Abraaj Capital Art Price

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 Unveiled at Art Dubai

Five winning artworks form the fourth edition of the prestigious Abraaj Capital Art Prize

Dubai, March 20 – Today sees the unveiling of the highly anticipated, ambitious artworks of the 2012 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, the world’s only art prize to focus on the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. The winning artists Taysir Batniji from Palestine, Wael Shawky from Egypt, Risham Syed from Pakistan, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige and Raed Yassin from Lebanon were announced in October 2011. In a departure from earlier formats used in Art Dubai, the winning artworks will be displayed together in a unified exhibition curated by Nat Muller from The Netherlands, the selected Guest Curator for 2012.

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize, which is globally unique in that its awards are given on the basis of proposals rather than completed works, is now in its fourth edition. Since its inception at Art Dubai 2009, the prize has evolved considerably and this year the prize reaches a new level of maturity. The artworks become part of the Abraaj Capital Art Collection, and are often loaned to prestigious international institutions, for example the Venice Biennale (Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Jananne Al-Ani), Sydney Biennial (Jananne Al-Ani), La Triennale, Paris (Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige) and Modern Art Oxford (Shezad Dawood).

Frederic Sicre, Partner, Abraaj Capital comments: “The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is a key initiative in the Abraaj Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Track (ASSET). To empower talented artists with the resources to realise ambitious projects which take their practice to a new level of recognition is our core mission. As the Abraaj Capital Art Collection grows year upon year, we are proud to watch it diversify and see our previous winners attain further success on a global platform. Today, as we unveil the fourth edition of the prize, I am delighted to share with you the truly innovative methods the artists have employed to develop their ideas and utilised the resources we offer them to produce groundbreaking work.”

Savita Apte, Chair of the Selection Committee adds: “With the five artworks displayed in the same location at the fair, visitors to Art Dubai will have the chance to appreciate the works individually as well as experience them collectively. Guided tours will allow for greater insight into the creative responses of the artists, and the Live Review will encourage critical discourse. We want this exhibition to inspire even more artists from the region to apply for 2013, which they can do until the end of March.”

Guest Curator Nat Muller has titled the exhibition ‘Spectral Imprints’, focusing on the preoccupations the five projects share with narrating the past and the difficulties of representing something tangible of a moment in time. The artist and performer Raed Yassin, his work always playful, has created a series of vases entitled China, a response to the Lebanese civil war and its aftermath. In her practice, Risham Syed focuses on the traces of cultural inheritance in her native Pakistan; with The Seven Seas she has branched out to the broader MENASA region, charting Victorian trade routes – still relevant today - on quilts. Wael Shawky has built up a body of work focusing on the launch of the Crusades, and A Glimpse of Clean History is a powerful new development in this. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige have formulated their project A Letter Can Always Reach its Destination after many years of research and documentation, commenting on the spam emails we receive daily. Personal history and memory are most eloquently demonstrated by Palestinian artist Taysir Batniji in his work To My Brother, a series of hand carvings from photographs on paper.

The public can see the works on display at the Madinat Jumeirah, until March 24 as part of Art Dubai. Images are accessible online via the website www.abraajcapitalartprize.com. Public tours of the exhibition will take place at 18.00 on the March 21, 22 and 23 and a live review on March 24 at 12.30 will bring together winners with critics Alexander Provan and Murtaza Vali in the Global Art Forum tent at Art Dubai. (RSVP to abraajprize@artdubai.ae). A comprehensive catalogue designed by Huda Smitshuijzen–AbiFarès, of the Khatt Foundation will be published later this year.

Download       EN      AR   

Open Call — MASS Alexandria | Independent Art Studio & Study Program 2012

Deadline for application: January 12th, 2012

MASS Alexandria
MASS Alexandria is a space founded in 2010 to provide an opportunity for independent study and learning for artists in Egypt. MASS Alexandria is located in the east-Alexandrian neighborhood of Miami. The 440-sqm space is housed in the basement of a residential building. The basement is a shared studio, meeting, screening and performance space. Through its program, MASS Alexandria aims to supplement existing art education programs, with a focus on the conceptual aspects of artistic production. Monthly workshops, seminars and lectures are led by artists, art educators and curators. Focusing on contemporary artistic practices, the program also encourages students to work closely with cultural, artistic and scientific ideas in the fields of art history and theory and inter-disciplinary studies.
In its first year, MASS Alexandria hosted lectures, talks, conversations, workshops, seminars and studio visits from October 2010 to May 2011. Previous lecturers and tutors to the program included Adriano Pedrosa, Alex Freedman, Amal khalaf, Angela Harutunyan, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Janna Graham, Judith Wielander, Klaus vom Bruch, Luigi Coppola, Susanne Pfefferand William Wells, amongst others.

The MASS Alexandria Pilot Program 2010/2011 was directed by Wael Shawky, co-programmed with Sarah Rifky.
For the Independent Art Studio & Study Program 2012, 15 artists will be selected; they will have access to monthly workshops, lectures, seminars, tutorials and critique sessions, led by visiting artists, art historians, art educators and curators. Students also will have the access to use the open studios, computers with internet access and also a library (under development).

The program will run from 20 January to 31 July, 2012.

For more information, download attachment.

Download       EN   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize works to travel to Jeddah with Edge of Arabia exhibition

Following its recent success with the first Pan-Arab exhibition of contemporary art 'The Future of a Promise' at the 54th Venice Biennale, the internationally renowned arts initiative Edge of Arabia, with support from Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives and Abraaj Capital, will be launching the most significant show of Saudi contemporary art ever held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Edge of Arabia Jeddah: We Need to Talk, curated by Mohammed Hafiz and co-curated by Stephen Stapleton, will open on 19th January 2012 in a stunning 1000 square meter space in the Al Fursia Marina, a magnificent new development on the Jeddah Corniche overlooking the Red Sea.

Alongside the main exhibition three key works from the Abraaj Capital Collection will be on display: Rhyme & Reason by Nazgol Ansarini (2009(, New Dream Machine by Shezad Dawood (2011 and Gon by Timo Nasseri (2011).

Download       EN   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 Winners Announced

Press Release


Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 Winners Announced

Dubai, UAE, 4 October 2011: The Abraaj Capital Art Prize, now in its fourth year, announced today the five winning artists for 2012. The artists, who were selected from a record number of submissions, have begun working on realizing the artworks they proposed which will be unveiled during Art Dubai in March 2012. The artworks become permanent additions to the Abraaj Capital Collection.

The 2012 winners are an internationally acclaimed and diverse group who combine outstanding artistic ability with a desire to engage and champion the arts throughout the region. All the winners have a strong exhibition history regionally and internationally, and are actively involved in inspiring the next generation of artists from the region to achieve success. The winning artists are:
• Taysir Batniji (Palestine)
• Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (Lebanon)
• Wael Shawky (Egypt)
• Risham Syed (Pakistan)
• Raed Yassin (Lebanon)

Following a successful precedent established in 2010, the five artists will work with one guest curator, who for the first time was selected through an open submission process. Nat Muller (The Netherlands) was chosen by the Selection Committee as guest curator for 2012 and is working closely with the artists in supervising the production of the artworks, their display at Art Dubai, and the publishing of an annual catalogue which will be designed by renowned designer Huda Abi Smitshuijzen Fares, Director of the Khatt Foundation, The Netherlands.

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is awarded on the basis of a proposal for art projects submitted earlier in 2011. The Selection Committee includes leading experts in the field of the visual arts including: Antonia Carver, Director, Art Dubai; Dana Farouki, Patron; Ali Khadra, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Canvas Magazine; Salwa Mikdadi, Executive Director, Arts & Culture Program, Emirates Foundation; Jessica Morgan, Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art, Tate; Elaine Ng, Editor, Art Asia Pacific; Glenn Lowry, Director, the Museum of Modern Art; and Sharmini Pereira, ACAP 2011 Guest Curator.

Marking the announcement, Frederic Sicre, Partner at Abraaj Capital and Head of the Abraaj Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Track (ASSET) said: “The Abraaj Capital Art Prize presents a unique platform for aspiring artists in the region to showcase their work to the global arts community. Heading into its fourth year, this prize embodies Abraaj Capital’s unwavering commitment to the promotion of the arts throughout the region and has become a powerful tool to empower individual potential and nurture exceptional artistic talent.”

Savita Apte, Chair of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize, added: “We have an outstanding group of winners this year who come from incredibly diverse backgrounds and are actively engaged in developing dynamic cultural experiences within the arts sector in their respective home countries. It will be exciting to see how these five artists will work with our guest curator for the collaboration that will be unveiled at Art Dubai in March 2012”.

Former winners of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize have subsequently gone on to achieve further accolades. Nazgol Ansarinia, prize winner 2009 has a solo project at the Istanbul Biennial (along with 2012 winners Taysir Bayniji and Wael Shawky) and Nadia Kaabi-Linke, prize winner 2011 is currently a resident at the Delfina Foundation. The artworks are regularly exhibited internationally, for example Nadia Kaabi-Linke and Jananne Al-Ani in The Future of a Promise in Venice which is open until November 2011 and Hala Elkoussy at City Hall as part of the Shubbak Festival in London.

Abraaj Capital, a leading alternative asset manager, investing in the rapidly growing economies of the Middle East, Turkey, Asia and Africa, launched the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2008 to foster and reward artistic development in the region.
-Ends-
About the Abraaj Capital Art Prize:

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize was founded in 2008 and is in its fourth edition. The aim of the prize is to reflect Abraaj Capital’s dedication to empowering potential in the region, giving talented artists the opportunity to break new ground and showcase the rich artistic and cultural heritage of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. It rewards chosen artists from this region on the basis of a proposal rather than completed works-of-art. The winning artists then go on to create the works. The Prize is aimed at curators and artists working together as opposed to a single artist. To date, the 2009, 2010 and 2011 works were unveiled at Art Dubai and artworks have been exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York; City Hall, London; MAXXI, Rome; Galleria Civica, Modena; Future of a Promise, collateral event of the 54th Venice Biennale; Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai and the Maraya Arts Centre, Sharjah.
For more on the history and future of the prize visit www.abraajcapitalartprize.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AbraajCapitalArtPrize
Twitter http://twitter.com/AbraajArtPrize
For further information, please contact:
Nicholas Nesson
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller
Dubai, UAE
Tel: 971-4-3355969
Fax: 971-4-3356080
E-mail: n.nesson@asdaa.com

General enquires about the Abraaj Capital Art Prize:
Laura Egerton, Curator, The Abraaj Capital Art Prize
Email: laura@artdubai.ae; Mobile: +97150 956 4021

Download       EN      AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize comes to London this summer

• In Partnership with Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture
• Myths & Legends Room: The Mural by Egyptian artist Hala Elkoussy on display at City Hall, July 4-24
• Global Launch of ‘Footnote to a Project’ and panel discussion with ACAP curators at the Mosaic Rooms, July 7

Dubai, UAE, July 4, 2011: Continuing its international exhibition program, the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (ACAP) will participate in Shubbak, the first ever celebration of contemporary culture from across the Arab world, to be held in London. The event is organized by the Mayor of London and will run from 4 - 24 July 2011.

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is globally unique in that it rewards artistic proposals rather than finished works of art. So far, winners of the first three Art Prizes have come from Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey. Curators have hailed from Sri Lanka, Iran, the US, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Winners of the 4th edition will be announced in the autumn and will unveil their new artworks in March 2012.

“During the past year we have seen the Abraaj Capital Art Prize come of age,” said Frederic Sicre, Partner, Abraaj Capital. “Exhibiting our prize-winning artworks in Venice for the 54th Biennale and in London for the first celebration of Arab culture, fits into our strategy of providing viable global platforms to showcase the talented artists we support.

“At this time of heightened attention in our part of the world, it is essential to give artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region, the opportunity to display their work and provide an arena to debate the impact that culture can have on all areas of society,” Sicre added.

Hala Elkoussy, an artist based in Cairo, was one of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners in 2010. Her artwork, Myths and Legends Room – The Mural, commissioned by the prize and now part of the Abraaj Capital Art Collection, will be on display in the central exhibitions area at City Hall, seat of the Greater London Authority, for the duration of the celebration. Guided tours of the work can be arranged, which through its mesmerizing trail of individual narratives inspired by traditional and contemporary myths and legends, anticipates events that were to happen one year after the work was produced.

Munira Mirza, Advisor for Arts and Culture for the Mayor of London, added, ““Shubbak will be a window on contemporary culture from across the Arab world. There is a real sense of excitement at the prospect of so many Arab artists coming to London, meeting, collaborating and debating ideas with artists based here in London, reflecting the city’s role as a global centre for cultural exchange. I have no doubt the Festival will provide a huge opportunity for London to share in a truly diverse and exciting program of contemporary cultural events from the Arab world”.

Patrons are advised to reserve their places at the special event celebrating the Abraaj Capital Art Prize on Thursday July 7th at 7pm at the Mosaic Rooms. The event will begin with a panel discussion introduced by Omar Al-Qattan with ACAP curators Laura Egerton, Leyla Fakhr and Sharmini Pereira with Jessica Morgan (The Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art, Tate) discussing the prize within the wider context of the region. This will be followed by the global launch of the publication ‘Footnote to a Project’, a specially commissioned book project conceived by the 2011 guest curator Sharmini Pereira and London-based design studio OK-RM. Created in collaboration with the 2011 winning artists, Hamra Abbas, Jananne Al-Ani, Shezad Dawood, Nadia Kaabi-Linke and Timo Nasseri, the 536-page book is a collection of images, citations and references that support and inform the creation of the five artworks.

Download       EN   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize to showcase in Venice

Three Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners are showcased in The Future of a Promise:
• Jananne Al-Ani (ACAP 2011, Iraq)
• Kader Attia (ACAP 2010, Algeria)
• Nadia-Kaabi-Linke (ACAP 2011, Tunisia)
Awarded annually to artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA), who are given the
opportunity of working with an internationally renowned curator to realise their dream projects. Artists are
encouraged to tap the latest trends, while taking full advantage of a global platform on which to showcase their
works and their region. The prize reflects Abraaj Capital’s own investment philosophy, which is to take viable
businesses with great potential, and create regional and global champions.

Download       EN   

The Future of a Promise

The Future of a Promise will be the Venice Biennale’s largest Pan-Arab exhibition of contemporary art. From
Tunisia all the way to Saudi Arabia, this landmark exhibition brings together more than twenty-five recent
works and commissions by some of the foremost artists from the Arab world. The exhibition is being curated by Lina Lazaar, produced by Edge of Arabia and supported by Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives and Abraaj Capital, three newly partnered organisations whose commitment to contemporary art practice in the Middle East is at the heart of a current artistic renaissance in the region.

Download       EN   

ACAP 2012 Applications close April 30th

Final call for ACAP 2012, the fourth edition of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. Applications must be submitted by April 30, 2011 online at www.abraajcapitalartprize.com.

Following the highly acclaimed unveiling of the 2011 Abraaj Capital Art Prize artworks at Art Dubai last month, ACAP encourages artists working from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region to apply for the next edition of the prize. 2011 was the first year five artists were awarded, working with one guest curator. Due to this development, the scope and breath of the prize have naturally increased, and the critical reception of the prize was greater enhanced by the launch of a publication, Footnote to a Project*, which documents the six months of artistic production.

Download       EN      AR   

Prestigious Abraaj Capital Art Prize enters its third edition

Prestigious Abraaj Capital Art Prize enters its third edition
Five winning artists, one guest curator and a book project all unveiled at Art Dubai 2011
Today sees the unveiling of the highly anticipated and ambitious artworks of the 2011 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, the world’s only art prize to focus on the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. Since being granted the prize last October on the basis of their proposals, the artist recipients – Hamra Abbas, Jananne Al-Ani, Shezad Dawood, Nadia Kaabi-Linke and Timo Nasseri – and their guest curator Sharmini Pereira have worked tirelessly to turn their ambitious proposals into reality.

Download       EN      AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 - Call for Applications

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize (ACAP), established by the Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital, is opening up applications for independent curators and artists to apply for its 4th edition. One of the most generous art prizes in the world, the prize is extending its reach to provide the most dynamic creative collaborations between international curators and artists from the region.

Download       EN      AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2011 Winners Announced

From a record number of submissions, five artists have been chosen as winners of the third edition of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. They will work for the next six months to create their new artworks which will be unveiled during Art Dubai in March 2011, before becoming a permanent part of the Abraaj Capital Art Collection.

Download       EN      AR   

Lebanon's Marwan Sahmarani Wins Popular Vote in 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize

Famed Lebanese artist Marwan Sahmarani won the popular vote from among the three winners of the 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, the world's only art prize that rewards artists from the culturally rich and diverse Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region as a single block.

Download       EN      AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize Applications Soar for 2011

Famed Lebanese artist Marwan Sahmarani won the popular vote from among the three winners of the 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, the world's only art prize
that rewards artists from the culturally rich and diverse Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region as a single block.

Download       EN & AR   

2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize Works Revealed in Dubai

The 2010 works of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize were revealed to the public in Dubai today at Art Dubai, six months after the winners from the MENASA region were announced, and started working on their projects in secret.

Download       EN      AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize Winners honoured at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City

Abraaj Capital Art Prize is showcasing the winning artwork from its inaugural year in New York City at The Museum of Arts and Design. Holding true to its main objective to bring international visibility to artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA), this is a significant achievement in successfully placing the prize in the global spotlight.

Download       EN & AR   

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2010 Winners Announced

Established to raise awareness of the under-represented work being created by artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region, the coveted Abraaj Capital Art Prize, in its second year, has announced three winning teams of artists and curators for the 2010 prize.

Download       EN, AR & FR