• Winner awarded $60,000 in the presence of HE Saood Abdulaziz Al Hosani, Undersecretary of Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, Manuel Rabaté, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Peter Harrison, CEO Richard Mille Europe Middle East & Africa

Abu Dhabi, UAE: Louvre Abu Dhabi and Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille revealed Rand Abdul Jabbar as the winner of the second edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize at an exclusive ceremony that took place at Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Rand Abdul Jabbar was one of ten artists shortlisted to showcase her work, Earthly Wonders, Celestial Beings (2019 – ongoing), in the Art Here 2022 exhibition in October 2022.

Born in Baghdad, Rand Abdul Jabbar borrows from and reconstructs the ephemera of place, history, and memory, employing design, sculpture, and installation as primary mediums of operation. Examining and engaging with historic, cultural, and archaeological narratives, she interrogates the fragility of tangible heritage to create and compose forms that draw on artefacts, architecture, and mythology. Simultaneously, she explores and contests with individual and collective memory to produce fragmentary reconstructions of historic events and past experiences.

To date, the artist has had her work exhibited at Shubbak Festival (UK), SAVVY Contemporary (Germany), Rabat Biennale (Morocco), Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans (France), Abu Dhabi Art, Jameel Arts Centre, NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, and Warehouse 421 (UAE). She has also conducted art residencies with the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore), Warehouse 421, the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation (UAE).

Rand Abdul Jabbar was selected by a distinguished five-member jury featuring HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of UAE Unlimited, an art collector, and a patron of the Centre Pompidou, the British Museum and Sharjah Art Foundation; Morad Montazami, a curator, art historian, publisher and director of Zamân Books & Curating; Hala Wardé, founding architect of HW Architecture, long-term partner of Jean Nouvel and the lead of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project; Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Director of Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi; and Reem Fadda, Director of the Cultural Foundation and curator of Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2022.

Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management Director said: “The second edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize and Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here has been a resounding success. The response this year has been outstanding, and I am honoured to be part of the jury that gets to witness this level of creativity and authenticity first-hand. These artists have engaged with the brief so wonderfully, and you can see how the theme of icon and iconic has deeply resonated with them. Through this exhibition, we have been enabled to foster creativity, dialogue, and diversity, further bolstering our mission to identify opportunities that inspires and supports our communities. Providing a platform for artists to demonstrate their work has always been a major tenet for us at Louvre Abu Dhabi, and I am looking forward to seeing all that these artists will achieve in the near future.”

“Rand Abduljabbar delivered outstanding works of art that push the boundaries of contemporary creativity while exploring this years thematic Icon/Iconics,” said Peter Harrison, CEO, Richard Mille EMEA. “Seeing this architectural masterpiece Louvre Abu Dhabi from a near distance, we award the second winner of the Richard Mille Art Prize. This is a celebration of our ten year partnership with Louvre Abu Dhabi and 10 incredibly Artists. Together we celebrated Rand’s crowning as the second Richard Mille Art Prize winner” He concluded “I am certain that Rand will join Nasser Alzayani, our first Art Prize winner, in paving the way for the next wave of Middle Eastern contemporary artists, both regionally and globally.”

Manuel Rabaté, Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi said: “Since our inception, Louvre Abu Dhabi has always sought to connect artists and audiences through inspiring, participatory, and creative platforms. Our Art Here exhibition and the Richard Mille Art Prize, held in partnership with Richard Mille, are two fine examples of how we are continually enabling artists in the region to showcase the depth and breadth of their creativity to our local and global audiences. It is incredible to witness the success of this edition and to see Rand Abdul Jabbar receive the art prize, which further inspires us as a museum to expand on our mission to bring communities together and foster cultural exchange.”

Rand Abdul Jabbar, the winner of the second edition of The Richard Mille Art Prize, said:  “I am grateful to be recognized amongst a group of peers for whom I have deep respect and admiration. The Richard Mille Art Prize represents a significant investment in the growth and development of an artist’s practice, instilling both the capacity and drive to forge ahead in their pursuit. I would like to thank Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille for their generous support, and acknowledge the esteemed jury for their trust.”

For its second edition, Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2022 invited artists to propose new or existing artworks that engage with the notions of “icon” and “iconic”. The artworks explored how the concept of the icon resonates within contemporary art practices and how it informs new artistic perspectives.

Artworks featured in the second edition of Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2022 included: Between Desert Seas (2021) by Ayman Zedani; Camoulflage: The Fourth Pillar (2022) by Zeinab Alhashemi; Wall House (2022) by Vikram Divecha; Xylophone (2022) and the Reino Plantae series (2021) by Elizabeth Dorazio; Sidelines (2016) by Manal AlDowayan; Break the Atom and Vegetal Life (After Zeid) (2022) by Simrin Mehra Agarwal; Standing by the Ruins (2022) by Dana Awartani; Weighing the Line (2022) by Afra Al Dhaheri; Earthly Wonders, Celestial Beings (2019 – ongoing) by Rand Abdul Jabbar; and A Still Life of an Ever-changing Crop Field (2022) by Shaikha Al Mazrou.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here is an annual exhibition and art prize which will serve as a platform to showcase contemporary artists from the region working in a variety of media. Each year the exhibition will see several artists selected through an open call for proposals, each exhibiting one artwork in the Forum, a space of interaction and exchange within Louvre Abu Dhabi, dedicated to contemporary art.

The theme of the third edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize and the Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here exhibition for 2023 is 'Transparency'. Curated by Maya El Khalil, the open call for the upcoming edition will start from 30 March 2023.

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ABOUT LOUVRE ABU DHABI

Created by an exceptional agreement between the governments of Abu Dhabi and France, Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed by Jean Nouvel and opened on Saadiyat Island in November 2017. The museum is inspired by traditional Islamic architecture and its monumental dome creates a rain of light effect and a unique social space that brings people together.

Louvre Abu Dhabi celebrates the universal creativity of mankind and invites audiences to see humanity in a new light. Through its innovative curatorial approach, the museum focuses on building understanding across cultures: through stories of human creativity that transcend civilisations, geographies and times. 

The museum’s growing collection is unparalleled in the region and spans thousands of years of human history, including prehistoric tools, artefacts, religious texts, iconic paintings, and contemporary artworks. The permanent collection is supplemented by rotating loans from 13 French partner institutions, regional, and international museums.

Louvre Abu Dhabi is a testing ground for new ideas in a globalised world and champions new generations of cultural leaders. Its international exhibitions, programming and Children’s Museum are inclusive platforms that connect communities and offer enjoyment for all.

ABOUT RICHARD MILLE

From the very inception of the brand in 2001, Richard Mille’s approach to watchmaking has always centered on releasing the watch from it restricted role as a mere tool for timekeeping, augmenting and extending its visual potential by placing it directly in the crosshairs of design, art and architecture. Today, the Richard Mille watch collection comprises of more than eighty models, each designed and produced with the same passion, uncompromising principles and visionary aesthetics that guided Richard Mille’s first creation.

Richard Mille’s watches are marvels of technology designed specifically for those with a keen appreciation and love for fine Swiss watchmaking, playing up the full possibilities of three-dimensional space, defined by both the volume of the watchcase and the movement itself. Within these highly confined areas spanning just a few centimetres that serve as a blank canvas for horological creativity.

This assimilation of watchmaking to artistic endeavours is also reflected in the company’s close connections with the arts. The brand’s partnerships in support of contemporary art and artists include sponsorship of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the contemporary art biennial Desert X; collaborations with choreographer Benjamin Millepied, composer Thomas Roussel and acquisition of Éditions Cercle d’Art, a publishing house created with the support of Pablo Picasso in the 1950s.

For more about Richard Mille please visit richardmille.com

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND TOURISM – ABU DHABI

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) drives the sustainable growth of Abu Dhabi’s culture and tourism sectors and its creative industries, fuels economic progress, and helps achieve Abu Dhabi’s wider global ambitions. By working in partnership with the organisations that define the emirate’s position as a leading international destination, DCT Abu Dhabi strives to unite the ecosystem around a shared vision of the emirate’s potential, coordinate effort and investment, deliver innovative solutions, and use the best tools, policies, and systems to support the culture and tourism industries.

DCT Abu Dhabi’s vision is defined by the emirate’s people, heritage, and landscape. We work to enhance Abu Dhabi’s status as a place of authenticity, innovation, and unparalleled experiences, represented by its living traditions of hospitality, pioneering initiatives, and creative thought.