Dubai Culture is collaborating with Alserkal Arts Foundation to deliver a series of three projects under the Dubai Public Art umbrella. This is the third of five such collaborations that aim to bring art to the city’s public spaces; the shortlist for the Art Dubai commission (for an installation in Al Hudaiba park) has already been announced, and the Art Jameel call for a Playscape beside the Jameel Arts Centre is still open.
Now Alserkal Arts Foundation has outlined three more projects, one of which is at the Open Call stage. As the press release puts it, these public art commissions represent “a unique opportunity for artists, designers and architects to collaborate with an established, locally based curator in order to create an understanding of the impact and legacy of public art and the potential for meaningful social engagement in an urban heritage and museum context.”
This all fits well with Dubai Culture’s goal of promoting distinctive artistic interventions that will engage with the city and its individual neighbourhoods.
In Al Quoz, Sumayya Vally will curate a project that consider the area’s industrial past and creative future. Out in Hatta, Faysal Tabbarah’s project will respond to the landscape itself, “seeking interventions that respect the environment and transform relationships to it”.
But the first of these commissions will launch with an open call for Al Shindagha Historic District, where Munira Al Sayegh has been appointed curator to realise a process-driven and participatory commission. Saeed Mubarak bin Kharbash, CEO of the Arts and Literature Sector at Dubai Culture, commended the Foundation’s choice of Al Shindagha, a prominent historical area that has been witness to the establishment and development of the emirate. “Alserkal Arts Foundation’s decision to select it to be part of the map of the distribution of Dubai Public Art reflects its importance and place in community memory.”
Munira Al Sayegh said “Public art remains one of the most powerful forms of art as it becomes directly accessible to any public that is within its reach. Dubai Culture’s investment in this domain is important for the community that surrounds it, and for the generous narratives we are collectively building for our shared future.”
Her open call is for artists, designers and architects to propose “a project that engages deeply with the multiple histories and temporalities of the neighbourhoods around Dubai Creek”. Under the title ‘Lamma | Coming Together’, the project is intended to be programme-led, with proposals rooted in public participation and encouraging public participation in determining the final outcome.
The Open Call process will produce a shortlist of three proposals (the selection committee will include the curator and “experienced arts professionals”) and one will be selected in concert with Dubai Culture. The finalist will then be invited to work closely with the curator to develop and deliver the project and associated programming – which could include workshops, talks, focus and study groups, oral history projects, walks or boat rides; “we encourage applicants to be innovative with formats to engage with the context of Al Shindagha Museum and to inspire the local public to participate”, says the blurb.
The programme will need to be delivered this summer, with the 3D project being launched in the autumn “at a prominent location right by the Creek”.
The Open Call closes on 16 April. We have details here.
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