Production Programme 2012 Grant Recipients Announced

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates—Sharjah Art Foundation announces recipients of its prestigious 2012 Production Programme grants providing artists working in a wide range of media with funding for new work. Artists Sean Gullette, Mario Rizzi, and Lindsay Seers were selected this year as announced at the closing reception for the Sharjah Art Foundationʼs 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 Foundationʼs 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 a 30-minute short he created as a commission for the 2011 Sharjah Biennial.

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.

Sharjah Art Foundation President Hoor Al Qasimi stated, 'We are pleased to present these three artists with the Foundationʼs 2012 Production Programme grants. After reviewing submissions by artists from a broad range of countries, we noted a particular strength in proposals for new works in film and video. It is our pleasure to provide grants to these three artists who approach film and video from different standpoints. We look forward to the
development of these works.'

Originally launched in 2008 in support of the Sharjah Biennial, the Sharjah Art Foundationʼs Production Programme was incorporated as one of the Foundationʼs core initiatives in 2010. The Production Programme grants are intended to encourage ambitious projects and to provide artists with a platform for experimentation. Recipients of the Foundationʼs 2012 Production Programme grants join a list of artists whose work has been funded by the Foundation including Bani Abidi and CAMP, whose SAF-commissioned projects will be premiered at Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany in June 2012.

The announcement of this yearʼs 2012 Production Programme grants came on the final day of the 2012 March Meeting, a three-day symposium featuring presentations by artists, art professionals, and institutions on the production and dissemination of art in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) region and internationally. Presentations and discussions were held daily from March 17–19, 2012, in Sharjahʼs Heritage Area, and addressed topics ranging from Art and Cultural Diplomacy, The Biennial as Commissioning Agent, as well as The Responsibility of Public Art.

Speakers at the three-day symposium included: Abed Al Juʼbeh, Director, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre (KSCC) (Palestine); H.E. Abdul Rahman Al Owais, UAE Minister of Culture; Noura Al-Sayeh, Architect & Curator (Bahrain); Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna, Co-Director(s), Latitudes (Spain); Defne Ayas, Director of Witte de With – Center for Contemporary Art (Netherlands); Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA PS1 (USA); Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre (UK); Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) (Japan); Louise Hui-Juan Hsu, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art
Taipei (Taiwan); Danda Jaroljmek, Director, Kuona Trust Centre for Visual Arts (Kenya); Lu Jie, Founder & Director, Long March Space (China); Eungie Joo, Curator, New Museum (USA); Riyas Komu, Director of Programmes, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India); James Lingwood, Co-Director, Artangel (UK); Salwa Mikdadi, Head of Arts & Cultural Program,
Emirates Foundation (UAE); Ayeh Naraghi, Cultural Programmes Specialist, UNESCO Doha Office (Qatar); 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); Rana Sadik, Independent Art Supporter, (Kuwait/Palestine); Anri Sala, Artist (Albania); Huda Smithshuijzen AbiFares, Founding Director, Khatt Foundation (The Netherlands).

March Meeting 2012: Working With Artists and Audiences on Commissions and Residencies (March 17 -19) was also accompanied by 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 DʼArt Moderne Centre Pompidou
Paris. In addition, the March Meeting featured 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 weekend featured the opening of Sharjah Art Foundationʼs Residency Project, Farther Than the Eye Can See, by Kuwait-born artist Basma
Alsharif. And, on the final night of the March Meeting, the premiere of Tarek Atouiʼs Revisiting Tarab took place in an outdoor courtyard where members of the public gathered to listen to performances inspired by the worldʼs 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.