Art Jameel, an organisation that supports artists and creative communities, announces the recipients of the first regional Collection Care Fellowship, selected via a global open call announced in September 2023. The recipients are Amanda Pagliarino (Head of Conservation, Registration and Imaging Services, the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia) and Rachelle Tabet (Deputy Director of Collections, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar). Taking place over two years, the Collection Care Fellowship is embedded in tropical, sub-tropical and arid climates and sets out to critically review existing collection management guidelines; suggest new approaches; and rethink narratives set by museums in Europe and North America. The Fellowship addresses the particular challenges and opportunities associated with managing, conserving and caring for institutional art collections situated across West and South Asia, Africa and/or associated geographies.
The first of its kind, the interdisciplinary Collection Care Fellowship examines collections within the larger context of the climate emergency, environmental science, ecology and new technologies. Brisbane-based Amanda Pagliarino will explore how institutions located in arid and humid climates negotiate conventional international museum loans and traditional environmental guidelines. This research aims to provide the foundations for new and innovative thinking on global protocols that elevate sustainability and shift procedures towards a more responsive, inclusive and cooperative model. Doha and Beirut-based Rachelle Tabet’s research will focus on alternative housing and storage strategies for vulnerable art collections in the Middle East and Asia, considering limited access to conservation-quality materials and the region’s varying climate zones. This research will build upon the groundwork established during Tabet’s experience as a Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022.
Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel: “The launch of the Collection Care Fellowship is a major new, collaborative element within a broader commitment by Art Jameel to radically rethink the nature of institutional art collecting, from the perspective of the Global South and in a time of global climate crisis. We are excited to be working with Amanda Pagliarino and Rachelle Tabet, selected from a very competitive pool of applicants, and look forward to enabling their research and publishing their findings, aiming to offer alternatives to existing ‘norms’ set by museums located in European and American situations and climates.”
The Collection Care Fellowship will culminate with research reports including detailed data analysis and findings, presented at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai during the Art Jameel Collection Summit (2025).
The evolving Art Jameel Collection is a site of research, exploring the nature and responsibility of museum collections. Comprised of multiple artworks by more than 190 artists and collectives, half of which are women, the Collection aims to question the very act and purpose of collecting. Guided by radical thematic frameworks, it informs Art Jameel’s wider exhibition programming across its two sites—Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai and Hayy Jameel, Jeddah. For more information about the Art Jameel Collection please click here.
Current and forthcoming Art Jameel exhibitions across Jameel Arts Centre and Hayy Jameel featuring Art Jameel Collection works include Artist’s Rooms dedicated to Taysir Batniji (until August 18, 2024); Amba Sayal Bennett, Augustine Paredes and Sancintya Mohini Simpson (July 10–November 24); Vikram Divecha: Short Circuits (until June 16, 2024); At the Edge of Land (May 23–September 29, 2024); Salt-Kissed: Of Vessels That Have Sailed The Red Sea (May 8–October, 2024).
For inquiries, contact press [at] artjameel.org.
