Samdani Art Foundation
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| Founder | Nadia Samdani & Rajeeb Samdani |
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| Website | http://samdani.com.bd/ |
The Samdani Art Foundation is a private foundation[1] based in Dhaka that aims to increase artistic engagement between Bangladesh and the rest of the world.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Founders
Founded in 2011 by collector couple[8][9] Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, the foundation has enabled Bangladeshi artists to expand their creative horizons through production grants, residencies, education programs, and exhibitions. The Foundation produces the bi-annual Dhaka Art Summit [10][11][12][13][14] , which is the world’s largest non-commercial platform for South Asian Art. The Foundation also collects art from all over the world, and the collection is available for Bangladeshi audiences to view (by appointment).
Founders Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani were recognized on the 2015 Top 200 Collectors list by Artnews.[15] Recently, they also joined the International Council of the Tate Museum. Works from Documenta, the Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennale have a permanent home in Bangladesh. The collection contains works by emerging Bangladeshi artists such as Ayesha Sultana as well as established international artists such as Ceal Floyer, Ai Wei Wei, Anish Kapoor, and Pedro Reyes.[16] The collection and foundation are run by American curator Diana Campbell Betancourt who is the Artistic Director of the foundation.[17] Works from the Samdani Art Foundation collection are exhibited all over the world through loan requests at exhibitions such as the Kunsthalle Basel,[18] Gwangju Biennial, and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum.
The Foundation
The Samdani Art Foundation collaborates with international institutions to increase scholarship and exhibition opportunities for South Asian Artists. The 2016 Dhaka Art Summit[19] will include curators from the Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and Kunsthalle Zurich. The Samdanis sit on the international leadership council of the New Museum in New York and Mr. Samdani is the co-Chair of he Tate South Asia Acquisitions committee.[20][21] The Samdani Art Foundation has supported international institutions such as the Kunsthalle Basel,[22] the 2nd Kochi Biennale, and the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia,[23][24] however the Foundation is not a grant making body and generally works with curatorial collaborations on an institutional level
The Collection
Major Collection Areas of the Samdani Art Foundation include Bangladeshi Contemporary Artists, Bangladeshi Masters & Moderns, Indian Contemporary Artists, Pakistani Contemporary Artists as well as major artists of the Bengal School of Art. The Samdani Art Foundation is thus well on its way to become the leading purveyor of Bangladeshi art.
Selected Areas and Artists of the Samdani Collection:
- Bangladeshi Contemporary Artists : Shishir Bhattacharjee, Shumon Ahmed, Tayeba Begum Lipi, Musrat Reazi, Naeem Mohaiemen
- Bangladeshi Masters and Moderns : Shahabuddin Ahmed, Kanak Champa Chakma, Qayyum Chowdhury, Rashid Chowdhury, Quamrul Hassan, Syed Jahangir, Kalidas Karmakar, S M Sultan
- Bengal School of Art : Nandalal Bose, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Manishi Dey, Mukul Dey, Binode Bihari Mukherjee, Jamini Roy, Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore
- Indian Contemporary Artists : Chitra Ganesh, Shilpa Gupta, Anish Kapoor, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Pushpamala N, C. K. Rajan, Hajra Waheed, Saravanan Parasuraman
- Pakistan Contemporary Artists : Ali Kazim, Anwar Jalal Shemza, Zahoor-ul Akhlaq
- Afghanistan : Khadim Ali
- Nepal : Tsherin Sherpa
- Sri Lanka : Lionel Wendt, Muhanned Cader
Samdani Award
The Samdani Art Award is Bangladesh's premier art award, aiming to support, promote and highlight Bangladeshi contemporary art. Artists between 20 and 40 years working in Bangla Desh are eligible to receive the award. The Samdani Art Award partners with the Delfina Foundation in London, offering the winner a three-month residency with the Delfina Foundation in London.
Recipients:
- 2012 Khaled Hasan, Photographer and Murat Reazi
- 2014 Ayesha Sultana, Visual Artists
- 2016 Rasel Chowdhury, Photographer
References
- ^ The Art Market: Spring in the air Financial Times April 14, 2012
- ^ South Asian art to find new platform at first Dhaka summit Times of India March 22, 2012
- ^ India Art Fair organisers to help set up Dhaka Art Fair IBN Live April 9, 2012
- ^ First Dhaka Art Summit in Bangladesh From April 12–15 EF Times March 23, 2012
- ^ Entries called for Dhaka Art Summit Holiday February 10, 2012
- ^ South Asia becomes new global art hub Hindustan Times April 25, 2012
- ^ Master strokes Dhaka Art Summit in April The Daily Star February 7, 2012
- ^ Collector's corner Business Standard March 3, 2012
- ^ Samdani to create another history The News Today March 11, 2012
- ^ Art scaling heights The Hindu April 11, 2012
- ^ South Asian art to find new platform at first Dhaka summit India vision June 25, 2012
- ^ Inaugural Edition of the Dhaka Art Summit 12-15 April 2012 in Dhaka, Bangladesh India Education Diary April 2, 2012
- ^ Bangladesh Strives to be the New ‘India’ of Art The Wall Street Journal April 10, 2012
- ^ Bangladesh’s first art summit (and a hope to be the new India) Flash Art online April 11, 2012
- ^ 2015 TOP 200 COLLECTORS
- ^ Collector's corner Business Standard November 9, 2014
- ^ Putting Bangladesh on the Arts Map The New York Times
- ^ [1]
- ^ Dhaka Art Summit e-flux
- ^ COLOMBO ART BIENNALE
- ^ Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani nominated for Forbes India Art Award The Daily Star 8 March 2014
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]