Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath Named Curators of the 2019 Venice Biennale UAE National Pavilion

On October 2, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath were announced as the co-curators of the United Arab Emirates’ national pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. 

Khulood al-Atiyat, art, culture and heritage manager of the pavilion’s commissioner, the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, said about the appointment: “Through their extensive professional experience in the region, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath have already contributed to the nuanced conversations defining the UAE’s contemporary art scene. We look forward to sharing their unique perspective with the Biennale’s global audiences through an engaging, creative and insightful exhibition.” Bardaouil and Fellrath added that, in their presentation, they will be aiming to highlight “previously unexplored multidisciplinary strands within the UAE’s diverse cultural landscape.”

The duo are co-founders of the multidisciplinary curatorial platform Art Reoriented. They are also the chairmen of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation in Hamburg, affiliate curators at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, and have previously held teaching positions at the London School of Economics and New York University. Their recent exhibitions include: “Ways of Seeing,” 2017–18; “Art et Liberté: Rupture, War and Surrealism in Egypt (1938–1948),” 2016–18—both of which toured to multiple worldwide locations—“When Process Becomes Form: Dansaekhwa and Korean Abstraction,” 2016; “Mona Hatoum: Turbulence,” 2014; and the Lebanese Pavilion for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. Their exhibitions have been presented at  institutions such as the New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery; Centre Pompidou in Paris, Moderna Museet in Stockholm; Tate Liverpool; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha; and Arter in Istanbul. 

Bardaouil and Fellrath’s exhibition will mark the UAE’s sixth participation at the Venice Biennale. 

Dennis Mao is an editorial intern of ArtAsiaPacific.

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