Mophradat Reveals Arab Artists Selected For Inaugural Consortium Commissions
The contemporary art organisation works to nurture artists from the Arab world and has revealed the six selected for its first edition of Consortium Commissions
Consortium Commissions 2018 is the inaugural edition of Mophradat’s co-commissioning initiative that has selected six artists supported by international cultural institution. The artists receiving $22,000 to produce a new work include Basma Alsharif, Shadi Habib Allah, Yazan Khalili, Maurice Louca, Jasmina Metwaly, and nasa4nasa, an Egyptian duo consisting of Salma Abdel Salam and Noura Seif Hassanein. “We are thrilled to launch the Consortium Commissions with such a strong selection of artists and exciting partnerships,” said Mophradat director Mai Abu El Dahab in a statement to Artforum.
“The voices of the artists find their way into the international art discourses through their reciprocal engagement with leading arts institutions beyond the dated models of national representation or award shows. Commissioning significant works in close collaboration with committed curators who have a global outlook on art at a key moment in these artists’ careers represents a profound opportunity for their practice.”
Though the resulting works will be unveiled progressively over the next two years, several project concepts have already been shared. Alsharif will present a large-scale installation based on a handmade book in English, Arabic and French; Khalili will explore facial recognition technology and bio-politics in a multimedia project; and Metwaly will produce a film focused on Iraqi, Syrian and Egyptian tailors in refugee shelters in Berlin.
The artists were nominated by CCA: Center for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kunstencentrum BUDA in collaboration with the Next Festival, Kortrijk, Belgium; the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; MDT, Stockholm; and the Museum of Contemporary Art,Toronto.