Getting to know Dana Farouki, the new chairperson of the Abraaj Group Art Prize

The Abraaj Group Art Prize (AGAP) enters its eighth year with a new chair: Palestinian-American art collector, curator and patron Dana Farouki. Raised in the United States and now based in Dubai, she had been a jury member of the Prize for four years and sits on the boards of several cultural organisations, among them MoMA PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, Art Dubai and Creative Time. Chairing the Prize, says Farouki, has given her “the opportunity of doing curatorial work that I’d done at the Guggenheim and also support artists and help them realise their projects.”

Officially appointed in June, Farouki first put together a jury and instituted a new rule of inviting practitioners and curators over a two-year period, which “allows for a sense of commitment”. These include Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director of exhibitions and programmes and director of international projects at the Serpentine Galleries; Sandhini Poddar, art historian and adjunct curator at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum; and Defne Ayas, director and curator, Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art.

“Getting new people involved means a constant influx of new energy and expertise,” says Farouki. Earlier this month, she announced the winners of the 2016 AGAP: Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, who will be working with guest curator Nav Haq.

Original article by Myrna Ayad

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Getting to know Dana Farouki, the new chairperson of the Abraaj Group Art Prize