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The Abraaj Group Art Prize’s Seventh Edition
Presented At Art Dubai 2015
Dubai, UAE, 17 March 2015: The inauguration of the highly anticipated seventh Abraaj
Group Art Prize exhibition features Moroccan Yto Barrada’s newly commissioned work
entitled Faux Départ (False Start). The artwork has been developed in close
collaboration with guest curator Omar Kholeif since June 2014.
In Faux Départ, Barrada questions the authenticity of history and museology through
the study of paleontology in Morocco. The exhibition will also feature previous works by
the three Abraaj Group Art Prize shortlisted artists: Temporary Autonomous Zones 2012
by Sarnath Banerjee, Spectral Days 2013 by Setareh Shahbazi and Mute Tongue 2010
by Mounira Al Solh.
Now in its seventh edition, The Abraaj Group Art Prize is globally unique in awarding
talented artists on the basis of proposals rather than completed works. Every year, The
Abraaj Group Art Prize winners have gone on to achieve greater accolades. Past
winners have been exhibited at Venice Biennale, Dokumenta, Sharjah Biennial, Gwanju
Biennial and Kochi Muziris Biennial to name a few. In addition, the works have been
loaned to a number of museums including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Maxxi, Rome,
Museum of Art and Design, New York.
The Abraaj Group is a leading investor operating in global growth markets. Frederic
Sicre, Managing Director at The Abraaj Group said: “Empowering potential across
growth markets to build sustainable businesses and communities is at the core of what
we do. The Abraaj Group Art Prize empowers emerging artists in the region with a
platform to showcase their works to the international art community, shining a spotlight
on exceptional artistic talent and fostering the growth of cultural entrepreneurs. As the
Abraaj Group Art Prize turns seven, we are delighted to welcome Yto Barrada into our
network of winners. She joins a community of 26 artists who are global ambassadors for
art from the region and who continue to act as role models for a younger generation of
artists”.
Savita Apte, Chair of The Abraaj Group Art Prize, added: “Each year the winning
artists have pushed the boundaries of their chosen medium, producing work that is
universally accessible even whilst they highlight the particulars which inform and inspire
their art making”.
Guest Curator Omar Kholeif commented: “Each year, the works of the Abraaj Group
Art Prize have been diverse, creatively reflecting the dynamic ecosystem of the region. I
was privileged to curate The Abraaj Group Art Prize this year as working with one body
of work focuses on a richness that is rarely explored. It has been fascinating working
with Yto, as we explored a representation of the historical events forming the culturalrich Morocco which we view today.”
The Selection Committee for The Abraaj Group Art Prize comprises leading experts in
the field of visual arts including: Antonia Carver, Director, Art Dubai; Dana Farouki,
Patron; Salwa Mikdadi, art historian and curator; Jessica Morgan, Director, Dia Art
Foundation; Fayeeza Naqvi, Patron; Nada Raza, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern and
Julia Peyton-Jones, Co-Director, The Serpentine Gallery.
ENDS
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Jessica Mason
Communications and Marketing Manager, Art Dubai
jessica@artdubai.ae
+97143842026
For photos, please visit the Press Gallery section on our website:
http://artdubai.ae/press-images?subjectId=94
Notes to the Editor:
About The Abraaj Group Art Prize:
The aim of the prize is to empower potential and give often under-represented, contemporary artists the resources to
further develop their talent. Artists are invited to submit proposals for new artworks they would like to produce. Once
chosen by the Selection Committee, the artists go on to produce the works. The artists collaborate with an
internationally renowned curator. This allows them to tap the latest trends, while the prize gives them a global
platform to showcase their works and their region. The prize reflects Abraaj’s own investment philosophy, which is to
take viable businesses with great potential, and create regional and global champions. To date, the 2009, 2010, 2011
& 2012 works were unveiled at Art Dubai and artworks have been exhibited at several venues in Africa, Asia, Europe,
the Gulf and the US including: The National Museum of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia (2012), the Kochi-Muziris Biennale,
India (2012-13), the Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2012); Future of a Promise, collateral event of the 54th Venice
Biennale, Italy (2011); Museum of Photography, Braunschweig, Germany (2012), La Triennale, Palais De Tokyo,
Paris, France (2012); Parasol Unit, London, UK (2012-13); Museum of Arts and Design, New York, US (2009 &
2010); Arthr M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian’s Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C., US (2012-13); Dubai
International Financial Centre, Dubai (2009, 2010, ongoing), the Maraya Arts Centre, Sharjah (2010 & 2014), UAE
and Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm (2013). www.abraajgroupartprize.com
About the 2015 exhibition:
‘Before History’ is an exhibition that explores the layering of time through historical artifice. As its starting point, it
considers the notion of history as a constructed sphere, constantly in flux, simultaneously being buried and
excavated.
In a world where everything is hyper-mediated through screens, how is one able to construct a sense of an individual
history? The artists in the exhibition both individually and collectively pose questions about the sedimentation of our
shared culture.
The starting point and inspiration for the exhibition is a new body of work by Yto Barrada entitled Faux Départ (False
Start), (2015). Here, Barrada questions the veracity that artifacts play in the context of modern day museology.
Through a study of paleontology in Morocco, the artist questions: how does one fabricate a history? How does the act
of digging reveal the artifice behind heritage? How significant is authenticity to the production of an identity? Faux
Départ (False Start) encourages us to look ‘before’ history and to consider the inevitable subjectivity by which the
everyday world is framed.
Historical tradition is preserved in the satirical work of Sarnath Banerjee through his series Temporary Autonomous
Zones, (2012). Setareh Shahbazi further embodies the act of historical layering in the photographic series Spectral
Days, (2013-ongoing), while in the single-channel video The Mute Tongue, (2010/2015), Mounira Al-Solh explores
the performed possibilities of language, taking Arabic proverbs as her starting point.
‘Before History’ serves as a meditation on how lived experience can act as an allegory of the geological processes
that govern our world.
About the Guest Curator:
Omar Kholeif is currently Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, Senior Curator at HOME, Manchester, as well
as Senior Editor of Ibraaz Publishing. Previously he was Curator at FACT, Foundation for Art and Creative
Technology, Liverpool. His books include Vision, Memory and Media (2010) and You Are Here: Art After the Internet
th
(2014) and Jeddah Childhood circa 1994 (2014). In 2015, he curated the Cyprus Pavilion at the 56 Venice Biennale
and Focus: MENAM at the Armory Show, New York.
Winner, The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2015:
Yto Barrada (Moroccan, b.1971, Paris) studied history and political science at the Sorbonne and photography in New
York. Her work—including photography, film, sculpture, prints and installations—began by exploring the peculiar
situation of her hometown Tangier. Her work has been exhibited at Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York),
Renaissance Society (Chicago), Witte de With (Rotterdam), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Guggenheim (Berlin), the
Centre Pompidou (Paris), Whitechapel Gallery (London), and the 2007 and 2011 Venice Biennale.
She was the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year for 2011, after which her exhibit RIFFS toured widely. Barrada is also
the founding director of Cinémathèque de Tanger. She is a recipient of the 2013-2014 Robert Gardner Fellowship in
Photography (Peabody Museum at Harvard University). She has published several books, and her first
comprehensive monograph was published by JRP Ringier in 2013. Barrada is represented by Sfeir-Semler Gallery
(Beirut, Hamburg), Pace Gallery (London), and Galerie Polaris (Paris).
Shortlisted Artists, The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2015:
Sarnath Banerjee studied biochemistry from Delhi University and Image and Communication from Goldsmiths,
University of London. He wrote graphic novels Corridor, Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers and The Harappa Files,
published by Penguin, Harper-Collins and Denoel. He has received several fellowships, such as the MacArthur,
Charles Wallace, Egide Bursary, and IFA. Banerjee has been a fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart and
Institute of Advanced Studies, Budapest. His drawings and videos have been exhibited at Paris-Delhi-Bombay,
Centre Pompidou, Paris; Indian Highway 5, MAXXI-National Museum of XXI Century Art, Rome, curated by Hans
Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones,(Directors, Serpentine Gallery); Chalo India!, Mori Art Museum, 2008; Karton
Gallery, Budapest, 2007, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2007; The Museum Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino,
2006; IFA Gallery, Berlin, 2005; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London June 2003. Banerjee has also participated in
the Hong Kong Art Fair (2012), Fiac, Paris (2011), Frieze Art Fair (2011 and 2009) London, Arco, Madrid (2009) and
the Sao Paolo Biennale in 2008. In 2012 Banerjee had a solo exhibition at the CCA in Glasgow, and was
commissioned by Frieze Projects East for a public arts project during the London Olympics. He writes a weekly
column of visual commentary called ‘Enchanted Geography’ for The Hindu. Sarnath is represented by Project 88
(Mumbai).
Setareh Shahbazi was born in Tehran in 1978 and moved to Germany in 1985. From 1997 to 2003 she studied
Scenography and Media Arts at the State Academy for Art and Design in Karlsruhe. Her solo exhibitions were held at
Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2013); 98weeks Project Space, Beirut (2010); Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara
(2008); Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg (2006) and Montgomery, Berlin (2006); and Karlsruher Kunstverein (2004).
Her group shows include ‘When It Starts Dripping from the Ceiling’, Kadist, Paris, curated by Bassam El Baroni
(2012); ‘Jostari dar Salighe va Ehsass’, Asar Gallery, Tehran (2010); ‘Whenever it starts, it is the right time!’,
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, curated by Chus Martinez (2007); ‘Rainbow’ at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut; ‘J’en
Rêve’ at Fondation Cartier, Paris (2005) and ‘Iranian Pool, Rooseum’, Malmö, curated by Chus Martinez (2003). A
one-year research residency by DAAD brought her to Beirut for the first time in 2003 to collaborate with the Arab
Image Foundation. She has further been invited for residencies at Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2005) and Villa
Romana, Florence (guest artist 2011). Shahbazi received a publication grant from Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn for her
artist book Spectral Days (2011) and her catalogue Oh, no, no, ... – The Crystal Series was awarded The Most
Beautiful Swiss Books (2005). After spending some years in Lebanon, Setareh Shahbazi currently lives and works in
Berlin and travels regularly to Iran. Setareh is represented by Gypsum Gallery, Cairo.
Mounira Al Solh started painting in 1996 with Hussein Madi and then completed a degree in painting from the
Lebanese University. In 2001 she won the Kentertainment Painting Award in Beirut and went on to the Rietveld
Akademy in Amsterdam where she found her voice in multidisciplinary practices. After that, she worked for two years
in a studio at the Rijksakademie before being offered artist residencies in South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany,
Belgium and the USA. Al Solh has participated in several group shows including: the first Lebanese Pavilion in
Venice, Home Works IV and VI, the 11th Istanbul Biennial, Manifesta 8, Tate Modern, SALT Istanbul, the New
Museum, the 5th Marrakech Biennial and Art Dubai Projects 2014. Her works have been presented in solo shows at
Fennel, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut; SMBA and rongwrong, Amsterdam; CCA, Glasgow; and Kunsthalle Lissabon in
Lisbon. In 2007, she was awarded the Jury Prize of Videobrasil IEA Festival, The Black Magic Woman Award, The
Uriot Prize of the Rijksakademie, and was nominated for the Volkskrant Award in 2010 in the Netherlands. Mounira
co-edits NOA (Not Only Arabic), an ongoing magazine she created in 2008, which has expanded into a collaborative
project: noa language school. She also taught part-time at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem, the Rietveld Akademie in
Amsterdam and ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts) in Lebanon. Mounira is represented by Sfeir-Semler
Gallery (Beirut, Hamburg).