Art Jameel launch press pack(3)
Art Jameel, a non-profit organization that supports arts, education and heritage in the Middle East, today announced a number of initiatives designed to enrich the thriving cultural scene in the region and beyond.
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The Jameel Arts Centre is one of the first not-for-profit contemporary art institutions in Dubai. Set to open in 2018, the 10,000 square meter complex is a multidisciplinary space dedicated to the display, promotion and creation of art from across the Middle East and beyond, featuring curated exhibitions that draw on the Jameel Art Collection, as well as regional and international solo and group shows.
THE NEW BUILDING
Name: Jameel Arts Centre Dubai
Location: The Jameel Arts Centre Dubai is located at the tip of Dubai’s Culture Village, overlooking the Dubai Creek
Design Overview: Conceived as a series of boxes of varying dimensions that are bound together by a one storey high colonnade, the Jameel Arts Centre Dubai is an intimate place for experiencing and producing art. The building’s intelligent design offers a flexible and rich curatorial potential – from small intimate gallery for enjoying smaller works to large galleries with soaring height for large sculptures.
Connecting the exhibition spaces are public outdoor courtyards, which offer moments of repose and reflection as one moves from one gallery to another. The colonnade also works as an active social space, charging the edge of the building with activities and enlivening the waterfront promenade. The massing of the building, its spatiality, and its façade articulation draws from the rich architectural tradition of the region – interpreted with a modern simplicity and elegance.
Size / Functions: 10,000 square meters overall, comprised of museum quality gallery spaces; an open-access research centre and library; dedicated events spaces; a roof terrace designed for film screenings and events; an outdoor sculpture area; and a café, restaurant and bookshop
Layout: Three storeys high, plus a below ground carpark; Building dimensions: 130m x 60m
Facade Material: Aluminium Panels, Precast and Insitu Concrete Colonnade
Construction Started: June 2015
Building Opening: Winter 2018
Architects: The Jameel Arts Centre Dubai was designed by the United Kingdom based Serie Architects, under project lead Christopher Lee. Serie is an international practice specialising in architecture, urban design and research, whose portfolio includes projects in the UK, Singapore, India, China, and the Middle East. Serie has gained a reputation for designing distinctive buildings in the public realm, with a special focus on cultural, civic and educational building. Serie has won a number of high profile design competitions, including the BMW London 2012 Olympic Pavilion, the Singapore State Courts Complex, and the National University of Singapore School of Architecture. In 2010, Serie Architects won the ‘Young Architect of the Year Award’. For further information: http://www.serie.co.uk/
Courtyard Gardens: Designed by landscape architect Anouk Vogel, The Jameel Art Centre courtyards draw inspiration from botanical adventurers, who explored the world to find exotic plants to bring home. The courtyards will feature a collection of sculptural plants native to the world’s different deserts. Striking vegetal textures, subtle mineral hues and unusual paving slabs provide each garden with a unique character. Anouk Vogel’s work focuses on international and cultural projects ranging from gardens to pavilions, bridges, furniture, temporary installations, sculptures and autonomous work. Swiss-born, she studied landscape architecture in England before moving to the Netherlands. In 2007 she founded her own practice in Amsterdam. In 2009 she won the competition for the new furniture of the Vondelpark, a Dutch National Heritage Site and in 2010 she was one of the finalists of the prestigious Prix de Rome for Architecture. For the Expo in Milan 2015 she designed the National Pavilion of the Kingdom of Bahrain in collaboration with Studio Anne Holtrop. Anouk Vogel has taught at several design schools, including at the Eindhoven Design Academy and the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. For further information: http://www.anoukvogel.nl/
Organisational Overview
Art Jameel is a not-for-profit organisation that fosters contemporary art practice, cultural heritage protection, and creative entrepreneurship across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and beyond.
Art Jameel’s initiatives are wide reaching and diverse, with a focus on the fields of art, education, and heritage. Art Jameel runs two institutes teaching and preserving the traditional arts in Cairo and Jeddah, and is active in restoration and heritage protection programmes in the region. Ongoing educational initiatives include working with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to develop new arts programmes in schools, among other arts and educational initiatives for all ages.
In the arts, the organisation co-founded the Jeddah Sculpture Museum, home to 26 recently restored, major public works. Art Jameel also awards the biennial Jameel Prize, recognising artists who explore traditional Islamic influences through contemporary art. Through these initiatives, Art Jameel collaborates with a number of major institutional partners, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. Locally, Art Jameel works with individuals and organisations to develop innovative programming that embraces both ancient and new technologies, and encourages entrepreneurship and the development of cultural networks.
In 2017, Art Jameel is entering a new phase of development as an organisation and re-focussing its work in the arts, education and heritage, including the announcement of the Jameel Arts Centre Dubai (opening winter 2018) and a new partnership with The New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Art Jameel is led by Director Antonia Carver and President Fady Mohammed Jameel.
History
Art Jameel was established in 2003 as part of Community Jameel, the organisation set up to continue the Jameel family’s tradition of supporting the community — a tradition started in the 1930s by the late Abdul Latif Jameel, founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel business, who throughout his life helped tens of thousands of disadvantaged people in the fields of healthcare, education and improving livelihoods. Today, Community Jameel is dedicated to supporting social and economic sustainability, across the Middle East and beyond, through a range of initiatives. Art Jameel complements its sister organisation’s work in promoting positive social change, job creation and poverty alleviation across the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
Partnerships
In 2003, Art Jameel partnered with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to renovate the Islamic gallery. Now known as the Jameel Gallery, it houses over 400 objects, including ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork. Art Jameel and the V&A also collaborate on the biennial Jameel Prize, dedicating to recognising contemporary artists and designers who explore traditional Islamic influences through contemporary art. Every two years, shortlisted practitioners are featured in a touring exhibition. The Jameel Prize 5 will open at the V&A Museum, London, in the summer of 2018.
In 2010, the annual Art Jameel Photography Award was established, which has now developed into a year-round educational programme.
Art Jameel and The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts have been in partnership since 2008, when they launched a joint programme (together with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture) to teach the traditional arts in Cairo, Egypt. Today, that programme – known as the Jameel House of Traditional Arts / Cairo – is in its eighth year. The Jameel House of Traditional Arts / Cairo has successfully trained local contemporary artists and artisans; preserved Egyptian cultural heritage; and is now putting the skills taught in the programme to practical use in the conservation and restoration of heritage sites in Islamic Cairo.
Since 2015, Art Jameel has reinvigorated its support for cultural heritage, opening the Jameel House of Traditional Arts / Jeddah in the Old Town (Al-Balad) of Jeddah, and supporting the establishment of the Jameel House of Traditional Arts / Scotland on the estate of Dumfries House. Both institutions, like their counterpart in Cairo, aim to preserve traditional arts and crafts through education and help graduates apply those skills to heritage restoration or as entrepreneurs.
The Art Jameel Education Programme was a pilot organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia and included workshops for art teachers to improve their teaching techniques, plus a yearly contest for students and exhibitions.
Connected – Art in Airports was launched with the aim of expanding audiences and awareness for Saudi art; in collaboration with the General Authority of Civil Aviation and the Saudi Art Association in Jeddah, art exhibitions have taken place to date in Hail, at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and in Dammam.
Project Space Dubai
In advance of the opening of the Jameel Arts Centre Dubai, Art Jameel opens a new Project Space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, during Art Week, March 2017. The Space features a year-round programme of exhibitions, workshops and events. While some shows feature works from the Jameel Art Collection, others are developed in collaboration with partner institutions; educational initiatives aim to bring together creative communities of all ages and nurture experimentation, dialogue and a discursive approach to art and art-making.
The inaugural installation features a five-channel video by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, part of a series focussing on single works from the Jameel Art Collection.
Upcoming projects include a day of workshops and talks on April 13 with renowned Madrid-based foundation Factum Arte, on building new technologies to preserve heritage sites and create works with contemporary artists. Project Space Art Jameel is realised with the kind support of Alserkal Avenue.
Jeddah Sculpture Museum
In the 1970s, Jeddah’s then mayor, Mohammed Said Farsi, initiated the ‘Jeddah Beautification Project’ and purchased more than 400 sculptures, including major works by international artists such as Henry Moore, Joan Miro and Alexander Calder, among others. The collection is one of the world’s most extensive focused on public art, and no doubt the most diverse: the style of the works ranges from traditional Arabic designs to the abstract and monumental.
Exposed to the harsh local climate, by the 2000s, some of the works were beginning to show signs of deterioration. In 2011, Art Jameel, in collaboration with Jeddah Municipality, decided to not only restore some of the sculptures but also to increase their prominence by creating an open-air museum, showcasing 20 works in a seven square kilometre park along the Jeddah Corniche, known locally as ‘Al Hamraa’.
In addition to activities to promote the Jeddah Sculpture Museum, Art Jameel is continuing the restoration of some of the remaining sculptures around the city, and on occasion, seeking to add new works, the latest being Maha Malluh’s Food for Thought ‘Abraj’ (2016).
A new low-cost handheld device that tests the quality and safety of milk is being developed by the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
MIT mechanical engineering PhD candidate visited milk collection centers in Maharashtra, India, and discussed collection practices with dairy farmers and center operators during a 2017 research trip. J-WAFS-funded technology being developed by Jain in mechanical engineering professor Sanjay Sarma’s MIT lab will allow users at village-level milk collection centers like the one pictured to easily test milk for quality and nutritional consistency on site.
Image courtesy of Pranay Jain
Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy, has been awarded a 55 MWac solar project in Armenia that will power more than 21,400 homes in Armenia with clean energy.
Tristan Higuero, COO East, meets Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan.