DUBAI.- Art Dubai Projects commissions artists to create new, site-specific works, exhibited at the fair, March 18-21, 2015, as part of an expansive not-for-profit programme. Artists selected for the 2015 programme include: Jumana Emil Abboud, Rheim Alkadhi, Maria Thereza Alves, Mehraneh Atashi, Fari Bradley and Chris Weaver, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Jessica Mein, Hind Mezaina, Mehreen Murtaza, Sharmeen Syed, and the collective Umashankar and the Earchaeologists.

Both A.i.R Dubai residencies and Art Dubai Commissions are curated by Lara Khaldi, an independent curator based between Ramallah and Amsterdam who previously curated the Jerusalem Show and Riwaq Biennial, Palestine (2012) and was Assistant Director for programmes at Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2009-11). “I have been working with both the residents of A.i.R Dubai and the commissioned artists to draw common threads in their work in order to find aesthetic and intellectual affinities,” says Lara Khaldi, Art Dubai Projects curator.

A.i.R Dubai, the residency programme run by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Tashkeel, Delfina Foundation and Art Dubai, returns to Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood for the fourth year. This three-month programme sees six artists develop their projects for Art Dubai while in-residence in the UAE, working together in studios, and taking part in an expanded outreach programme of talks, reading groups, screenings, publications and open studios.

In 2015, the residency programme is particularly diverse: UAE-based artists selected via a competitive Open Call include the established, Khorfakkan-based artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim; photographer and writer Hind Mezaina; Sharmeen Syed, whose practice references architectural research; and painter and multi-media artist Jessica Mein. The artists joining them in the residency from abroad are the Amsterdam-based, former Rijksakademie resident Mehraneh Atashi, who works in photography, video and installation and has been recently pre-occupied with the concept of entropy, as well as Beirut-based artist Rheim Alkadhi, who weaves poetic collages from objects, texts, and images.

Art Dubai Commissions gives regional and international artists the opportunity to develop dynamic site-specific works for both the grounds of the fair and the city-at-large. All five commissions are developed with local and international partner organisations: the collaborative model is designed to extend the life and influence of the project beyond the fair in March.

Palestinian multi-media artist Jumana Emil Abboud is in-residence at the Delfina Foundation in London, and developing ideas for an interactive installation and performance work for Art Dubai. Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, is supporting this project and will follow up by presenting Abboud’s project beyond Art Dubai, in 2015-2016.

Umashankar and the Earchaeologists – a collective comprised of artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, curator Nida Ghouse and scientist Umashankar Manthravadi – embark on a two-year commission with Art Dubai Projects, investigating the nature of ‘acoustic archaeology’, or how sound can influence our understanding of ancient – and contemporary – sites. The project, supported by the British Council, will manifest through an audio essay in 2015, building up to a multifaceted project at Art Dubai 2016.

Fari Bradley and Chris Weaver return to Art Dubai in 2015 with a major new sound installation and performance based on their research in the UAE, where they have been based as artists-inresidence at Tashkeel for the past year. This work is developed for Art Dubai Commissions in partnership with Tashkeel.

In 2015, Art Dubai Commissions also presents works outside the fair’s grounds, collaborating with Alserkal Avenue to commission renowned Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves to develop a garden from reclaimed dormant seeds in the UAE, while Lahore-based artist Mehreen Murtaza is creating an interactive installation that references narratives of science fiction, among other themes. Both artists are working with the industrial environment of Alserkal Avenue, where the works will be exhibited.

Art Dubai Projects also includes film and radio: in 2015, as part of Marker: Latin America, curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, Videobrasil has been invited to present curated programmes in the Art Dubai Cinema. The live radio station, meanwhile, is programmed by Campus Art Dubai Core’s class of 2014-15, and features sound projects, interviews and commentary, developed as part of the six-month course for UAE-based artists, curators and writers.