Entitled “Forming in the Pupil of an Eye,” the biennial’s upcoming edition, curated by acclaimed Indian artist Sudarshan Shetty, engages with the theme of tradition. “Traditions develop over time within the context of a changing yet continuous community, and as Kochi-Muziris is first and foremost a ‘People’s Biennale,’ the idea of community and social engagement is also deeply embedded within the curation, with many of the participating artists presenting works motivated by political undertones,” explained Shetty. The complete list of participating artists can be found on e-flux.
Iranian artist Iran Darroudi, who turned 80 earlier this month, is funding a new museum in Tehran, which will house around 200 of her works, dating from the 1960s to today. City officials have donated a plot of land for the building, which will be located in the Yousef Abad neighbourhood of the city. The museum is scheduled to open in 2018. More via The Art Newspaper.
Josh Fraught and Ruth Laskey have been announced as the winners of the 2016 San Francisco Artadia Awards, which are given annually to Bay-Area based contemporary artists. They will both receive a prize of $10,000, and will be eligible for the National Artadia Award, the winner of which will be announced at the end of this year. Both artists work principally with textiles. Read more on Art News.
Emirati artist Hassan Sharif has passed away, aged 65. Sharif, who lived and worked in Dubai, was widely regarded as one of the most significant figures in the UAE contemporary art scene. In 2007, he was one of four artists to establish The Flying House, a Dubai institution for promoting contemporary Emirati artists. In 2009, Sharif was among the selected artists to represent the UAE at its first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The artist was buried this morning in Dubai. Full obituary on The National.
The Jerwood Drawing Prize, which was set up to promote the drawing practice of contemporary artists working in the UK, has announced its winners for 2016. Solveig Settemsdal, a Norwegian artist based in Bristol, has been awarded the First Prize of £8,000 for her video Singularity, which explores the sculptural potentials of the medium through the suspension of ink in cubes of gelatin. The Second Prize of £5,000 went to Danish artist Anna Sofie Jesperson, for her work in ball pen on tracing paper, Sid in Bathtub. More info on Art Forum.
Non-profit contemporary art organization Neon — founded in 2013 by Greek collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos — is funding a new cultural center in Athens, due to open on September 24. Neon has collaborated with the historic Athens Conservatoire to carry out a €180,000 refurbishment of its basement, which, after remaining disused for the last four decades, will be transformed into a 5,900-square-foot exhibition space. Two projects by Neon will inaugurate the new cultural centre: IdeasCity Athens, a five-day residency programme with 40 fellows, and the touring group exhibition Flying Over the Abyss, which features work by Matthew Barney, Hans Bellmer, Jenny Holzer and Kostas Ioannidis, and will run from November 2016 to January 2017. The Art Newspaper has more.
