SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2012 PRODUCTION PROGRAMME GRANT RECIPIENTS:
ARTISTS SEAN GULLETTE, MARIO RIZZI, AND LINDSAY SEERS
FIFTH ANNUAL MARCH MEETING CONCLUDES
Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates) announces that the recipients of its prestigious 2012 Production Programme grants, which provide artists working in a wide range of media with funding for new work, are artists Sean Gullette, Mario Rizzi, and Lindsay Seers. The announcement was made at the closing reception for the Sharjah Art Foundation’s March Meeting 2012: Working With Artists and Audiences on Commissions and Residencies (March 17–19)—a three day symposium on arts and culture—which concluded its fifth edition on Monday, March 19. The artists were selected by an international jury comprising MoMA PS1 curator Peter Eleey, artist Isak Berbic, and Sharjah Art Foundation President Hoor Al Qasimi. Over 200 applications from more than 60 countries were submitted in response to the Foundation’s Open Call for Submissions held earlier this year. The grant recipients were announced at a private reception hosted by Sharjah Art Foundation President Hoor Al Qasimi which was followed by the premiere of Revisiting Tarab, conceived and organised by sound artist Tarek Atoui.
Sean Gullette: Born in the United States and living in Tangier, Morocco, screenwriter, actor, director, and producer Sean Gullette was selected for his proposal to develop a feature film, Traitors, based on the 30-minute short he created as a commission for the 2011 Sharjah Biennial 10.
Mario Rizzi: Also selected was a proposal by Berlin-based Italian artist Mario Rizzi for a film entitled Bayt.
Lindsay Seers: London-based artist Lindsay Seers was selected for her proposal of a filmic installation, MONOCULAR 2.
More than 80 speakers participated in the 2012 March Meeting including: H.E. Abdul Rahman Al Owais, UAE Minister of Culture (UAE); Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) (Japan); Eungie Joo, Curator, New Museum (USA); Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects of Serpentine Gallery (UK); Susanne Pfeffer, Curator, KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Germany); Beatrix Ruf, Director/Curator, Kunsthalle Zürich (Switzerland); and many others.
March Meeting 2012: Working With Artists and Audiences on Commissions and Residencies (March 17–19) featured a series of exhibition openings and events including the exhibition premiere and book launch for Ziad Antar: Portrait of a Territory, curated by Christine Macel, Chief Curator at Musée National D’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou Paris; and the Middle East premiere of a cinematic project commissioned by Artangel, 1395 Days without Red by Anri Sala and Šejla Kamerić, in collaboration with Ari Benjamin Meyers. The opening of Sharjah Art Foundation’s Residency Project, Farther Than the Eye Can See, by Kuwait-born artist Basma Alsharif was celebrated. The premiere of Tarek Atoui’s Revisiting Tarab took place in an outdoor courtyard where members of the public gathered to listen to performances inspired by the world’s largest collection of Classical Arab music. The collection is owned by Kamal Kassar, whose AMAR Foundation (Arab Music Archiving & Research) preserves rare music from the Arabic Renaissance period (1903–1950). In Revisiting Tarab, this music was interpreted by musicians and sound artists including: Tarek Atoui, Anti-Pop Consortium, Uriel Barthelemi, Jonathan Butcher, Maurice Greene, Susie Ibarra, Kazuyuki Kishino, Lukas Ligeti, Robert Lowe, Raz Mesinai, Ikue Mori, Sara Parkins, Zeena Parkins, Roberto Juan Rodriguez, Mustafa Said and Elliott Sharp.
For more information about Sharjah Art Foundation and its programmes, including the March Meeting, visit www.sharjahart.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates
Maitha Al Jassim, Public relations & media officer, Tel: +971-6-544-4113, ext. 25,
E: maitha@sharjahart.org
FITZ & CO, New York
Concetta Duncan, Assistant Director, Tel: +1 212-627-1455 x 232,
E: concetta@fitzandco.com
t +971 6 568 5050 | f +971 6 568 5800 | PO Box 19989 Sharjah, UAE
