Abraaj Group Art Prize 2014 Guest Curator announced

DUBAI.- Nada Raza, an experienced curator, was announced today as the guest curator for the sixth edition (2014) of The Abraaj Group Art Prize by its Selection Committee. Raza joins the internationally recognized committee which will finalize the five winning artists. Once they are selected, she will collaborate with the artists as their ambitious projects evolve. Raza will then present the finished works in a specially curated exhibition at Art Dubai in March 2014.

The Abraaj Group Art Prize is globally unique in awarding talented artists on the basis of proposals rather than completed works, with hundreds of artists each year submitting proposals.

Previous winners have gone on to achieve further global recognition as their works have been exhibited in major international biennials, such as The Venice Biennale and Sharjah Biennial 11 and international museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. Artworks from the collection are currently on loan to key institutions in Europe, the US and Asia.

Nada Raza is from Karachi, currently based at Tate Modern in London where she is Assistant Curator focusing on South Asia. Raza holds an MA in Critical Writing and Curatorial Practice from the Chelsea College of Art and has previously worked with Iniva and Green Cardamom in London where she contributed to curatorial projects including ‘Lines of Control’ (Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University 2012) and ‘Social Fabric’ (Iniva, 2012). She has lived and worked independently in the UAE, where she maintains strong links. She writes regularly for regional and international publications.

Speaking of her appointment, Raza commented: “The Abraaj Group Art Prize is a unique platform for emerging artists from the region, allowing complex and ambitious projects to be realized with critical support from a curator. I look forward to engaging with each selected artist in the process of articulating conceptual ideas through to the production of compelling works of art, bringing them to regional and international audiences.”

Frederic Sicre, Managing Director at The Abraaj Group added: “Not only is the regional art scene expanding rapidly but the Abraaj Group Art Prize has also grown to become one of, if not the, largest art prize in the world. Nada Raza brings a wealth of broad expertise to her role as the tenth guest curator for our prize and her experience of working directly with artists, galleries and institutions from the region will help evolve the prize and develop new perspectives. In the six years since the prize was launched, we have lent artworks to over 25 institutions worldwide, commissioned 5 publications, and this year’s winners will bring the number of works in the Abraaj Corporate collection to 26.”

The Selection Committee includes leading experts in the field of the visual arts including: Antonia Carver, Director, Art Dubai; Dana Farouki, Patron; Salwa Mikdadi, art historian and curator; Jessica Morgan, Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art, Tate, London and Glenn Lowry, Director, the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Savita Apte, Chair of the committee, said the following: “Nada brings an institutional curatorial perspective as well as a wealth of experience working in the region to the Abraaj Group Art Prize. She will be working closely with the artists to develop their projects, while evolving new forms of documentation that draw on her experience with new media platforms. Nada’s unique approach will be unveiled at Art Dubai in March.”

The winning artists for The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2014 will be announced later this year.