qatar museums authority and fondazione prada host curatorial award

qatar museums authority and fondazione prada host curatorial award
 

in an ever expanding digital and social sphere, the term ‘curator’ is quickly becoming less and less limited to professionals working in museums and galleries. a testament to this growing trend is the very first award dedicated to finding fresh and original curatorial talent, appropriately named ‘curate’. hosted by the qatar museums authority and fondazione prada, the global competition seeks to challenge the standardized notions of a static exhibition space, and push ingenuity and imagination to a new class. without any parameters in media, scale, content and format, participants — introduced as either an individual or a team — have been asked to envision the exhibition of their dreams, emphasizing ideas that are far-sighted, critical to the future and culturally relevant.

rob montgomery
fire poem shot 3 test for new york
image courtesy of the artist

a world-class jury will evaluate the entries: her excellency sheikha al mayassa bint hamad al-thani, chairperson, qatar museums authority; miuccia prada, president, fondazione prada; rem koolhaas, architect, urban theorist, founder, OMA; nadine labaki, lebanese film-maker and actress; nawal el moutawakel, vice president, international olympic committee and the first woman from a muslim majority country to win an olympic gold medal; and hans ulrich obrist, co-director, serpentine gallery, london. 

natalie czech
a poem by repetition by allen ginsberg, 2013
courtesy of the artist/vg bildkunst, courtesy capitain petzel, berlin & kadel willborn, düsseldorf
finalist adnan yldiz – mutterzunge

a shortlist of 20 finalists (listed below) has been announced, chosen from more than 500 submissions from 63 countries. each participant was asked to provide a 2-minute long curatorial concept video and an explanatory abstract. each entry differed in geographical origins, theme, application and approach, yet have been united by a common objective: offering a completely original curatorial idea. the winner, which will be announced in may 2014, will have the unprecedented opportunity to curate the exhibition of his/her dreams.  

nacho ruiz
‘collapsed city’

in a statement on behalf of the curate jury, it was said: ‘the notion of ‘curating’ no longer belongs just to the museum. with the development of digital and social media, it has now become possible for anyone to participate in the selection, editing and communication of ideas. we hope that people, whatever their age or background, will make the most of the opportunity offered by curate to think about the future potential of exhibition making, where there are no imposed boundaries to media, scale, content and formats. ideas, whether from the fields of science or the arts, can come from anywhere.’

bedwyr williams
curator cake
courtesy frieze projects/grizedale arts
finalist cedar lewisoh & mike knowlden, ready meals

svenja wichmann and anna bründl
picasso in my casa
image © bruendl.wichmann

A12
notes for short future city, 2013
courtesy of pinksummer

galaxy, 2008-2013
artificial coins; mini painting on flatted coin
photo by ni youyu studio
private collection
finalist xiang liping – copyleft

maria loizidou
directly mild – exhibition space overview
courtesy of socratesstratis (for aa&u)

the finalists’ shortlist includes:

– a fuego, rodrigo orrantia gómez (colombia, 1977)
– an informal settlement, claire breukel (usa, 1979
– camping park, rodrigo vilhena (portugal, 1968)
– collapsed city, nacho ruiz (spain, 1975)
– continuity – syrian city paintings, róza el-hassan (syria, 1966)
– copyleft, liping xiang (china, 1976)
– directly mild, maria loizidou (cyprus, 1958)
– eating habits, alice liechtenstein (austria, 1978)
– epigenetic space, john-paul pryor and alessandra cianchetta (uk)
– erase, federico pepe (italy, 1976)
– extinct in the wild, michael wang (usa, 1981)
– metaphorest, habu kazuhito and yuki yoshioka (japan)
– mutterzunge, misal adnan yıldız (turkey, 1979)
– outlives, josé arispe (bolivia, 1985)
– picasso in my casa, svenja wichmann and anna bründl (germany)
– ready meals, cedar lewisohn and mike knowlden (uk)
– s.f.c. – the short future city, a12 (italy)
– the border, evelyn simons (belgium, 1989)
– the power of words exhibition, omneya kilany and nabil al nashar (qatar)
– the reader digested, matthew claudel, carlo ratti and gianluigi ricuperati (usa)

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