Saudi Gazette report

DUBAI -- Art Jameel, an independent, international organization that supports arts, education and heritage in the Middle East, on Monday announced an open call for proposals to Art Jameel Commissions: Digital. Responding to unprecedented global events, the third cycle of Art Jameel’s multi-year commissioning program has been adjusted and expanded to include a new iteration designed for maximum audience engagement, regardless of location. The 2020 commission also provides an opportunity for mentoring by technical experts from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL).

Art Jameel Commissions is an annual, multi-year program, foundational to the programing of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai’s contemporary arts institution and a hub for exhibitions, educational and research initiatives. The digital focus of this year’s commissioning program simultaneously addresses Art Jameel’s long-standing commitment to a diverse, global public and current heightened realities of physical isolation.

Artists are invited to submit proposals through an online Open Call by the deadline of June 10, 2020 (midnight GST); the winning work will be selected by an esteemed jury through the summer, with the work to be launched and exhibited online for at least six months through 2020-21. The 2020-21 Art Jameel Commissions jury includes: Nadim Samman, Curator for the Digital Sphere at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Finnish word, living media and sound artist Jenna Sutela; Ben Vickers, publisher and Chief Technology Officer at the Serpentine Galleries, London; and members of Art Jameel’s curatorial team.

The first Art Jameel Commissions: Digital invites artists to propose engaging projects and artworks that create interactive experiences for online audiences. The commission focuses on the theme of ‘Time’ – thinking through how our usual concept of time has been challenged by technology and circumstance, and even at times appeared to be cancelled, lost or frozen. The commission also presents an opportunity to rethink and reboot our understanding of “digital art” and the ways in which it can question, investigate and form meaningful connections and experiences. This commission is primarily interested in ideas and experiences, rather than technological hard or software: submissions for Art Jameel Commissions: Digital should address a specific aspect of time today, and inventively translate this into a digital interface that helps us re-examine what time has been, is — or could be.

Art Jameel Commissions: Digital will grant the awardee a prize of $7,500, in addition to a dedicated production budget for their project, which will be hosted and promoted on or via Jameel Arts Center website. The winner will also receive curatorial support, both during the production process and during launch, and technical mentorship and support in collaboration with MIT J-WEL. The work will enter the collection of Art Jameel.

While the Jameel Arts Center is temporarily closed, in support of the UAE’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the institution has launched a rapid-response program that aims to support independent practitioners in the Middle East and provide global at-home audiences with innovative digital resources providing learning materials, insights into artists’ practices and creative experiences. Opportunities for artists include a new Research and Practice Platform, intended primarily for those who work on a per-project basis and whose practices have been affected by program cancellations and project changes, locally or globally.