Barjeel Art Foundation
| File:LogoFullColourRGB.jpg | |
| Established | 2010 |
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| Location | Level Two Maraya Art Centre Al Qasba, Sharjah, UAE +971 6 556 6555 Sat. – Thurs.: 10 am – 10 pm Fri.: 4 pm – 10 pm |
| Coordinates | 25°19'18.7"N 55°22'35.4"E |
| Founder | Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi |
| Curator | Suheyla Takesh |
| Public transit access | Sharjah Sightseeing Bus |
| Website | http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org |
The Barjeel Art Foundation is a museum and cultural institution located in the United Arab Emirates with a mandate to manage, preserve and exhibit the personal art collection of Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi. The Foundation serves as a resource for Arab modern and contemporary art and hosts exhibitions and lends artwork to international institutions such as Serralves Foundation (Portugal) and the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), while also serving as an educational vehicle for local and international art communities. The foundation has shown works that highlight the value of heritage, family, structure and history and how it is translated in the context of globalisation. Other works examine life in the Diaspora, the desire to create an identity or recapture a history that has become lost or scattered.
Barjeel Art Foundation initiates, supports and presents artistic projects all over the world. Through curated exhibitions of the collection, loans to leading institutions and international forums such as Asilah Festival (Morocco), and Art Dubai (UAE) as well as various efforts to support educational activities by contributing to the image archives of Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World (MEMAAW), organizing panel discussions and student tours, the foundation aims to create a public platform for critical debate around the contemporary art practice of artists with Arab heritage.
Consisting of over 1000 pieces of modern and contemporary art from Arab artists, the foundation is the most comprehensive publicly accessible art collection in the Middle East. It operates from a permanent base in the Maraya Art Centre in Al Qasba, Sharjah. The Al Qasba complex was designed and executed by the Halcrow Group, which was acquired by CH2M Hill in 2011. Al Qasba opened to the public in 2005.
Contents
Selected Artworks
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Mahmoud Said painting-Recto-Village.jpg
Mahmoud Said (Egypt): Recto - “Village”, Verso - “Paysage Marin”, 1923
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Standing Figure and Child painting by Khalil Gibran.jpg
Khalil Gibran (Lebanon): Standing Figure and Child, undated
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Ervand Demerdjian painting Nubian Girl.jpg
Ervand Demerdjian (Armenia/Turkey/Egypt): Nubian Girl, undated
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Kamel Moustafa Untitled painting.jpg
Kamel Moustafa (Egypt): Untitled, undated
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Artwork titled Icons of Moudarres by Fateh al Moudarres.jpg
Feteh Al Moudarres (Syria): Icons of Moudarres, 1962
Exhibitions
In-House Exhibitions
Peripheral Vision, March 14 – September 28, 2010
Works in this exhibition exposed different aspects of social, political and geographical landscapes that may be obstructed and out of focus.
Residua, October 22, 2010 - February 22, 2011
Residua focused on how contemporary Arab cultures are continuously in a state of transformation, exploring ideas of language, politics, geography and public memory.
Strike Oppose, March 11 - Sept. 28, 2011
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A play on words of the expression “strike a pose”, this exhibition examined how Arabs are both represented and projected in the ever-streaming flow of communication.
Caravan, October 14, 2011 - February 22, 2012
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Artworks in this exhibition pivoted on notions of memory and nostalgia, and explored how images often create history while still being shaped by it.
Alienation, March 24 - September 28, 2012
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Works in this exhibition highlighted how alienation is manifested in scenarios as diverse as geopolitical relations and personal daily experiences.
RE:Orient, March 11 - November 22, 2013
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Examining art production between the 1950s and 1970s, which for many Arab countries marked a pivotal period of transition from French and British imperialism, this exhibition provided a glimpse into the subjective framework within which Modern Arab artists were operating.
Tarīqah, February 21 - August 24, 2014
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The word tarīqah in Arabic translates into English as a pathway or route. This exhibition showcased artists whose journeys of invention concentrate on the different ways of viewing and referencing Islamic tradition.
Art From the Vault, September 20 – November 8, 2014
This exhibition was a look at some of the artworks that have been in storage and not publicly exhibited.
aide-mémoire, December 6, 2014 - February 6, 2015
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Aide-mémoire is a French term that translates as an aid to memory. Many of the artists in this exhibition referenced memories that are personal or collective, showing how they can be recorded or fictionalised through aesthetic creation.
aide-mémoire: footnotes, March 1, 2015 – October 1, 2015
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In honour of its fifth year running, Barjeel Art Foundation presented the second installment of aide-mémoire, a show that highlighted the multitude of stories that encompass an exhibition.
Walls and Margins, October 21, 2015 - February 1, 2016
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This exhibition looks at works of art, which tackle the effects and consequences of established walls and barriers, both physical and ideological.
External Exhibitions
Terms and Conditions
Location: Singapore Art Museum, Singapore June 28 – September 8, 2013
Modes and Methods
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Location: Google House, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, May 6–7, 2014
Artists: Hassan Sharif, Noor Al Suwaidi, Mohammed Kazem, Ebtisam Abdulaziz,
Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Abdul Qader Al Rais, Layla Juma, Lateefa bint Maktoum, Maitha Demithan and Khalid Mezaina.
Sky Over the East
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Location: ADMAF, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi May 29 – Jun. 27, 2014
Marwan: Topographies of the Soul
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Location: Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, December 6, 2014 – February 6, 2015
Al Seef
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Location: Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait, January 11 – March 31, 2015
Home Ground
Exhibition catalogue can be purchased from: https://shop.agakhanmuseum.org/shop/?filter_results=true&product_cat=books Location: Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, July 15, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Imperfect Chronology: Arab Art from the Modern to the Contemporary
Exhibition catalogue can be purchased from: www.randomhouse.de/book/Imperfect-Chronology Location: Whitechapel Gallery, London
This exhibition consists of four parts:
- Debating Modernism I (8 September – 6 December 2015)
- Debating Modernism II (15 December 2015 – 6 March 2016)
- Mapping the Contemporary I (25 April - 14 August 2016)
- Mapping the Contemporary I I (23 August 2016 - 8 January 2017)
Education
School Tours
Barjeel Art Foundation offers tours of the exhibitions free of charge. The tours are typically led by Curators Mandy Merzaban and Suheyla Takesh.
Panel Discussions and Lectures
Barjeel Art Foundation organizes and participates in panel discussions such as Nation Builders with Art Dubai Director Antonia Carver, Drawing Nationalism (with panelists Salwa Mikdadi, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Dr. Sharon Parker and Isabella Ellaheh Hughes) and public lectures including The Dynamics of Modern Arab Art and Aesthetics by Patrick M Kane, Instructor of Liberal Studies, Sharjah Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology.
Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World
Recently launched online, Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World (MEMAAW) is a long-term project meant to provide a major resource on Arab artists and their histories. Barjeel Art Foundation has contributed to the image archives of the Encyclopedia with photographs of notable artworks from its collection. http://www.encyclopedia.mathaf.org/en/Pages/default.aspx
Google Cultural Institute
Over 500 of Barjeel Art Foundation’s artworks are featured on the Google Cultural Institute website. The online collection also hosts 12 archived exhibitions. https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/collection/barjeel-art-foundation
Key Loans
Barjeel Art Foundation has also loaned and continues to loan artworks from its collection to local and international institutions. Some organizations that have borrowed artworks from Barjeel Art Foundation include The Serralves Foundation in Porto, Mori Museum in Tokyo, The New Museum in New York, L’institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization.
References
- Barjeel Art Foundation
- Artspace interview with Curator Mandy Merzaban
- Artslant/Peripheral Vision
- Universe in universe Interview with Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
- The National/Caravan Art Exhibition
- Whitechapel to host UK's most comprehensive exhibition of Arab art
- Arab Art from the Modern to the Contemporary
