THE APART LONDON SUMMER SHOW 2011

55-57 Great Marlborough St, London W1F 7JX

We are very happy to have secured another interesting spot for our summer show this year, namely the old Grant and Cutler premises on Great Marlborough St. Although it will need a bit of TLC to get it up and running as a gallery, it has the potential to be one of the best we have had, with old parquet flooring, plenty of light and high ceilings. The show will run from May 26th to August 20th and will as usual showcase the works of artists and Designer shuch as Hassan Hajjaj. Hope to see you there.

Strike OpPose @ Barjeel Art Foundation

March 11 - July 30, 2011

A play on words of the expression “strike a pose”, the words “strike oppose” in conversation may sound like a command to model oneself for a camera snapshot, however on closer inspection the phrase comprises two words that denote resistance.

Almost everything these days is broadcast or communicated over the internet, TV or radio. Be it live news reports on natural disasters, the infidelity of a political official, an execution undertaken by terrorists, a panda sneeze getting 2.4 million hits on YouTube, or a 13-year-old’s RT #AWESOME coffee date with BFF @HotBunny15 – we are in a constant state of posing for or assembling in an audience.

The vast intake and exchange of all forms of openly sourced content is often uncritically accepted under a guise of reality. In this exhibition we examine how Arabs are both represented and projected in the ever-streaming flow of communication. The artworks inspect different forms of opposition or acquiescence to media, government regulation, kitsch and consumer culture, vanity, social taboo, injustice and mindless hogwash.

Location:
Maraya Art Centre - level 2
Al Qasba
Al Taawun Road
Sharjah

Le Salon, part of Play gound @ Leicester

Play Ground
5th February – 8th May 2011
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery (in partnership with The City Gallery)

An exhibition where play is as important as the ideas it may stimulate.

Cory Arcangel, Angela Bulloch, Marcel Duchamp, Hassan Hajjaj, Chris Marker, Takashi Murata, Bob and Roberta Smith, Annika Strom, Mungo Thomson *, Erwin Wurm.

At an art gallery we usually have to follow a series of rules. Don’t touch the work, don’t run, don’t shout, don’t play. Don’t, in short, have fun. We thought it would be good to try something else – this exhibition shows contemporary artists that treat the gallery like a fairground rather than a quiet space.

The exhibition features Hassan Hajjaj’s Le Salon, a Moroccan influenced café, American artist Mungo Thomson’s production of a large inflatable as an artwork. Angela Bulloch’s light installations that respond to the audience chanting football songs and Erwin Wurm’s prints giving instructions on how to turn yourself into a sculpture for one minute.

So welcome to Play Ground, where we can touch the art (at least most of it), where we can shout and sing and where you should have fun. In this exhibition the play is as important as the ideas it may stimulate.

'Africa: See you, See Me.' in Italy

FONDAZIONE STUDIO MARAGONI
Firenze, Via San Zanobi 32r – 50129

Dates: February 17, 2011 – April 22, 2011

OFFICINE FOTOGRAFICHE
ROMA, Via Giuseppe Libetta, 1 - 00154

Dates: April 27, 2011 – May 31, 2011

Curator : Professor Awam Amkpa New York University


The exhibition, sponsored by Africa.Cont , explores the experience of African immigrants in Europe and offers new perspectives and frameworks of analysis in relation to its presence in Europe.

Through photography, the exhibition presents several stories of African migrants since its uncertain voyage from Africa to Europe, to multiple forms of engagement and building community ties in Europe.

With nearly 100 works that focus on communities in Italy, France and Spain, the exhibition will also give particular importance to some examples in Portugal, where the curator has established contacts with several photographers and associations working in geographical areas marked by the African presence.

Le Salon in le Play Ground

Play Ground
5th February – 8th May 2011
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery (in partnership with The City Gallery)
Cory Arcangel, Angela Bulloch, Marcel Duchamp, Hassan Hajjaj, Fischli and Weiss, Takashi Murata, Bob and Roberta Smith, Mungo Thomson, Erwin Wurm.

At an art gallery we usually have to follow a series of rules. Don’t touch the work, don’t run, don’t shout, don’t play. Don’t, in short, have fun. We thought it would be good to try something else – this exhibition shows contemporary artists that treat the gallery like a fairground rather than a church.

The exhibition features Hassan Hajjaj’s Le Salon, a Moroccan influenced café, American artist Mungo Thomson’s production of a large inflatable as an artwork. Angela Bulloch’s light installations that respond to the audience chanting football songs, amazing films of mechanical wonders by Fischli and Weiss and Erwin Wurm’s prints giving instructions on how to turn yourself into a sculpture for one minute.

So welcome to Play Ground, where we can touch the art (at least mostof it), where we can shout and sing and where you should have fun. In this exhibition the play is as important as the ideas it may stimulate.

ʻLe Salonʼ for the Jameel Prize, Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul, Turkey

11.Nov.2010 - 09.Jan.2011
“The Jameel Prize 2009” exhibition of Victoria & Albert Museum in London, organised by Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), opens its doors on November 12, 2010. The Prize, which is given to contemporary artists and designers who are inspired by the Islamic art and culture, aims to raise awareness of the thriving interaction between contemporary practice and the rich artistic heritage of Islam, and to contribute to a broader debate about Islamic culture. The inaugural prize was won by New York-based Iranian-born artist Afruz Amighi for her submission, 1001 Pages (2008), and will be shown alongside works by the 8 shortlisted artists and designers. The Jameel Prize 2009, which is an exhibition of contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition, can be seen until January 9, 2011.

"Always moving forward"...

... is a survey of recent work produced by artists from various regions in Africa, responding to emerging technologies, transitioning landscapes, rampant globalization and the forces of capitalism - including the influence of advertising. These artists are linked by a sensibility that has evolved as an intuitive response to the persistent pressure of our media-saturated society. Their new expressions are important developments in the art of image-making and together create a powerful dialogue.

At the Gallery 44, toronto - May 1 to May 29

Curated by Kenneth Montague, featuring:

MOHAMED BOUROUISSA

MOHAMED CAMARA

CALVIN DONDO

SAMUEL FOSSO

HASSAN HAJJAJ
BOUCHRA KHALILI

ANTONY KIMANI

LEBOHANG MASHILOANE

AïDA MULUNEH

DAWIT L. PETROS
ZWELETHU MTHETHWA

GUY TILLIM

ANDREW TSHABANGU

NONTSIKELELO ‘LOLO’ VELEKO

Jameel Prize

9 contemporary Artists and Designers inspired by Islamic traditions of craft and design reflecting the richness and diversity. The pieces exhibited vary in scale, and the media employed ranges from jewellery to photomontage to turned woodwork to screen prints. The works show how dynamic Islamic tradition can be, and how complex and eloquent the art and design inspired by this tradition has become...

It was at the V&A last summer, it went to Riyadh and it is now at the National Museum in Damascus City (Syrian Arab Republic) until the 19th of May.

The Jameel Prize in Saudi Arabia

The Jameel Prize (shown at the V&A September 09) has arrived in Saudi Arabia and the exhibition is currently being installed at the National Museum, Riyadh, where it will open to the public from Saturday 23rd January until the 30th January.

The exhibition will be presented by Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs, who are funding the whole tour.
We are hoping His Excellency Dr Abdulaziz Khojah (Saudi Arabia's Minister of Information and Culture) will enjoy sitting in "Le Salon" during the VIP event next Tuesday, 26 January 2010.

After its showing in Riyadh, it will then travel to Damascus (location tbc). The exhibition will travel to the Beiteddine Palace in Lebanon, the summer residence of the President and venue for the annual Beiteddine arts festival, from July to August.
More venues in the Midle East and North Africa to be confirmed.

“1430 in CASA”

Hassan is the one launching Matisse Art Gallery in Casablanca.
Nabil EL MALLOUKI and Youssef FALAKY the owners of the Marrakesh based gallery have edited a deliciously witty bunch of pictures.
“1430 in CASA” is a visual celebration of Hassan’s Morocco, and Hassan’s friends.
Youssef Adel, Amina Annabi, Hindi Zahra, Marwan, Said, Saida, the Henna Girls from Jamaa al-Fna … are just some friends, or accountancies who have collaborated with Hassan. Being musicians, choreographers, artists, or craft-men and women, they are all the more essential in Hassan’s attempt to capture the share attitudes and expression.


"We Love Morocco" 2007/1427 (111,8 x 76,2 cm)

Through this selection of new and old work you are invited to share Hassan’s cheerful vision, discovering bridged cultures and generation.



Private view on the 20th Nov, from 7pm.
The exhibition goes on till the 5th Dec 2009

Matisse Art Gallery - N°2 rue du 6 octobre, (ex rue de la convention), Anfa, Casablanca.

1430 as the Islamic year for 2009. And CASA as home, or Casablanca!

Hassan was back from Bamako...

Hassan's solo show in Bamako was overwhelming, spiced by many beautiful encounters. Is has received a positive critics like french reader can read here.
The Biennial is going on until December, if you pass by please send us your photo!
Hassan asked people to pause in Le Salon:

Hassan @ Sotheby' s / London

CONTEMPORARY ARAB AND IRANIAN ART. 11-15 OCT.
Classic Saeeda, one of Hassan's Iconic piece is part of the Arab and Iranian Art auctions.
Exhibition from 12-5pm Sunday 11th & 9am-430pm Monday 12th to Thursday 15th October.
Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RT
Nearest Tubes: Bond Street and Oxford Circus
Auction 3pm Friday 16th October.



If you check the link and watch the video, Hassan's work is the 4th one discussed

Hassan @ the Bamako Encounters

Hassan is part of the Bamako Encounters in the "Monographs" which focus on 7 artists and their particular visions of borders.
Statement
Hassan Hajjaj left Morocco to live in London when he was still an adolescent. Obliged to create himself out of both African and European references, in his work he puts together a multicoloured world in which the great Western trademarks mingle with Islamic traditions. On the borderline between the kitsch and the playful, Hassan Hajjaj plays with Orientalist references and stereotypes to reveal portraits of character behind the veil of the superficial. He thus questions our insatiable desire to set boundaries, making use of a sometimes sarcastic humour that enables him to raise the essential question of what makes identity.

Bamako Encounters, Biennial of African Photography, 7 Nov - 7 Dec

Held every two years since 1994 based on research work conducted all over Africa, the Bamako Encounters, Biennial of African Photography seek to promote regional integration and facilitate North-South cultural exchanges by creating an international cultural centre in Bamako that testifies to the wealth and vitality of the photography produced on the continent. These Encounters constitute an opportunity for exchange and dialogue enabling African photographers to show off their talents, to meet one another, and to reveal their works to the world. But they are also a window that enables the general neophyte photography public to get to know photography as a means of expression. This is, obviously, an international artistic and cultural event, co-produced by the Ministry of Culture and Culturesfrance.
Samuel Sidibé Delegate General of the 8th Bamako Encounters