Since 2010, the Art Dubai Commission has been inviting artists to create site-specific artworks, thus making the cultural landscape richer and supporting artists both from the region and abroad. Every year the programme’s format changes depending on the participating artists and general fair plan. In 2023, the programme will focus on the Global South. Using performance, food, and design, artists from South Asia will explore such themes as community, celebration, hope, and connection. The programme will be held in a purpose-built hall at the Art Dubai festival.
The artists who are participating in this year’s Art Dubai Commission are:
Anoli Perera (b. 1962, Colombo, Sri Lanka), a writer and visual artist. Her art practice involves the bricolage technique: she combines fragments from different written texts, raw materials, objects, and painted surfaces to create a textured surface. The artist’s work is focused on such topics as women’s and identity issues, history, and others.
Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969, Gaibandha District, Bangladesh), a multidisciplinary artist whose artistic practice includes paintings, printmaking, installations, and videos. Lipi explores a range of themes which include the politics of gender and female identity.
Thukral and Tagra: Jiten Thukral (b. 1976, Jalandhar, Punjab) and Sumir Tagra (b. 1979, New Delhi). Through painting, sculpting, installations, interactive games, video, performance, and design, this duo makes fun of and criticizes the consumer culture in India.
Lapdiang Syiem, a theatre artist, writer, and performer living and working in Meghalaya, India. Presenting Khasi folktales with a contemporary approach, she raises questions of gender and identity.
Gunjan Kumar (Punjab, India), an artist, independent scholar, and educator living in Chicago, USA. Kumar is interested in indigenous arts and crafts, prehistoric paintings and other tribal arts, which serves as a base for her art practice.
Prajakta Potnis (b. 1980, Mumbai, India), an artist who resides in Mumbai and works in photography, painting, sculpture, and installations. Her work is somewhere between the intimate world of the individual and the world outside.
Rathin Barman (b. 1981, Tripura, India), an engineer and artist residing in Kolkata, India. He considers architecture to be an anthropological tool; in his art, he aims to understand how the built environment and architecture adjusts itself to an influx of people over time.
Amol K Patil (b. 1987, Mumbai, India), a conceptual and performance artist from Mumbai. In his work, Patil questions the current situation of workers and casteism, seeking to connect the past, present and future.
To learn more about Art Dubai Commission, please visit its official web page.
You may also be interested in visiting Notations on Time, an exhibition featuring artists from South Asia and its diaspora.
