The Richard Mille Art Prize 2024 – an award and $60,000 – has gone to the Tunisian artist Nicène Kossentini for her video work Landscapes, shown at Louvre Abu Dhabi along with the four other artists shortlisted for the Art Here show.
The Richard Mille prizewinner is chosen from the Art Here artists. The theme for this year’s Art Here was ‘Awakenings’, and Nicène Kossentini (below, with her award) hit the brief on several levels – her work challenges how we perceive the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of the world around us. Landscapes comprises five video pieces depicting desolate landscapes from central and southern Tunisia; as the images unfold, they gradually freeze and fade beneath a layer of wax, symbolising the gradual erasure of these places and inviting viewers to shift from passive observation to active contemplation of the fragility of time and existence.
As the artist put it: “Landscapes is an exploration of disappearance, both the physical and emotional erasure of the world around us. The landscapes I film in Tunisia, often abandoned or forgotten, serve as metaphors for the fragility of time and memory …
“With this recognition, I am deeply honoured to be part of a community that values not only the aesthetic dimensions of art, but also the stories and questions it provokes. I hope Landscapes invites viewers to reflect on what we are losing and, perhaps, to open their eyes to the urgency of what remains.”
The winner was selected by a jury of five-member jury, led by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, art collector, chairman of UAE Unlimited, and a patron of several international institutions including the Pompidou and Sharjah Art Foundation. Jury members were Guilhem André, Director of Scientific Curatorial and Collection Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi; Simon Njami, the guest curator for the Art Here 2024 exhibition; Nujoom Alghanem, noted Emirati poet, artist and film director; and Maya Allison, Chief Curator at NYU Abu Dhabi and founding director of the NYUAD Art Gallery.
Simon Njami said it had not been easy to choose a winner, given the quality of the shortlisted works; but the jury had concluded that Nicène Kossentini’s work “best responded to the multitude of questions posed by the theme and its various interpretations … explored in a manner that was both subtle and poetic, yet profoundly impactful”.
The other works featured in the fourth edition of Art Here were Tilling the Soil by Férielle Doulain-Zouari; Debutante Ball by Lamya Gargash; The Brides of the Sky by Moataz Nasr; and Shared Motion by Sarah Almehairi.
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