Curators Till Fellrath, left, and Sam Bardaouil. Courtesy National Pavilion UAE
Curators Till Fellrath, left, and Sam Bardaouil. Courtesy National Pavilion UAE
Curators Till Fellrath, left, and Sam Bardaouil. Courtesy National Pavilion UAE
Curators Till Fellrath, left, and Sam Bardaouil. Courtesy National Pavilion UAE

Curators of next UAE National Pavilion say they want to ‘do something that hasn’t been explored’


Melissa Gronlund
  • English
  • Arabic

The UAE National Pavilion has announced Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath as its curators for the next Venice Biennale, which opens next May.

The two are well known in the UAE art world: they are the curators behind the current Ways of Seeing show at the Art Gallery at NYU Abu Dhabi, and last March they organised That Feverish Leap into the Fierceness of Life, a survey of five Middle Eastern modernist movements that was held in the Modern section of Art Dubai.

"We've been coming here for years and we know a lot of artists' practices," says Lebanese-­born Bardaouil. "We're interested in shedding light or showing things that people don't expect or that has been less represented in previous editions, perhaps coming from different disciplines."

Bardaouil was an assistant professor of art history and performance studies at the American University in Dubai from 2005 to 2008, when he was offered a position teaching art history at the Tisch School of Arts, part of New York University.

It was in New York that Bardaouil met Fellrath, a German former professor of economics at LSE who was then the managing director of the Chelsea Art Museum. The two immediately began collaborating, with the show Iran Inside Out – which launched just as the Green Revolution was getting under way in 2009 – and ItaliaArabia, which explored connections between Arab and Italian artists.

The success of these exhibitions led them to formalise their partnership, with the moniker Art: ­Reoriented, and they have since gained a reputation for well-­researched, scholarly historical shows and their focus on the Middle East. Their biggest project, Art and Liberty: Rupture, War and Surrealism in Egypt (1938-1948), investigated the little-known works of Egyptian surrealists and exhibited at locations including the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Tate Liverpool.

They also bring their pedagogical backgrounds to shows of contemporary work: for the instalment of Jeddah art week 21, 39 – which they curated last year – they initiated a year-long mentorship programme for the young Saudi artists they worked with, rather than focusing solely on the ultimate show.

For the Venice pavilion, Fellrath says, "We want to do something that hasn't been explored. We want to advance the discourse within the context of the National Pavilion. At the moment, we're looking at all the past editions to see how we can further the dialogue."

________________________

Read more: 

________________________

"We're very excited," Bardaouil adds. "It's a great platform to do something that can truly engage with all the preconceived notions of what this particular part of the world stands for and what they should or shouldn't do. It's a way of complicating the narrative and taking to a different level while still having something very artist-centred."

Last year's pavilion, curated by Hammad Nasar, focused on the notion of play via works by Nujoom Al Ghanem, Sara Al Haddad, Vikram Divecha, Lantian Xie and Mohamed Yousif. It was the fifth time the UAE participated in the biennial, which is a major art world event, and was the first time non-Emiratis participated in the country's representation.

The National Pavilion is supported by the Sheikha Salama bint Nahyan Foundation and overseen by Laila Binbrek. "I’ve known Sam and Till for a while and have been following their work over the last 8 years," Binbrek tells me. "In that time, they’ve produced some exceptional exhibitions and contributed valuable thinking to the cultural discourse of the region, so I’m delighted that they’ve been appointed to curate the National Pavilion UAE in 2019 following our rigorous selection process."

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega

Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 3/5

Bib%20Gourmand%20restaurants
%3Cp%3EAl%20Khayma%0D%3Cbr%3EBait%20Maryam%0D%3Cbr%3EBrasserie%20Boulud%0D%3Cbr%3EFi'lia%0D%3Cbr%3Efolly%0D%3Cbr%3EGoldfish%0D%3Cbr%3EIbn%20AlBahr%0D%3Cbr%3EIndya%20by%20Vineet%0D%3Cbr%3EKinoya%0D%3Cbr%3ENinive%0D%3Cbr%3EOrfali%20Bros%0D%3Cbr%3EReif%20Japanese%20Kushiyaki%0D%3Cbr%3EShabestan%0D%3Cbr%3ETeible%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Star%20Wars%3A%20Episode%20I%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Phantom%20Menace
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Big%20Ape%20Productions%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20LucasArts%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PC%2C%20PlayStation%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

Various Artists 
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
​​​​​​​

Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

Based: India, UAE and the UK

Industry: EdTech

Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
Sinopharm vaccine explained

The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades. 

“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.

"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."

This is then injected into the body.

"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.

"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."

The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.

Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.

“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.

box

COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Letstango.com

Started: June 2013

Founder: Alex Tchablakian

Based: Dubai

Industry: e-commerce

Initial investment: Dh10 million

Investors: Self-funded

Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month

The%20Iron%20Claw
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sean%20Durkin%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zac%20Efron%2C%20Jeremy%20Allen%20White%2C%20Harris%20Dickinson%2C%20Maura%20Tierney%2C%20Holt%20McCallany%2C%20Lily%20James%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A