Together with the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is introducing the third edition of the annual Jameel Prize, an international award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition, which kicks off with an exhibition on December 11th.
Presided over by the award-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the prize was born out of the museum’s Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which opened in 2006, and aims to prove that international artists can use Islamic traditions in contemporary works.
“This, the third Jameel Prize, has continued to attract nominations from around the world, and for the first time, the shortlist features work from Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and India,” stated Martin Roth, Victoria & Albert Museum Director. In fact, this year’s edition has received almost 270 nominations from which a panel of judges, chaired by Roth, selected the shortlist of ten artists and designers.
Participating artists include Turkish fashion designer, Dice Kayek; Azerbaijan carpet designer, Faig Ahmed; Lebanese product designer, Nada Debs; Moroccan multi-media artist, Mounir Fatmi; Indian textile designer, Rahul Jain; Pakistani painter, Waqas Khan; French installation artist, Laurent Mareschal; Saudi Arabian calligrapher, Nasser Al Salem ; French designer, Florie Salnot; and Lebanese typographer, Pascal Zoghbi. The showcased works range from Arabic typography and calligraphy, to fashion inspired by the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, to video installations.
“It’s the first time that fashion designers are nominated for the Jameel Prize. We’re extremely honored and happy to showcase our collection Istanbul Contrast,” explained Ayşe Ege, half of the Dice Kayek duo, in reference to a collection inspired by Istanbul’s former Ottoman rulers.
The first Jameel Prize exhibition took place in 2009 at the Victoria & Albert museum, before traveling to venues in the Middle East and North Africa. The Prize of GBP £25,000 (AED/SAR 150,105) will be awarded to the winner during the prize-giving ceremony on December 10th, on the eve of the exhibition, which will run until April 21st.
—Elisabeta Tudor
