art dubai 2008

Art Dubai takes place every March at the Madinat Arena. As the first contemporary art fair in Dubai, the Fair has become a cornerstone for the rapidly growing art community of the Middle East. The 2008 fair will host nearly seventy galleries from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North and South America, North Africa and Australia.

Art Park - Art Dubai

Art Park is a new underground project space for Art Dubai 2008 devoted to experimental and site-specific work. Art Park focuses on video work and installations from internationally renowned artists. Alongside this, Middle Eastern arts organisation Bidoun presents a series of curated video programmes focusing on the vibrant Middle Eastern video scene. This new space promises to bring new and exciting work to Dubai. JITISH KALLAT KHALIL CHISHTEE MUHAMMAD ZEESHAN IDRIS KHAN THE BIDOUN LOUNGE AND ARTISTS’ CINEMA LIDA ABDUL SUSY GÓMEZ KADER ATTIA BANI ABIDI G.R.A.M. motiroti

ABRAAJ CAPITAL ART PRIZE

The selection committee of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize announced the three recipient curator/artist teams of its first competition: Cristiana Perrella & Kutluğ Ataman; Carol Solomon & Zoulikha Boubadellah; and Leyla Fakhr & Nazgol Ansarinia. Their projects, which are being created this very moment, will be unveiled during Art Dubai of March 2009. As Art Dubai is the Middle East's largest modern and contemporary annual art fair, the unveiling during this event will offer the winning artists an unparalleled opportunity to widen their global reputation and network. The works will become part of the Abraaj Capital corporate collection.

"By supporting artists from the MENASA region in this way we aim to empower them as important agents of cross cultural respect," explained Frederic Sicre, Executive Director of Abraaj Capital. "With increasing awareness of our region's rapid rate of economic development around the world, the time is right to also promote understanding and appreciation of the burgeoning art community as another important pillar of societal development," added Sicre.

"The spectacular reception that this inaugural Abraaj Capital Art Prize received within the art community exceeded our most ambitious expectations," said Savita Apte, Chair of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. "The 97 applications received from artists from the MENASA region in collaboration with curators from such diverse locations as Santa Barbara and Japan and almost every country in between, reflected a truly global world of innovation, inspiration and creativity. We are thrilled that the main aim of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize – offering a platform which reinforces creative collaboration – has been so wholeheartedly embraced by the artistic community and it is with enormous anticipation that we await the unveiling of the works in March of next year."

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize, one of the most generous art prizes in the world, provides an exciting opportunity for creative collaboration between international curators and artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. The selection committee looked for innovative ideas and use of medium; a reflection of regional and local cultural principles, experimental art production techniques; and a balanced application which showed the curators' strength and ability to push the artists' boundaries.

galleries 2008

100 Tonson Gallery, Bangkok Galleries Direct, Sydney Agial Art Gallery, Beirut Galleria Mario Sequeira, Braga Aicon Gallery, London Galerist, Istanbul Aidan Gallery, Moscow Gallery Espace, New Delhi Albareh Art Gallery, Bahrain Gallery SUN contemporary, Seoul Albion, London Giorgio Persano, Turin Artspace, Dubai Green Art Gallery, Dubai Atassi Gallery, Damascus Green Cardamom, London Baudoin Lebon, Paris Grosvenor Vadehra, London, New Delhi B21, Dubai Horrach Moya, Mallorca Ben Brown Fine Arts, London Kalfayan Galleries, Athens Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre Kamel Mennour, Paris Bonni Benrubi, New York Kukje Gallery, Seoul Cais Gallery, Seoul Le Violon Bleu, Tunis and London Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai Lio Malca, New York Christine König, Vienna MAM Mario Mauroner, Vienna Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing Max Lang, New York Contrasts Gallery, Shanghai October Gallery, London Diana Lowenstein, Miami OREDARIA Arti Contemporanee, Rome Distrito Cu4tro, Madrid Produzentengalerie Hamburg, Hamburg Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich PYO Gallery, Seoul Filomena Soares, Lisbon RHYS Gallery, Boston Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna Rossi + Rossi, London Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Galerie El Marsa, Tunis Salomon Contemporary, East Hampton Galerie Enriço Navarra, Paris SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo Galeria Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City Silk Road Gallery, Tehran Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki Sundaram Tagore, New York Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna SUN Gallery & Gallery SUN contemporary, Seoul Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin, Seoul, Beijing The Third Line, Dubai Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Hamburg and Beirut TORCH GALLERY, Amsterdam Galerie Tanit, Munich Townhouse Gallery, Cairo Galerie Thomas, Munich Walsh Gallery, Chicago Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin Yvon Lambert, Paris New York Galeria Millan, São Paulo

Art Dubai 2008

Art Park
mit Jitish Kallat, Khalil Chishtee, Muhammad Zeeshan, Idris Khan, The Bidoun  Lounge And Artists Cinema , Lida Abdul, Susy Gomez, Kader Attia, Bani Abidi, G.R.A.M. , Motiroti 

Abraaj Capital Art Prize
Cristiana Perrella & Kutlug Ataman; Carol Solomon & Zoulikha Boubadellah; Leyla Fakhr & Nazgol Ansarinia