Production Programme

Overview

The Sharjah Art Foundation Production Programme broadens the possibilities for the production of art in the MENASA region through a commitment to support innovation and excellence in artistic practice by encouraging risk and experimentation. This commitment places artists at the core of the Foundation’s mission by offering grants and professional support for the realisation of projects selected from an open call for proposals.

Since 2010 the SAF Production Programme has awarded grants to artists who have responded to an international Open Call for proposals. Arts practitioners are invited to propose imaginative, ambitious and inspirational projects that will transform our understanding of what art is and how it can be experienced.

The Programme cycle is every two years, with an Open Call announced in the Autumn and the decisions announced after the submissions are reviewed and projects selected by an international jury in the Spring. One of the Foundation’s core initiatives, the Production Programme works to engage and challenge artists and audiences aesthetically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, politically or in ways new and unexpected.

Future Production Programme Open Call announcements will be made on our website, with details on the application procedures and contact information.

History

The Production Programme was originally launched alongside Sharjah Biennial 9 in 2009 and has become one of the Foundation’s core initiatives. In this first cycle, over 500 submissions were received, 230 applications were considered and 28 projects selected for production and presentation in the Biennial.

Productions included Sharif Waked’s poetic video To Be Continued (2009), where what appears to be the last testimony of a ‘suicide bomber’ unfolds as an attempt to escape mortality through the never-ending recitation of One Thousand and One Nights. This work is now in the collections of the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Another work produced in 2009 was Lamya Gargash’s The Majlis (2008-2009), a series of elegant photographs that document empty formal spaces within the Emirati home and provide an evocative glimpse into domestic and social life while reasserting the viewer’s position as an outsider.

2010 Awards

In 2010 the Foundation gave awards to Bani Abidi and the collective CAMP (Critical Art and Media Practices, with artists Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran, and Sanjay Bhangar). Both of these works were premiered in Documenta 13.

2012 Awards

The 2012 Production Programme grants were awarded to artists Sean Gullette, Mario Rizzi and Lindsay Seers. 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.

2014 Awards

Seven artists were selected by Sharjah Art Foundation to receive support for the realisation of new projects in 2014. The SAF Production Programme grantees were Marwa Arsanios, Elena Artemenko, Ali Cherri, Ahmad Ghossein, Jumana Manna, Zineb Sedira and Raed Yassin.

The 2014 recipients of the Production Programme grants were selected by an international jury comprising Tarek Abou El Fetouh,independent curator, Pooja Sood, Director of Khoj International Artists' Association, and Hoor Al-Qasimi.

2016 Awards

The 2016 awardees selected by Sharjah Art Foundation were Sarah Abu Abdallah, Mohamed Fariji, Rula Halawani, Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn, Khaled Kaddal, Basir Mahmood , Amina Menia, Khaled Sabsabi and Mariam Suhail. Grantees also included Haegue Yang / Eric Baudelaire, recognised for a collaborative proposal.

The 2016 recipients of the Production Programme grants were selected out of over 200 applications by an international jury comprising Hicham Khalidi (Associate Curator, Lafayette Anticipation, Fondation d'entreprise Galeries Lafayette, France) and Alia Swastika (Director, Biennale Jogjia 13 and Programme Director, Ark Galerie, Indonesia).

2018 Awards

The awardees of the 2018 Production Programme grant were announced at the opening of the foundation’s March Meeting 2018: Active Forms.

Ghassan Salhab, Doa Aly, Taus Machacheva, Joe Namy, Mounira al Solh, Fatma Belkıs and Onur Gökmen were announced as the recipients of the 2018 Production Programme grant.

2020 Awards

Ten artists were selected by Sharjah Art Foundation to receive support for the realisation of new projects in 2020. The SAF Production Programme awardees were Abdessamad El Montassir, Basma al-Sharif, Jumana Emil Abboud, Köken Ergun, Moad Musbahi, Mohammad Abdelkarim, Noor Abuarafeh, PAK Khawateen Painting Club, Philip Rizk, and Mohannad Yaqubi.

The 2020 recipients of the Production Programme grants were selected by an international jury comprising of Agustin Perez Rubio, Iftikhar Dadi and Lara Khaldi.