Art Basel Hong Kong Discoveries Prize winner announced: Nadia Kaabi-Linke wins 25,000 USD prize

HONG KONG.- Art Basel today announced Nadia Kaabi-Linke, presented by Experimenter, Kolkata (Booth 1C53), as the winner of the 25,000 USD Discoveries Prize at the second edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong. The Discoveries sector showcases solo and two-person exhibitions by emerging artists from across the world.

The artist was chosen by an expert panel of judges including: Cosmin Costinas, Outset Curator of Contemporary Art and Executive Director of Para/Site Art Space, HK; Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director of the 2014 Biennale of Sydney and Artistic Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Sydney; and Elaine Ng, Editor and Publisher of ArtAsiaPacific Magazine.

Nadia Kaabi-Linke’s artwork ‘In confinement my desolate mind desires’ explores the ‘notion of confinement, its multifaceted physical, psychological and social implications’. Employing painting, printmaking and sculpture, the artwork reflects the breadth of the artist’s practice.

Nadia Kaabi-Linke was born in Tunis and lives and works in Berlin. Her installations, objects and pictorial works are embedded in urban contexts, intertwined with memory and geographically and politically constructed identities. Solo exhibitions include “No One Harms Me” (2013) at Experimenter, “Black is the New White” (2012) Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, UAE, and “Tatort/Crime Scene” (2010) at Christian Hosp Gallery in Berlin, Germany. She has participated in group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA, the Nam June Paik Art Center at Seoul, Korea (2013); the Liverpool Biennial, UK; Herbert F Johnson Museum, Ithaca, NY, USA (2012); and 54th Venice Biennial in Italy (2011). Her works are part of several public and private collections including the Kamel Lazaar Foundation and MoMA, New York, amongst others.

The jury said: ‘The judges in awarding the Discovery Prize were looking for work prepared to take risks but demonstrating a strength in aesthetics and content and a confidence of artistic language. The jury ultimately selected Nadia Kaabi-Linke whose entire presentation explores the body, trauma, entrapment and silence in an eloquent camouflage of minimal materials.’

27 galleries are participating in Discoveries, including 55, Shanghai (Qingtai Hu); Aike- Dellarco, Shanghai (Hu Yun); Arataniurano, Tokyo (Toshiyuki Konishi); Hannah Barry Gallery, London (James Capper); BolteLang, Zurich (Daniel Gustav Cramer); Carroll / Fletcher, London (Christine Sun Kim); Thomas Erben Gallery, New York (Nadia Khawaja); Experimenter, Kolkata (Nadia Kaabi-Linke); Francesca Minini, Milan (Giulio Frigo); Carl Freedman Gallery, London (Ivan Seal); Gazelli Art House, London, Baku (Saad Qureshi); François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles (Neïl Beloufa, Sayre Gomez); Hales Gallery, London (Tom Price, Omar Ba); Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland (Nicola Farquhar); Karma International, Zurich (David Hominal, Pamela Rosenkranz); Monitor, Rome (Ian Tweedy); mother’s tankstation, Dublin (Noel McKenna); Mujin-to Production, Tokyo (Ryohei Usui, Yukihiro Taguchi); Galeria Plan B, Berlin, Cluj (Ciprian Muresan, Serban Savu); RaebervonStenglin, Zurich (Dane Mitchell); Rokeby, London (Bettina Buck); Take Ninagawa, Tokyo (Taro Izumi); Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam (David Haines); Utopian Slumps, Melbourne (Jake Walker); Weingrüll, Karlsruhe (Maeghan Reid, Sascha Pohle); Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, London (Hugo Canoilas) and Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai (Cheng Ran).

Discoveries features 11 galleries exhibiting for the first time in Hong Kong: Hannah Barry Gallery, London (James Capper); Carroll / Fletcher, London (Christine Sun Kim); Thomas; Erben Gallery, New York (Nadia Khawaja); Experimenter, Kolkata (Nadia Kaabi- Linke); Carl Freedman Gallery, London (Ivan Seal); Gazelli Art House, London, Baku (Saad Qureshi); François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles (Neïl Beloufa, Sayre Gomez); Hales Gallery, London (Tom Price, Omar Ba); Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland (Nicola Farquhar) and Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam (David Haines).

The second edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong, Lead Partner UBS, opens to the public today, Thursday, May 15, and runs until Sunday, May 18, 2014 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The show presents 245 leading galleries from Asia, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world, and more than 3,000 artists, ranging from young emerging talents to the Modern masters from both Asia and the West.