The Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2013 winners announced
Artists Vartan Avakian, Iman Issa, Huma Mulji, Hrair Sarkissian and Rayyane Tabet have been selected to work with Guest Curator Murtaza Vali to realise new, ambitious artworks that were proposed to the prize earlier this year.
The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is delighted to announce the winning artists for its fifth edition (ACAP 2013), bringing the total number of winners awarded the prize to 21. The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is awarded annually to five artists on the basis of proposals for new artworks, which become permanent additions to the Abraaj Capital Art Collection following their unveiling at Art Dubai. Abraaj Capital, a leading private equity manager investing in global growth markets, launched the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2008 to foster and reward artistic development in the region.
The winners have a strong exhibition history regionally and internationally, and have shown works in recent editions of Art Dubai and the Sharjah Biennial. The prize affords winners the opportunity of developing ambitious projects which without the granted funds would not have been possible.
The winning artists announced by the Abraaj Capital Art Prize are:
Vartan Avakian (Lebanon)
Iman Issa (Egypt)
Huma Mulji (Pakistan)
Hrair Sarkissian (Syria)
Rayyane Tabet (Lebanon)
The artists have already started working closely with the selected Guest Curator for 2013, Murtaza Vali. Of Indian extraction, Vali is a freelance critic and curator who lives and works between Sharjah, UAE and Brooklyn, USA. He has the responsibility of supervising the production of the artworks, their display at Art Dubai (March 20–23, 2013), and the publishing of an annual catalogue.
The Selection Committee for the prize includes leading experts in the field of the visual arts including: Antonia Carver, Fair Director, Art Dubai; Dana Farouki, patron; Ali Khadra, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Canvas; Salwa Mikdadi, art historian and curator; Jessica Morgan, Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art, Tate; Elaine Ng, Editor, Art Asia Pacific; Glenn Lowry, Director, the Museum of Modern Art and Nat Muller, ACAP 2012 Guest Curator.
Former winners of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize have subsequently gone on to achieve further accolades, and are recognized as established artists in the international arts world. New artworks by winning artists are being acquired by important collections such as MoMA and Tate, and works from the Abraaj Capital Art Collection are increasingly requested for loan by leading institutions and biennials. Two Abraaj Capital Art Prize artworks, by Shezad Dawood and Kader Attia, are currently on exhibition in the UK for the London 2012 Festival, and Jananne Al-Ani’s artwork is part of the 18th Biennale of Sydney. In May this year, artworks by Kader Attia and Hala Elkoussy were on exhibition at the National Museum of Carthage, Tunis.
Applications for the sixth edition of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize will be accepted online for curators from 1 October–31 December 2012 and for artists from 1 November 2012–31 January 2013.
Enquiries
Laura Egerton, Curator, Abraaj Capital Art Prize: abraajprize@artdubai.ae
Abraaj Capital Limited
Dubai International Financial Centre, Gate Village 8, 3rd Floor
PO Box 504905 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
T +971 45064600
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