July 20–August 11, 2019
The Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) is happy to present its first international artistic residency program. Majhi International Art Residency Program was organised in collaboration with Lightbox and took place between the July 20 and the August 4, 2019 in Venice, where 11 international artists were invited to reflect upon the open question “Does life in these uncertain times of crisis and turmoil, make art more interesting?” inspired by the title of the 58th Venice Biennale curated by Ralph Rugoff, May You Live in Interesting Times.
The 11 participating artists include: Dhali Al Mamoon, Noor Ahmed Gelal, Dilara Begum Jolly, Uttam Kumar Karmaker, Rajaul Islam Lovelu and Kamruzzaman Shadhin from Bangladesh; the Turkish/German Umut Yasat, and David Dalla Venezia, Cosima Montavoci, Andrea Morucchio and Chiara Tubia from Venice. The artists were joined by the curator Caterina Corni and the cataloguer and recorder Laura Ammann.
Between July 20 and August 4, the artists lived and worked at Combo, a former monastery in the Venetian neighbourhood of Cannaregio. During the residency period the artists benefited from the artistic coaching and curatorial guidance of Corni to develop their works, which were shown in an exhibition also as part of the program. Majhi’s residency program offered accommodation and the necessary production support and exhibition facilities. The exhibition opened on August 3 for the professionals involved and can be seen by the public in different rooms at Combo until August 11.
“Majhi“ means sailor or boatman. He is this ubiquitous figure who ferries from one river bank to the other. Often, he is a solitary soul responding to the call of the mighty Padma, taking his small dinghy, battling against the tide, weaving verses from a song purely for wanderlust. The Majhi knows his destination. With his oar, he lives life, battling the water and the challenges.
Majhi International Art Residency Program is the first of a series of brief artistic residencies to be promoted by DBF during the next 10 years, having Venice as its first location. The Venice-based project provided artists with the chance to get in contact with the European artistic scene, especially the Venetian professionals and reality, initiating a mutually beneficial cultural exchange. The further editions will continue to create an international platform for cultural exchange between the East and the West of the world.
DBF feels that artistic residencies play an important role in facilitating artists’ ability to move across the world and catalysing reflections on important contemporary issues. Thus, artistic and cultural exchange and cooperation through residency programmes can increase understanding between countries and cultures.
The Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation is a private foundation created by Durjoy Rahman created out of the importance of encouraging artists from South Asia and beyond. Established in 2018, the foundation supports artists and art practitioners who can with their particular views of our world generate new ways of shaping it. Encouraging these artists from all across the global south, the DBF support relevant exhibitions, publications and residencies, not to mention the donation of artworks to renown institutions. Having offices in Berlin and Dhaka, DBF offers a conduit to connect art and artists between Asia, Europe and Africa.
The aim of Majhi International Art Residency Program fits the purposes of DBF by being an international platform for artists to promote creative connections and cultural exchange between the East and the West. Through the mutual exploration of their background and the confrontation with other cultures, the artists are encouraged to investigate through their creations compelling topics in the current lines of discourse around contemporary art.
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For more information please access: majhi.org
For Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation access: durjoybangladesh.org
