based Grey Noise (A5), whose artist Fahd Burki had just won the John Jones Art on Paper Award, sold his sculpture, Liar, for $15,000 to an established Paris-based collector. Berlin-based Galerie Tanja Wagner (A6) sold 30 Years After by Šejla Kameric – the gallery’s first sale – for $7500 to a local collector.

Fair regular Agial Art Gallery (A9) did not disclose prices but were pleased with the response to their booth and sold one mixed media work by Mohamad Muraddine to a UAE-based collector and a Mohamed Said Baalbaki work on canvas to the Mokbel Art Collection in Beirut. Athens and Thessaloniki-based Kalfayan Gallery (A24) were extremely pleased, having made sales to private and institutional collections including two photographs by Abraaj Prize winner Hrair Sarkissian and one work by Nina Papaconstaintinou. All prices were undisclosed.

Paris-based Galerie Chantal Crousel (A27) sold a work by Mona Hatoum and two installations by Korean artist Haege Yang. Istanbul-based Galerist (J10) sold Sister Moon, Umbrella Sun by Haluk Akakçe for $59,000 to a Dubai-based collector and a diptych by :mentalKLINIK for $36,000 to an undisclosed collector.

Paris-based Yvon Lambert (A12) sold an oil on canvas work by Markus Schinwald, Sisters, for between $50,000–130,000. The Pace Gallery (J14) continued to see high interest in their works and sold Papier Pliés by Yto Barrada to a European foundation for an undisclosed price. Almine Rech Gallery (J13) sold several works by Lebanese artist Ziad Antar for between $8000–12,000 to regional collectors.

Dubai-based Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde (J3) sold Directions by Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem, who will be representing the UAE at the Venice Biennale, for $40,000 to a regional collector along with another work from the Captain America series by Ramin Haerizadeh.

Galerie Krinzinger (J1) sold an untitled work by Waqas Khan for $7400 to a Switzerland-based collector. “I could have sold this Waqas piece five times – everyone wants it!” said the gallery’s Manfred Wiplinger. The gallery also sold Alfred Tarazi’s The Glorious Land for $14,000 to a Lebanese collector, while Beirut-based Running Horse Contemporary Art Space (A28) sold two works by the Lebanese artist - one for $14,000 and the second for $18,000 as well as a sculpture by Greely Myatt for $2500. Manama-based Albareh Art Gallery (A32) sold six works by Annie Kursdrdju for undisclosed prices.


The dXb Store returns to Art Dubai this year, showcasing limited edition items all designed and made in the UAE.

Foldubai by Caravan.

T-shirt by Mubarik Jaffery.

Pure Gold Skin Jewellery by Nadine Kanso.

45 AED/$12

160 AED/$44

200 AED/$55

Tablecloth clutch by LoNa Studio.

350 AED/$96

POWER OF THREEMADE IN THE UAEThe third biannual Jameel Prize announces 10 shortlisted artists.

IN SEPTEMBER 2010, Munich’s Haus der Kunst presented The Future of Tradition – The Tradition of Future, an exhibition which commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the West’s largest show of Islamic art staged in 1910 in Munich. Those who had visited the former would have been awestruck by Nada Debs’s Concrete Carpet, a massive piece, which has since been acquired by Doha’s Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and that locked the Lebanese-born furniture designer into the Jameel Prize 2013 shortlist. The stunning work, comprised of 28 panels featuring Arabic calligraphy and the Japanese Kanji script, also incorporates Debs’s trademark mother-of-pearl inlay. “There’s a rhythm to it, like haiku poetry,” explains Debs of the piece, which reflects on today’s industrialisation vis-à-vis tradition. “Concrete is symbolic of speed, industry and manmade manufacture whereas mother-of-pearl is organic and pure and literally shines through as an emblem of hope,” she adds.

Debs, one of 10 shortlisted artists for the third biannual Jameel Prize, joins Waqas Khan, Faig Ahmed, Mounir Fatmi, Rahul Jain, Dice Kayek, Laurent Mareschal, Nasser Al-Salem, Florie Salnot and Pascal Zoghbi in an exhibition in December at London’s V&A, when the winner will be announced. The $32,250 prize, supported by the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, awards artists and designers whose work is inspired by Islamic traditions of craft and design. Among the incredible variety of pieces in this edition are works on paper by Pakistani artist Khan, two of which are presented through Sabrina Amrani Gallery (J7) and Galerie Krinzinger (J1) at Art Dubai (a third will be shown at the V&A). Wholly pensive and utterly meditative, Khan’s ink on paper pieces see the Lahore-based artist create what he terms as “a fluid production” of pieces that are essentially an extension of his self. “It’s a journey. It has to be accurate and it’s so concentrated because it’s becomes a part of me,” he explains. His labour-intensive practice involves him holding his breath, keeping a steady grasp on the pen and delving into a trance-like state. “My hand becomes one with the pen,” he says. “This is all about energy and my desire to share it.” French-born Mareschal, on the other hand, visited Jerusalem as part of a student exchange programme in 1997. What was meant to be a period of a few weeks became five years, during which time he discovered local

Above: Waqas Khan. Tranquil Pool. 2012. Archival red ink on white wasli paper. 70 x 53 cm. Image courtesy the artist and Sabrina Armani Art Gallery, Madrid; Nada Debs.(Detail) Concrete Carpet. 2010. Concrete and mother-of-pearl with stainless steel beads. 900 x 350 x 4 cm. Photography by Marino Solokhov. Image courtesy Mathaf, Doha.

Left: Faig Ahmed. Hollow. 2011. Woollen handmade carpet. Variable dimensions. Photography by Fakhriyya Mammedova. Image courtesy of YAY! Gallery, Baku; Nasser Al-Salem. Kul. 2012. Hand painted on archival paper. 100 x 100 cm. Image courtesy the artist and Athr Gallery, Jeddah.

spices and soaps. His time spent in Jerusalem has had an enduring influence on his practice, which sees him create ephemeral artworks “inherently linked to the situation in Palestine and Israel and how everything can change in a minute,” he says. “It is the fragility of life, suggested by the materials that I use that compounds this notion.” For the Prize, Mareschal will create a newer version of his Beiti (meaning ‘my house’ in Arabic) artwork, inspired by the mosaics, motifs, embroidery and spices of Palestine.

Many of the works are large in scale, and for the Prize’s 2013 edition, will be exhibited at the V&A’s Porter Gallery. “The works will be able to breathe in this larger space, which we’re happy to have gotten the slot for,” says the gallery’s Salma Tuqan, who added that the 2013 edition saw 270 applications – many more in design and from as far and wide as Algeria, Brazil, Kosovo, Norway and Russia. “The museum itself is an art and design institution with foundations in art and craft,” she adds.

After the winner is announced on 10 December, the exhibition remains at the museum until the end of April, from where it will tour to different cities as part of it mission, says Tuqan, “to make the Prize more global and open it up to more audiences.”

Dame Zaha Hadid is Patron of the Jameel Prize and the 2013 edition’s judging panel includes:

Thomas Heatherwick, designer and founder of Heatherwick Studio

Rachid Koraïchi, winner of the Jameel Prize 2011Martin Roth, V&A DirectorNada Shabout, Associate Professor of Art History and

the Director of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI) at the University of North Texas, USA

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation, Centre for Arabic Typography, The Netherlands


ABRAAJ (CONT.)Continued from page 1 >

“Hrair focuses on the backgrounds of photography studios; they affect how people present themselves to the camera but attention is rarely paid to them. By removing the sitter from the foreground, Hrair forces us to really look at the material realities of studio photography.“

Q&A WITH MURTAZA VALIextra|ordinary, says Vali, is a distinct exhibition in that the works presented this year differ widely from previous winning works. “They are all somehow wholes made up of parts,” he explains. “From fragmentation of works into a series of photographs to thousands of tiny lead pieces and little gold figurines encased in acrylic balls to a wonderful cabinet filled with objects – it struck me how the works were structured similarly. Also, they all deal with what I call the minor register of culture and history. The artists shy away from major historical concerns and turn their attention to minor things.”

How did works by such a varied group of artists all come together?They are all presented together in a unified exhibition space, so it gives it a museum feel. Some of the works are almost site-specific installations, so it was an interesting challenge to put them together. We had to leave a lot of room for experimentation, even at later stages, as the artists were unsure about what the space would be like until it was finally built. Even with that, we’ve allowed artists a level of autonomy, a zone dedicated to each of them. It all came together well.

Tell us about the book that has been produced for AGAP this year.The relationship between wholes and parts was really important for me, and while in the past the books have been larger than life museum quality hardcovers, I wanted to, through the part and whole idea, move away from what was done before. The publication is fragmented into five books, one for each artist – they’re like mini monographs, and for all five artists this will be their first dedicated book. So, the book functions as both a set of monographs and as the AGAP publication. Each book contains essays on the artist’s Abraaj work and their wider practice and the back of the book contains interviews with the artists conducted by me. In the middle of the book, there’s a 48-page full colour section, which we call the artists’ pages, which was their forum for presenting their research or process.

What has this experience been like for you?It’s been great. I really feel like a collaborator on these projects. There was an openness in the work that allowed me to play an active part. I came in to produce a certain discourse around the work that would follow the work from its presentation through to its afterlife, when it will be shown elsewhere.

“Huma was inspired by Wunderkammers, the cabinets of curiosity that became popular in the 16th century; she filled her wooden cabinet with all kinds of mundane and sometimes nasty objects like extracted human teeth or dolls, lending her work a prevailing melancholy through a meditation on the mortality of all things, human or not.“

“Vartan’s work is very much a question of scale: he researched forgotten leaders of failed coups and took the poor quality small images he found of them and turned them into life-like photographically detailed statues – as a way of commemorating that moment before they failed.“

Hrair Sarkissian. (Detail) Background. 2013. Six duratrans prints. 180 x 227 cm (unframed).

“Iman’s work features excerpts of the autobiographies of intellectuals, all decontextualised to shed their individuality and blend into a collective narrative dedicated to thought, culture and justice. All the works emerge from the ordinary, but they are set up in structures and forms that allow us to see how rich ordinary can be.“

Vartan Avakian. (Detail) A Very Short History of Tall Men. 2013. Seven gold statues in clear acrylic. Variable dimensions.All images courtesy Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai.

Huma Mujli. (Detail) The Miraculous Lives of This and That. 2013. Wooden cabinet with various objects including taxidermy animals, plastic toys and dust. 165.1 x 138.4 x 231 cm.als, plastic toys and dust. 165.1 x 138.4 x 231 cm.

Iman Issa. (Detail) Common Elements. 2013. Framed c-print. 54 x 36 cm.

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AN UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY

PHOTO FOCUS

The vision behind a groundbreaking museum in Palestine is one that is contemporary and defies confines.

Winners of the third annual Hamdan International Photography Award announced.

Renderings of (top) the exterior view and (bottom) of the interior view of The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit. Images courtesy the museum.

LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL photographers took prizes home on Monday in various categories of the Hamdan International Photography Awards, the world’s richest photography award. At $389,000 in total, six winners (three local and three international photographers) were selected from each of the five categories: Beauty of Light, General, Black and White, Emirates and Special Awards. The Beauty of Light grand prize of $120,000 went to Osama Al-Zubaidi from the UAE.

Winning works are on display at Art Dubai throughout the duration of the fair as part of an exclusive partnership between the two organisations. Nominated works can be viewed throughout the city at DIFC Gate Village and Jumeirah Creekside Hotel until 24 March and the Grand Atrium in Dubai Mall until 25 March.

The award was launched in 2011 under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.

For a full list of winners visit www.hipa.ae or visit the HIPA booth at Art Dubai.

THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE has been posed in many a different way and as of next year, there will be another outlet to pose it, and more importantly, to illicit responses to this elusive question. The Palestinian Museum (TPM), whose first foundations were laid only days ago in Birzeit, will open up a conversation about the past, present and future of a conflicted country when it opens in 2014. Its Director and Head Curator Jack Persekian says that the best way to do that is to bring different points of view to the table. “By taking the current representation of Palestine beyond the confines of what is so far accepted and opening up that conversation to different outlooks, we’re establishing a contemporary conversation,” says Persekian. “It’s not enough to just raise questions – it’s easy to do that. I think it’s more challenging to try to answer these questions by finding different opinions and positions.”

TPM is being built on a 40,000 square metre land adjacent to Birzeit University, Palestine’s largest and oldest university, and Persekian says being so close to an academic hub will support the growth of the museum, which already has plans for two exhibitions. The first, Never Part, will revolve around the theme of identity by telling the stories of ordinary people through objects they have kept because of their connections to certain memories. “It will go beyond the symbolism and particular icons that we are used to that represent Palestinian identity and culture, like the key and the deeds to occupied homes,” says Persekian. “Also, we’ll be positioning the museum as a non-elitist place, one not solely dedicated to high-brow art.”

The second slated exhibition, Palestine In The Eyes of the World, will look at Palestinian identity through artwork and literature of foreigners. “This could also include those who don’t necessarily support the Palestinian cause,” says Persekian.

“We’re looking for concepts that will eventually initiate discussions and that will have people question some of the issues that touch at the heart and core of the Palestinian issue.”

Persekian, the former director of the Sharjah Biennial and the Sharjah Art Foundation, was invited to work on this project about a year ago, but TPM’s story began back in 1997. At the time, members of supporting body, the Welfare Association’s Board of Trustees, recognised the need to establish a modern historical museum in Palestine – one that is dedicated to preserving and commemorating the recent Palestinian past, especially the Nakba (Catastrophe), the 1948 invasion which led to the displacement and dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians. Plans for the museum were derailed with the onset of the Second Intifada in 2000 and were only rekindled around 2005, when a new board of trustees altered its mission statement. What was initially conceptualised to be The Palestinian Museum of Memory, was later renamed to The Palestinian Museum, signalling the emergence of a mobilising cultural institution built to empower the Palestinian people.

TPM will be a transnational museum according to Persekian, who says the aim is to disseminate the museum experience to those who cannot physically visit the Birzeit premises. “That includes residents of Gaza or the West Bank who cannot come to us or the Palestinian Diaspora and refugees all over the world,” he says. “We are identifying partners, institutions, youth clubs, cultural centres and non-profit organisations already operating in those places who we can connect with and somehow mirror what we’re doing in Birzeit. Eventually, we will be feeding off and informing each other.”

For more information visit www.thepalestinianmuseum.org

“By taking the current representation of Palestine beyond the confines of what is so far accepted and opening up that conversation to different

outlooks, we’re establishing a contemporary conversation.”

From top: Beauty of Light Grand Prize winning photo by Omar Al-Zubaidi (UAE) ; Black and White First Prize winning photo by Chan Kwok Hung (Hong Kong). Emirates First Prize winning photo by Helmut Wachtarczyk (Germany). All images courtesy HIPA, Dubai.

Louvre Abu Dhabi presents

22 April – 20 July 2013Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi

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Art fairs give you the chance to see jewels by a variety of artists so why rob the public of that opportunity? A solo artist booth is never going to be able to compete with a comprehensive museum show so it’s best to show a critical selection of multiple artists.

Alia Al-Senussi,VIP Relations Manager, Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach

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.Each is exciting. A solo show gives in-depth exposure to the scope of an artist’s work, whereas a multi-artist booth offers an opportunity to explore a theme or focus on a particular period. By highlighting a solo show, a statement is made about that artist and the viewer may get a better sense of values, while a multi-artist booth provides opportunity for comparison.

Roxane Zand, Sotheby’s Deputy Chairman, Middle East and Gulf Region.

The advantage to a solo booth is definitely the fact that you leave with a more cohesive understanding of the artist’s practice, specifically so with young emerging artists. Whereas with a multi-artist booth, you get more of an understanding of the gallery’s programme. You need both.

Sharifa Al-Sudairi, Associate Director, Pace Gallery (J14)

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Single artist presentations are a breath of fresh air at an art fair; they tell a more compelling story and provide a more revealing point of entry into an artist’s body of work, allowing the viewer to walk away with a keener understanding of that artist’s practice, rather than just the aftertaste of an unabashed marketplace.

Ranya Husami Ghandour, Ruth/Catone Art Advisory

ART NEWS

Held under the patronage of Dr Sheikh Sultan

Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, and

in association with the Sharjah Business Women

Council and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and

Industries, Tawasul, an organisation which supports

UAE orphans, is organising its first annual online

charity auction between 8 April–8 May. Profits raised

will go towards the Tawasul Orphans Educations

Funds, a non-profit entity aimed at helping orphans

pursue higher education. The online auction will focus

on the theme of energy and includes works by 24

Contemporary Middle Eastern artists including Hassan

Hajjaj and Farhad Moshiri.

For more information www.tawasulfund.ae

VANCOUVER – Safar/Voyage, the first Middle

Eastern Contemporary art exhibition on the Canadian

West Coast, presents the work of 17 regional artists

including Adel Abidin, Kutlug Ataman, Ayman

Baalbaki, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hefuna, Youssef Nabil

and Parviz Tanavoli. Curated by Fereshteh Daftari,

the show opens on 20 April at the Museum of Anth-

ropology at the University of British Columbia and

explores the theme of travel through various media.

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Akram Zaatari. On Photography, People and Modern Times. 2010. Two-channel synchronized HD projection. 38 minutes. © Akram Zaatari. Image courtesy the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut / Hamburg.

Farhad Moshiri. (Detail) Love is Gold. 200 x 200 cm. Image courtesy the artist.

NEW YORK – Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari will stage Projects 100, his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art on 11 May. The show presents two video installations that focus on the permeability of memory: Dance to the End of Love and On Photography, People and Modern Times. The former examines YouTube clips and the way social media intrudes on one’s privacy while the latter focuses on tracking the photographic records that Zaatari found and collected for the Arab Image Foundation in the 1990s.

Ayman Baalbaki. Destination X. 2010 (recreated for MOA, 2013) Mixed media installation. Variable dimensions. Photography by Omar Mazhar. Image courtesy Rose Issa Projects, London and The Farjam Collection, Dubai.

ONE ON ONE WITHWAFAA BILALTOMORROW, SHARJAH’S MARAYA ART CENTRE will inaugurate the Maraya Art Park with an outstanding commissioned sculpture, The Hierarchy of Being, by Iraqi-American artist and NYU Assistant Arts Professor Wafaa Bilal. The project, curated by Maraya’s Associate Curator Sara Raza, takes its inspiration from pioneering Iraqi polymaths Ibn Al-Haytham and Al-Jazari, both of whom made discoveries in the fields of optics and mechanical motion, which Bilal has re-appropriated to create an interactive sculpture that recreates the magical camera obscura effect. Bilal sat down with Raza to reflect on the process of working on the cusp of art, architecture and technologies.

SR: As an artist who is well-known for his interactive online platforms, employment of new technologies such as robotics and probing the connection between the camera and the human body (3rdi, 2010–11), how do you view this new sculpture within your artistic trajectory? WB: The Hierarchy of Being is actually a graduation from the 3rdi project, in which I employed the camera as an extension of my body to capture the mundane. Here I am applying the study of optics and the camera to architecture as a means of capturing the ephemeral and re-creating the camera obscura effect. The main idea is to recontexualise our understanding of art and architecture and how this corresponds with public space and time as continued ideas within my artistic practice.

SR: You chose to look at the work of two Iraqi polymaths from the Golden Age of Islam. How important is that historical connection?WB: What I have tried to do in my work is to blend the ideas of perception and mobility by creating an interactive sculpture that adapts with the lived experience. I am also conscious of Iraq’s histories as a means of reconnecting my own geographical dislocation.

SR: How do you perceive audiences will respond to this work?WB: I am hoping that they will enjoy the poetic experience of the sculpture and be able to stop and contemplate the experience of absorbing the outside world. I also want to be able to break down that barrier between art, architecture and the scientific as a means of exploring new methods of connectivity, movement and vision.

SR: How do you propose to dissolve these so-called barriers, as they can be quite intimidating to first-time audiences?WB: I think it has to do with the understanding of architecture as a piece of art. In this piece, so many elements come together: the mechanical aspect, the optical aspect and the structure itself, to create an immersive environment. Breaking the barrier successfully has to do with the viewer’s openness to accept the experience as a form of art, and not to view it as just a functioning structure. SR: What is the contemporary relevance of rooting your project in the work of noted Muslim polymaths from the Golden Age of Islam in the contemporary moment? WB: It’s really a moment we cannot escape. We cannot deny that there is a part of our present that has been shaped by the past, especially a past like The Golden Age, a glorious age. Embracing these achievements contextualises who and where we are, culturally, and guards against forgetting that legacy.

Wafaa Bilal. The Hierarchy of Being. 2013. 3D render of sculpture with park. Images courtesy Sara Raza.

REZA DERAKSHANISOLO

18.03.13 - 09.07.13WWW.SALSALIPM.COM


GLOBAL ART FORUM_7

Writer and Editor-at-Large at The New Inquiry

Maryam Monalisa Gharavi discussed Neologism and

compared the depth of the English and Arabic languages, “English is

a language that unlike Arabic, only skims

the surface of meaning.”

Columbian writer, philosopher and art critic Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (second from left) hosts a discussion on Middle East Nervous Anxiety (MENA) with member of artist collective Slavs & Tatars (right), HE Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi (left) and Brooklyn's Pratt Institute Professor Uzma Rizvi. “Standing in a place of great anxiety where the ground on which you stand is constantly shifting is not only a place of anxiety but a place of great creativity,” said Rizvi.

“The philosopher is not the wise man but the friend of wisdom itself,” said French writer Charles Arsène-Henry during the talk, Deleuze’s Abécédaire, using the philosopher’s television interview that he insisted be aired only after his death.

2 21 MAR 2013 I CANVASVV DAILYLL IY IS

“Now there is a re-exporting of Gulf culture after so many years of the Gulf importing Western culture,” said HE Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi during the MENA talk.

The Serpentine Gallery’s Hans Ulrich Obrist (left) and Shumon Basar (right) co-hosted a panel discussion on Careering with Canadian artist and writer Douglas Coupland (second from left) and former REM lead singer Michael Stipe who stated, “there’s an island of misfit toys that congregate at art schools and I was one of those misfits.”

“I’m an art school dropout, my band got big while I was still studying, so I never continued,” said former REM lead singer Michael Stipe during the talk, Careering.

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Silva, Founder and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, explains that the stability of the past decade in West African nations – following years of political strife and civil unrest – is reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s, during which time the region experienced a culturally dynamic period. This phase saw the staging of events such as the first World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar in 1966 and the Festival of African Culture (Festac) in Lagos in 1977. “[We’re experiencing] a cultural renaissance,” says Silva, “one which is being substantially spearheaded by individual artists, cultural producers and art enthusiasts who are setting up independent organisations and projects.”

In fact, after Cairo, West Africa has two of the longest existing biennales in the African continent: The Dakar Biennale, held since 1992 and the Bamako Biennale of African Photography, held since 1994. In Nigeria, LagosPhoto was launched in 2010 to give photographers a platform for exchange and exhibition, while the Salon Urbain de Douala was inaugurated in 2007, making it the only international triennial focusing on Contemporary art in public spaces. African exhibitions have also made their way to Europe and the USA, including Africa Mix, which toured the Centre Georges Pompidou, London’s Hayward Gallery and also visited Japan. In 2006, an exhibition of Contemporary African photography (Snap Judgement) was staged at the International Center of Photography in New York, and more recently, a major exhibition of West African art (Forward) was staged in Manchester in 2012.

With Marker 2013, West Africa gets the chance to showcase its growing and eclectic Contemporary artists in a region mostly used to seeing North African art. Silva states that while cultural specificities exist in different areas of the African continent, “many of the issues that occupy Contemporary artists in West, East or North Africa converge – power relations, history, memory, identity, migration, place, the environment and religion to name a few, and these are articulated through various media. The galleries [participating in Marker] are presenting a strong and diverse group of artists, and many of them are being introduced to the region for the first time. All of them are artists to watch.”

THIS TIME FOR AFRICAThis year’s edition of the Marker curated concept stands turns to West Africa for inspiration and thoughts on transition.

EXPLORING THE THEME of cities in transition, Marker 2013 looks to Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal for insight on how artists deal with specific identities and localities. Curator Bisi Silva selected five spaces from West Africa to collaborate with their artists and present works at Art Dubai: Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos), Espace Doual’art (Douala), Carpe Diem (Ségou), Nubuke Foundation (Accra) and Raw Material Company (Dakar). While West African art isn’t often seen in the Middle East, Silva says Marker presents an exciting opportunity for dialogue. “There are mutual knowledge gaps on both sides so I think the curiosity is there,” she explains. “Many people think that art from Africa includes ‘traditional’ sculptures. But no people’s art has remained static. We are proud of our incredible artistic heritage, but we also celebrate our ‘contemporaneity’.”

As West African nations develop in the throes of modernisation, they share similarities with a Middle East in evolution, allowing visitors to relate to the historical and social dynamics of their cities. “A common theme amongst artists from West Africa is the interest in the evolving urban ecology and the impact of rural and urban migration,” says Silva. “Visitors will also discover the diversity of artistic practice in the region across a variety of media including painting, photography, sound art and other experimental media.” Artists taking part in Marker include Ade Adekola, Karo Akpokiere, Soly Cissé, Harandane Dicko, Ndidi Dike, Amahiguéré Dolo, Em’kal Eyongakpa, Ablade Glover, Taiye Idahor, Abdoulaye Konaté, Adama Kouyaté, Boris Nzebo, Emeka Ogboh, Charles Okereke, Henri Sagna, Kan Si and Joseph-Francis Sumégné.

Above: Henri Sagna. Un Autre Monde Est Possible. 2012. Photograph. Variable dimensions. Image courtesy the artist; Below: Adama Kouyaté. Le Transistor. 1967. Photograph. 40 x 40 cm. Image courtesy Gallery Carpe Diem, Ségou.

“Many people think that art from Africa includes ‘traditional’ sculptures. has remained static.

We are proud of our incredible artistic heritage, but we also celebrate our ‘contemporaneity’.”

Ablade Glover. Red Forest. 2009. Oil on canvas. 122 x 153 cm. Image courtesy the artist and Nubuke Foundation, Accra; Bisi Silva. Photography by Jude Anogwih.

Organised by:

BE PART OF MODERN. CONTEMPORARY.ABU DHABI ART.20 - 23 November 2013UAE Pavilion and Manarat Al SaadiyatSaadiyat Cultural DistrictAbu Dhabi, UAE

Applications now open for modern and contemporary art and design galleries.

Application closing date: 3 April 2013For more information call +971 2 406 1501 or email [email protected]

abudhabiartfair.ae


of which fall under the umbrella of the four decade-old Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts), and a robust gallery showground – the country’s Contemporary art arena has been regarded as quite insular. “This is because of Turkey’s political and social structure over centuries,” says Galeri Mana’s (J24) Asli Seven. “One way for us to expand our reach is through participation at fairs such as Art Dubai.” The two year-old gallery presents a two-artist booth with works by Murat Akagündüz and Abraaj Group Art Prize winner Kutlug Ataman. Tightly curated, the space offers an innovative approach through the screening of Ataman’s two-edition video, Mesopotamian Dramaturgies – Dome, on the ceiling. Visitors stand below floating young Turkish men, dressed in Western clothing and fingering rosary beads, but hanging from industrial-sized hooks. “It’s his criticism of modernisation,” explains Seven; a comment echoed in the works of Akagündüz, whose Homeland landscape pieces address what is lost in the clash between history and urbanisation.

Another Istanbul gallery presenting a two-artist booth is Non (J15), showing Extrastruggle and Erdem Ergaz. The narrative between the works by both Turkish artists “is similar and opposite at the same time,” says the gallery’s Derya Demir. The eccentric pieces by Extrastruggle are the fruit of a fictitious advertising agency and are juxtaposed with Ergaz’s paintings, which address

mankind’s relationship with technology. Like her fellow dealers, Demir believes that participation at Art Dubai nurtures a dialogue with Contemporary Turkish art. “We [in Istanbul] are so near yet so far [from the region],” she says. “I’m so curious about the Middle Eastern context and being here is how communication starts.”

MANY IMAGES CAN call Turkey to mind, but perhaps none more so than the symbol for the evil eye, which has been appropriated by British artist Gavin Turk, whose body of work addresses issues pertaining to identity. The piece, the only one by a non-Turk showing through Galerist (J10), “came from discussions we had had with Gavin about creating something related to Turkey,” says the gallery’s Melkan Gursel, who has been frequenting Dubai for the last decade. A regular at Art Basel, Galerist’s second participation at Art Dubai stems from a desire, says Gursel, “to look seriously at the intersection of cultures through Dubai.” Good artists, adds the dealer and architect, “come from this region and we’re open to working with them.” Alongside a solid roster of Turkish artists in Galerist’s stable are Egyptian-born Youssef Nabil and Italian Francesco Albano, a mix which the gallery intends: “I don’t believe in borders,” explains Gursel. “Visual art is universal.”

Though the art scene within Turkey is vibrant – courtesy of a number of power patrons and a great deal of support for initiatives such as Contemporary Istanbul and the popular Istanbul Biennial (both

Clockwise from left: Servet Koçyigit. (Detail) Motherland. 2007. C-Print (plexi-dibond). 180 x 270 cm. Image courtesy Rampa Gallery, Istanbul; Extrastruggle. (Detail) Key To The Soul That Has Been Locked By The Mind. 2013. Iron key and nails painted with car paint. 26 x 40 x 45 cm. Image courtesy Galerie Non, Istanbul; Gavin Turk. Eye. 2012. Acrylic on canvas. 120 x 120 cm. Image courtesy Galerist, Istanbul; Murat Akagündüz. (Detail) Turabdin I & Turabdin II (Diptych). 2011. Resin on canvas. 250 x 200 cm each. Image courtesy Galeri Mana, Istanbul.

PAPER RUNThe second John Jones Art on Paper prize goes to Fahd Burki.JUDGES FOR THE second annual John Jones Art on Paper Award – Tate Curator Nada Raza, artist Mat Collishaw and Director of Carré d’art in Nîmes Jean-Marc Prévost – selected Fahd Burki, represented by Dubai’s Grey Noise Gallery (A5), as the 2013 winner. The artist was awarded $7540 and the three works will be acquired by the John Jones Contemporary Art Collection in London; Burki will also present a solo exhibition during the next edition of Art Dubai.

Burki’s Healer, Saint Eclipse and an untitled work were selected by the judges for their “enigmatic” quality. “[The works] mischievously elude definition, appearing like strangely esoteric symbols, ideograms of contemporary times,” said the jury members. “They make multiple references to the history of art and pop culture, between Primitivism and science fiction.” The 31 year-old Lahore-based artist has been represented by Grey Noise for the last four years and presented a solo exhibition at Basel’s Liste Young Art Fair last year, comprising the winning works on paper and a sculpture. Grey Noise director Umer Butt says winning the John Jones Award will give Burki further “great exposure”.

Founded last year, the John Jones award recognises outstanding works made on paper and provides further opportunities for artists working with the medium. Open to artists exhibiting with an Art Dubai participating gallery, the only rule for eligibility is that the work involves paper. At last year’s edition, Emirati Conceptual artist Hassan Sharif and Uruguayan Luis Camnitzer were jointly awarded the prize. This year, a new body of work created by both artists (represented by Alexander Gray Associates (A4) in New York) is presented at Satellite at Alserkal Avenue until 23 March. Sharif’s Iching and Camnitzer’s Rorschach series, the results of a year-long conversation between the artists, address a transcontinental condition shared by both.

Clockwise from left: Art Dubai Fair Director Antonia Carver with Matthew Jones and Kate Jones from John Jones, London and Grey Noise gallery directors Umer Butt and Hetal Pawani. Image courtesy Art Dubai; Fahd Burki. Healer. 2012. Acrylic and collage on paper. 152 x 122 cm; Fahd Burki. Untitled. 2012. Acrylic on paper. 56 x 38 cm. Images courtesy Grey Noise, Dubai.

MERHABA FROM TURKEYWorks by some of Contemporary Turkish art’s most exciting artists are presented through five Istanbul-based participating galleries.


DUBAIAlif Art Gallery

Until 31 March

Myths and Legends

A solo show by Russian artist

Timur D’Vatz.

Tel: +971 505280150

www.alifgallery.com

Art Couture

Until 30 March

Figure It Out

Figurative art featuring works by

French artists Corine Pagnys, Yolanda

Hessenbruch and Guillaume Delorma.

Tel: +971 46010101

www.artcoutureuae.com

Art Sawa

Until 7 April

Bug Soldiers

Zena Assi examines the Arab uprising

and its effects on the common man.

Tel: +971 43408660

www.artsawa.com

Twitter @ArtSawa

Artspace

Until 10 April

Saudi Group Show: A Line in the Sand

In collaboration with Athr Gallery, six

emerging Saudi artists exhibit works

through a variety of media.

Tel: +971 43230820

www.artspace-dubai.com

Twitter @artspace

Ayyam Art Centre (Al-Quoz)

Until 4 April

Popcornographic

Kuwaiti-born artist and poet Shurooq

Amin alludes to the practice of the

subjective censorship of artworks.

Tel: +971 43236242

www.ayyamgallery.com

Twitter @AyyamGallery

Ayyam Gallery (DIFC)

Until 25 April

The Wrong Women

Iranian-born Afshin Pirhashemi

presents work examining the

hardships of modern Iran.

Tel: +971 44392395

www.ayyamgallery.com

Twitter @AyyamGallery

Carbon 12

Until 30 April

Camelops Femina

Olaf Breuning presents a series of

photographs going back 10,000 years

in history to excavate an extinct species

of camels.

Tel: +971 43406016

www.carbon12dubai.com

Twitter @Carbon12gallery

Cuadro Fine Art Gallery

Until 2 May

3. 13

A monographic exhibition showcasing

the works of seven artists including

Manal Al-Dowayan, Athier and

Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim.

Tel: +971 44250400

www.cuadroart.com

Twitter @CuadroArt

Design Days Dubai

Until 21 March

Downtown Dubai

The fair’s second edition features 29

international and regional galleries.

Tel: +971 43842000

www.designdaysdubai.ae

Twitter @DesignDays

Dubai Community Theatre and

Arts Centre

Until 10 April

MinD/Body

This exhbition showcases the works

of several artists including Abdullah

Al-Saadi, Anas Al-Shaikh and

Mohammed Kazem.

Tel: +971 43414777

www.ductac.org

Twitter @DUCTAC

The Empty Quarter

Until 25 April

Open Wounds

Four Lebanese artists, George Awde,

Rhea Karam, Sirine Fattouh, Rima

Maroun and Randa Mirza examine life

in war-torn Lebanon.

Tel: +971 43231210

www.theemptyquarter.com

Twitter @EmptyQuarterUAE

Etemad Gallery

Until 27 April

Defaced

Portraits by Shohreh Mehran tackle

themes of body language, resistance

and defiance.

Tel: +971 43468649

www.galleryetemad.com

Twitter @etemadgallery

Green Art Gallery

Until 5 May

Evacuated Containers

Shadi Habib Allah’s first solo at the

gallery stems from an incident when

he was interrogated about his work at

Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

Tel: +971 43469305

www.gagallery.com

Twitter @greenartgallery

Grey Noise

Until 30 April

Hossein Valamanesh: Selected Works

1992–2013

Surveying the Iranian artist’s personal

history and other aspects of his life

through over two decades of works.

Tel: +971 43790734

www.greynoise.org

Twitter @GreyNoiseDXB

Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde

Until 21 April

Beginning at the End

The multimedia practice of Idris Khan

responding to the works of ninth-

century Islamic philosophers.

Tel: +971 43235052

www.ivde.net

thejamjar

Until 23 March

Out of the Box

This film screening is part of a series of

experimental contemporary films.

Tel: +971 43417303

www.thejamjardubai.com

Twitter @thejamjar

JAMM

Until 18 April

Marilyn

Images of the iconic Marilyn Monroe

by legendary American photographer

Bert Stern.

Tel: +971 43285169

www.jamm-art.org

Khak Gallery

Until 13 April

From Modern to Contemporary

A group exhibition of works by Iranian

artists such as Fereydoun Ave, Reza

Derakshani and Kourosh Shishegaran.

Tel: +971 43475050

www.khakgallery.com

Lawrie Shabibi

Until 18 April

Symphony

A solo exhibition by Adel Abidin

examines the stoning and killing of

90 Iraqi students in Baghdad in March

last year.

Tel: +971 43469906

www.lawrieshabibi.com

Twitter @LawrieShabibi

Meem Art Gallery

Until 2 May

Moving Forward by the Day

Inspired by Ancient Egyptian

iconography, Khaled Hafez's works

focus on ideas relating to personal and

collective identities and memories.

Tel: +971 43477883

www.meemartgallery.com

Twitter @MeemGallery

Mojo Gallery

Until 25 April

Happening Now

A collective exhibition of works by

Viye Diba, Mohammed Abouelnaga

and Sonya Rademeyer.

Tel: +971 43477388

www.themojogallery.com

Twitter @MojoGallery

Mottahedan Projects

Until 18 April

Direction

Peter Halley’s new series centres on

the idea of the Ka'aba.

Tel: +971 43805525

www.mottahedan.com

The Pavilion

Until 18 March 2014

Annual Banner Commission: Change

Multimedia artist Ayman Yossri

Daydban in collaboration with

Jeddah's Athr Gallery.

Tel: +971 44477025

www.pavilion.ae

Twitter @PavilionDubai

Rira Gallery

Until 13 May

Lines & Links

Two solo exhibitions by Iranian artists

Parviz Kalantari and Ali Shirazi.

Tel: +971 43699339

www.riragallery.com

Salsali Private Museum

Until 9 July

Reza Derakshani

The Iranian artist presents new work,

drawing from his heritage and modern-

day conceptual preoccupations.

Tel: +971 43809600

www.salsalipm.com

Twitter @SalsaliPrivateM

Sikka Art Fair

Until 24 March

Al-Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

The fair's third edition features over

70 commissioned works by Emirati and

UAE-based artists.

Tel: +971 507383932

www.sikkaartfair.ae

Showcase Gallery

Until 18 May

RECONNECT

In collaboration with South Africa-

based KZNSA Gallery, Hendrik Stroebel

explores the use of pattern and texture

in the Islamic and Arab art world.

Tel: +971 43790940

www.showcaseuae.com

Twitter @showcasedubai

The Third Line

Until 19 April

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian

Presenting over a decade of works by

the renowned Iranian artist.

Tel: +971 43411367

www.thethirdline.com

Twitter @thethirdline

XVA Gallery

Until 30 April

Eternal Love

A solo exhibition showcasing unseen

photographic works by Iraqi artist

Halim Al-Karim.

Tel: +971 43585117

www.xvagallery.com

Twitter @XVAGALLERY

SHARJAH

Barjeel Art Foundation

Until 22 November

RE: ORIENT

The exhibition examines Modernism in

the Arab world between the 1950s–70s.

Tel: +971 65566555

www.barjeelartfoundation.org

Twitter @BarjeelArt

Maraya Art Centre

Until 31 December

The Hierarchy of Being

Wafaa Bilal explores the visual

culture of pioneering Islamic

sciences and examines how it has an

impact on current thinking.

Until 31 December

Art Production in a Post Arab

Spring Era

Artists Adel Abidin and Wafaa

Bilal combine art, photography,

architecture and science.

Tel: +971 65566555

www.maraya.ae

Twitter @MarayaArtCentre

Sharjah Biennial

Until 31 May

Re: Emerge

The theme of Islamic architecture is

explored in the 11th edition, curated

by Yuko Hasegawa.

Tel: +971 6568 5050

www.sharjahart.org

Twitter @SharjahBiennial

Sharjah Museum

Until 13 May

Journey Through Egypt

Presenting works from the collection

of HH Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin

Mohammed Al-Qasimi, Ruler

of Sharjah.

Tel: +971 65566002

www.sharjahmuseums.ae

Twitter @sharjahmuseums

LISTINGS

Bert SternMarilyn

18 March—18 April 2013

Hasa Road, Street 8Warehouse 11, Al Quoz 1PO Box 127440, Dubai, UAE

jamm-art.org

T: 971 4 328 5169F: 971 4 328 [email protected]


From 21–23 March, the ArtBus leaves from Dubai’s

Souk Madinat Jumeirah roundabout at 10:00,

returning between 17:00–18:00. Tickets are priced at

50 AED per seat per day, and the ArtBus runs three

routes daily.

Galleries and spaces on the Al-Quoz route: Art

Sawa, Ayyam Gallery, The Barakat Gallery, Carbon

12, The Cartoon Art Gallery, The Courtyard Gallery,

Create! @ Sofa Studio, Etemad Gallery, Fn Designs,

Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Green Art Gallery,

Grey Noise, Gulf Photo Plus, J+A Gallery, thejamjar,

Khak Gallery, La Galerie Nationale, Lawrie Shabibi,

Meem Gallery, Mojo Gallery, Mottahedan Projects,

Mussawir Art Gallery, Salsali Private Museum,

Satellite, Showcase Gallery, The Third Line, Total Arts

and Traffic.

Galleries and spaces on the DIFC Gate Village

and Downtown Dubai route: Alif Art Gallery,

Ajyad Gallery, The Ara Gallery, Art Sawa, Artspace,

Ayyam Gallery, Cuadro Fine Art Gallery, Cube Arts,

The Empty Quarter, The Farjam Collection, Opera

Gallery, The Pavilion, Tashkeel and XVA Gallery.

Galleries and spaces on the Jumeirah and Al-

Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood route: The

Archive, Art Connection, Beautiful People from

Mawaheb, DUCTAC, Hunar Gallery, The Majlis Gallery,

Pro Art Gallery, SIKKA Art Fair, Tashkeel Bastakiya

and the XVA Art Hotel.

To book your seat on one of the three

routes, or for more information contact

ArtintheCity on +971 4 341 7303 or email

[email protected]

THE IDEAL MEAL WITH ONE ARTIST IS: Dinner cooked by

Gordon Matta-Clark at his FOOD restaurant in NYC in the 1970s.

THE ART WORLD’S BIGGEST CRIME IS: Hype.

ONE OF THE ART WORLD’S GREATEST UNSUNG HEROES WAS:

Andy Warhol’s mother.

I AM HAPPIEST WHEN: I am working.

MY BIGGEST PET PEEVES ARE: Injustice, intolerance

and indifference.

FOR INSPIRATION, I GO TO: Red light districts, museums

and airports.

I OWE MY SUCCESS TO: Education.

THE SONG I CAN LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER AGAIN IS: The End

by The Doors.

IF I WEREN’T DOING WHAT I DO, I WOULD HAVE BEEN:

A taxi driver.

MY FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER IS: Milhouse van Houten.

BAD ART: Makes me unhappy.

I WISH PEOPLE WOULDN’T: Be contemptuous.

THE ARTWORK I CAN STARE AT FOR HOURS: Vito Acconci’s

video work, Centers, from 1971.

CREATIVITY CAN BE CRUSHED BY: Intellectual laziness.

ANAHITA RAZMI IRANIAN ARTIST SHOWING THROUGH CARBON 12 (A14)

I WAS LOST FOR WORDS WHEN: I saw the vastness of the

Namibian desert.

THE ART WORLD’S BIGGEST CRIME IS: Trying to define what art

from the African continent should be.

IT WOULD MAKE MY PARENTS PROUD TO KNOW THAT: I am

serving my community.

AT ART FAIRS, I WISH THEY WOULD SERVE: A spare pair of legs.

MANKIND IS CAPABLE OF GREAT: Compassion.

MY BEST ART INVESTMENT IS: A sculpture by Ken Gwira.

MY BIGGEST VICE: Work.

THE SONG I CAN LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER AGAIN IS: Welcome

Home by Osibisa.

BAD ART IS: Painful.

I’D LIKE PEOPLE TO REMEMBER MY: Laughter.

THE ACTOR WHO WOULD PLAY ME IN A MOVIE ABOUT MY

LIFE: Susan Sarandon.

THE ARTWORK I CAN STARE AT FOR HOURS: El Anatsui’s early

work in wood.

I WILL ALWAYS SAY YES TO: Working with new people.

CREATIVITY CAN BE CRUSHED BY: Bureaucracy and paperwork.

ODILE TEVIE NUBUKE FOUNDATION (A2)

UBIK [b.1985, Kerala, India]. Lives and works in Dubai. THE ABOVE STATEMENT is how my artist CV defines me

(for sake of clarity and political correctness). I’m often asked the same question over and over again: Where are you from? And I often respond by saying that I’m from India but I grew up in Dubai for half of my life. The art world in general here has this strange and perverse fetish with the geopolitics of an artist and their art, and nowhere is this more evident than here in the Middle East and North Africa. Being a non-Arab artist working within the arenas of Middle Eastern art in the region is quite exciting,

but also equally frustrating. A lot of my work is concerned with issues about the region – specifically my personal issues of being an expat artist in the GCC, often portrayed in an ironic and humorous way. I’m almost always tempted to explore the concept of ‘the Gulf Returnee Artist’ – a term predominant amongst the Keralite Diaspora – especially after my recent participation in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, where I found myself in this rather surreal situation of representing Dubai/UAE on a global art platform. While I was in Kochi, it suddenly struck me that I could possibly be the first ever ‘the Gulf Returnee Artist’, since the majority of people who tend to come back from the Gulf in Kerala are usually blue-collar workers. I had to ask myself if it really made any sense for the Biennale organisers to select me to represent the local art scene – one that is sometimes convoluted and has, on a regular basis, made me question the legitimisation of my status as an artist.

Recently I was accused by an Egyptian-American writer of using ‘art speak’ as a smokescreen to offhandedly dismiss the plights and the martyrdom of the Arab Spring, specifically the Egyptian Revolution, due to the nature and language used to describe one of the statements for my site-specific installation, Tahrir Square. The work in actuality explores the idea of the square pre- and post- the revolution and its immediate historic importance in contemporary times.

What struck me most about the article was the writer's insinuation that my being an expat probably didn’t qualify for me to comment on the socio-political affairs of the region. Having lived here for the majority of my life – a place I call home in a strange way – I was for once offended. But then again this isn’t really the first time I’ve been accused of sitting on the fence when it comes to taking a stance for certain broader issues in the region. To be honest, sometimes it’s quite liberating to be up on that fence – the view from where I am is pretty interesting. At some levels I’ve made peace with the fact that I might just be an outsider to the region – it’s easy to belong when there are no expectations to fit into. The next time you meet me, don’t forget to ask me where I’m from!

UBIK ON BEING AN INDIAN ARTIST IN THE MIDDLE EAST

YOUNG SAUDI LENSESPublished by Al-Mohtaraf Assaud Text by Kameel Hawa This book explores and celebrates different works by young Saudi photographers and their evolution from the restrictions they once faced in their craft to the freedom they now have to capture the beauty of their surroundings.Price: AED 400/$110.

DIRTY CORNER: ANISH KAPOORTexts by Gianni Mercurio and Demetrio PaparoniEdited by Clare ChapmanSurveying Anish Kapoor’s innovative contributions to the art scene since the 1980s, this hardcover is also a major exploration of his works. Kapoor is one of the world’s most significant Contemporary artists and the book showcases his uniqueness in comparison to fellow artists of his time.Price: AED 309/$85.

WOMEN, ART AND SOCIETYPublished by Thames and Hudson Ltd.Text by Whitney ChadwickThis publication, the fifth in a series first published in 1990, reexamines the neglected works of different women artists such as Marietta Robusti and Judith Leyster and studies the role that feminism has played in their success.Price: AED 103/$28.

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