Babak Golkar
The Return Project
September 24–November 8, 2014
The Third Line
Al Quoz 3
Dubai
UAE
T +9714 3411 367
www.thethirdline.com
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The Third Line is pleased to present a critical new body of work The Return Project by Babak Golkar, the artist’s second solo show in Dubai. A break from his previous works, The Return Project is an assemblage where readymade consumer articles are dissected, reconstructed and represented within the commercial conditions of their wholesale environment—questioning the structure of contemporary art practices.
Babak has developed a distinct practice that engages critical investigation and renegotiation of spaces between cultural and socio-economical registers. With The Return Project, the artist seamlessly operates inside, and positions his work within, the parameters of a commercial system, interjecting the value constructs governing the contemporary art world. The project dismantles the artistic object and the artistic persona within their own contemporary systemic conditions by skewing the established points of references and relationships that seemingly authorize how and where the true value of art resides.
About Babak Golkar
Babak Golkar was born in Berkeley in 1977. He spent most of his formative years in Tehran until 1996 when he migrated to Vancouver, where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr Institute in 2003 and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia in 2006.
Babak has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in North America, Europe and Middle East. His most recent solo shows include those held at West Vancouver Museum, Canada; Victoria & Albert Museum, UK; Hilger Modern Contemporary, Austria; and Sanatorium, Turkey; he has also been featured in group exhibitions at Edge of Arabia, UK; Brot Kunsthalle, Austria; L’institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; National Museum Adrien Dubouche, France. Babak has been nominated and been the recipient of several awards, including being shortlisted as a finalist for the 2011 Jameel Art Prize. His work will also be featured in the upcoming group exhibition at Villa Empain, Brussels, as well as at the Museum Villa Stuck, Germany in 2015. The first ever presentation of Babak’s work in Iran will take place in a solo exhibition at Sazman Ab gallery in Tehran.
Project Space: Farah Al Qasimi, The World is Sinking
The World is Sinking is a new series by photographer and musician Farah Al Qasimi that traces locations in and around Dubai. Exploring surfaces and facades meant to represent idealistic aspirations, the images provide an idiosyncratic and humorous approach to the multi-dimensional, multi-cultural and increasingly hyperglobalisation of the UAE in the last few decades.
Farah Al Qasimi was born in Abu Dhabi and studied photography and music at Yale University, graduating in 2012. She has participated in residencies at the Burren College of Art (Ballyvaughan, Ireland), at her studio in Dubai (with the support of Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation) and at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Currently, Farah is a fellow of the Sheikha Salama Foundation and Rhode Island School of Design’s Emerging Artist studio program. She has taught Photography at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai and is currently making photographs and music in New York.
About The Third Line
The Third Line is a Dubai-based art gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern artists and also hosts non-profit, alternative programs to increase interest and dialogue in the region. In addition to this, The Third Line publishes books by associated artists from the region.
Represented artists include Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Arwa Abouon, Babak Golkar, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Farhad Moshiri, Fouad Elkoury, Golnaz Fathi, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Laleh Khorramian, Lamya Gargash, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Rana Begum, Sahand Hesamiyan, Sara Naim, Sherin Guirguis, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Youssef Nabil and Zineb Sedira.
Media contact
Saira Ansari, PR & Media Manager
saira [at] thethirdline.com / T +9714 3411 367