This talk focused on the possibility of art in the age of globalisation, referencing 70 years of independence in Pakistan and India. The session addressed contemporary artists’ interpretations with territorial, cultural, religious and ethnic identities, which have led to the conflicts/concepts of our times and manifested in different forms of visual expression. Drawing from one’s own practices as a maker, curator and writer, the discussion will focus on the future of art, culture and society vis-à-vis a singular location and several locations.

Moderator: Quddus Mirza
Speakers: Fawzia Naqvi, Fareda Khan, Waqas Khan and Muhammad Zeeshan

Abraaj Group Art Prize Chairperson Dana Farouki in conversation with 2018 Prize winner, Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Curator Myriam Ben Salah.  The panel explored Abu Hamdan’s unique practice that involves sound investigation and the intersection with politics.  The winning commission expanded on Abu Hamdan’s revelatory work by presenting research in yet another new and exciting artistic form.  The panel explored his robust research-based practice and presented how the project evolved from proposal to final work.

Moderator: Dana Farouki
Speakers: Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Myriam Ben Salah

Stemming from French philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘heterotopia’, Myriam Ben Salah was in conversation with the shortlisted artists Basma Alsharif and Ali Cherri about their interest in places and spaces that function under non-hegemonic conditions. In the context of Dubai as the physical incarnation of a utopia par excellence, the speakers discussed their works as well as the way their practices both play with fictions, and challenges the idea of representation. They tackled their exploration of the fault lines of what we consider ‘reality’, ultimately creating a separate space for the advent of a truth.

Speakers: Basma Alsharif, Ali Cherri and Myriam Ben Salah