Abu Dhabi’s 421 has announced the artists, curators and collectives selected for its 2023 and 2024 capacity building programmes.
They include Lina Ramadan, Paribartana Mohanty, and Ritika Biswas for the Curatorial Development Program 2023; Yasamin Ghalehnoie, Aarti Sunder, Pak Khawateen Painting Club, Lujaine Rizk, Asim Waqif and Lantian Xie with Planetary Kunsthalle for the Artistic Research Grantees 2023—24; and Salem AlSuwaidi, Yara Al Asmar, Roger Mokbel, Walid Al Wawi, Chahine Fellahi and Kais Aiouch (Kimia Collective), and Pratyush Pushkar and Riya Raagini (Bariya Studio) for the Homebound Residency Program 2023.
421’s capacity building programmes serve as a platform for young and emerging practitioners to launch their careers in the fields of visual arts, design and architecture, film, new media, literary arts and performance. The participants receive financial resources including grants as well as professional and educational support to work on new projects.
The 15 participants of the 2023—24 cycle will develop curatorial and artistic research projects that grapple with issues surrounding ecology, natural resources, rural communities, social evolution and environmental change.
Read on for more information about each programme.
Curatorial Development Program 2023: Ritika Biswas will curate a show bringing together practitioners from the Global South, including artists, writers, poets, thinkers, filmmakers, activists and researchers, whose work deals with the climate crisis; while Paribartana Mohanty’s group exhibition will examine responses to environmental destruction across borders. Lina Ramadan will produce and edit a publication based on her research on The Crystalist Manifesto, a declaration by the 1970s Crystalist School in Khartoum. The shows and publication will be presented as part of 421’s Fall 2023 Program.
Artistic Research Grant 2023-24: Yasamin Ghalehnoie, Aarti Sunder, Lujaine Rizk, Asim Waqif, Pak Khawateen Painting Club and Lantian Xie with Planetary Kunsthalle will explore the following themes: ecological issues, rural communities, environmental change, social evolution, traditional crafts, ecology, natural resources and human engagement with the environment. The projects will be published in 2024 as a series of artist books outlining the processes and outcomes of the grant.
Homebound Residency Program 2023: Salem AlSuwaidi, Yara Al Asmar, Roger Mokbel, Walid Al Wawi, Chahine Fellahi and Kais Aiouch (Kimia Collective), and Pratyush Pushkar and Riya Raagini (ba Riya Studio) were selected as participants in this six-month online residency, which explores community, urban spaces and the digital realm. Sara bint Safwan, founder of Banat Collective and the inaugural recipient of the Curatorial Development Program in 2020, has been appointed as interlocutor of this year’s edition.
