Vereinigte Arabische Emirate

Independent curators and academics Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath will curate the UAE’s National Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, marking the UAE’s sixth participation in the International Art Exhibition since 2009.

Bardaouil and Fellrath are the Founders of the multidisciplinary curatorial platform Art Reoriented in Munich and New York, Chairmen of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation in Hamburg, and Affiliate Curators at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Bardaouil and Fellrath have jointly curated numerous critically acclaimed exhibitions at renowned museums and institutions worldwide, and have held teaching positions at universities including the London School of Economics and New York University. They are award-winning authors with contributions to academic journals, books, newspapers and art magazines.

“The National Pavilion UAE’s exhibition connects local and global cultural conversations. 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,” said Khulood Al Atiyat, Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage at the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, commissioner of the National Pavilion UAE.

“The UAE has a distinctive contemporary art scene consisting of a heterogeneous range of artists and cultural practitioners, said the curators, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. “Through our work in the region, we have met some remarkable artists who are responding in intriguing and creative ways to a rapidly evolving multicultural society. For this sixth edition of the Pavilion, we will follow a new curatorial approach that will highlight some previously unexplored multidisciplinary strands within the UAE’s diverse cultural landscape.”