Jameel Arts Centre Dubai wins Medal at first Art Basel Awards
Art Jameel, the organisation that supports artists and creative communities, has announced that its Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai is one of three institutions globally awarded a Medal in the inaugural year of the Art Basel Awards, which recognises those 'shaping the next generation of cutting-edge artistry'.
A distinguished jury of leading museum directors awarded this 'gold standard for excellence' to those who 'defy categorisation and challenge conventions'. Alongside Art + Practice (Los Angeles, California) and RAW Material Company (Dakar, Senegal), Jameel Arts Centre was recognised in the Museums and Institutions category.
'From a nominee pool of the world's most influential voices and promising rising talents, an international jury of experts awards 36 medallists for their vanguard vision, skill and impact,' said the organisers of the Art Basel Awards, chaired by Vincenzo de Bellis, Chair, Art Basel Awards and Art Basel's Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms.
The Medal will be presented on June 19 to Art Jameel Chair and Co-Founder Fady Jameel, at a premier reception during Art Basel's historic flagship fair in Basel, Switzerland, while Art Jameel Director Antonia Carver will present the work of Jameel Arts Centre at the Art Basel Awards Summit on June 20.
Children's event at Jameel Arts Centre.
Fady Jameel said: 'We are deeply honoured to receive this landmark award for Jameel Arts Centre – this recognition of our work is all the more meaningful in that it comes from the industry itself, and we thank the Art Basel Awards and the jury of highly influential, expert colleagues from around the world. At Art Jameel, our mantra is that the arts are fundamental to life and accessible to all: we are proud to serve as Dubai's contemporary arts museum and to contribute to the region and beyond – collecting, commissioning and exhibiting dynamic artists, providing research and learning programmes and access to contemporary arts and ideas, for everyone.'
According to Vincenzo de Bellis, the Art Basel Awards are 'not a competition, but a beacon. They shine a light on those working with radical vision, skill, and commitment to building communities of practice and exchange.' This year's Art Basel Awards jury was challenged to spotlight visionaries creating new narratives, building alternative spaces, and pushing forward cultural conversation. The distinguished jury is composed of leaders from every continent around the world, including Hoor Al-Qasimi, President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation; Elena Filipovic, Director, Kunstmuseum Basel; Jessica Morgan, Nathalie de Gunzberg Director, Dia Art Foundation, New York; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine, London; Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP); Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Hong Kong; Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); and Philip Tinari, Director and Chief Executive, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing. The Art Basel Awards also pay tribute to jury member Koyo Kouoh (1967-2025), the highly influential Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Cape Town, and Curator, 61st International Art Exhibition (2026), La Biennale di Venezia.
Antonia Carver, Director, Art Jameel.
Later this year, the Medalists will pilot a peer-driven process, whereby they will vote to select up to 12 Gold Medalists from among themselves, representing the Art Basel Awards' highest honour and offering a new model of recognition, to be revealed in December 2025 during the Official Night of the Art Basel Awards in Miami Beach. Launched by Art Basel in 2025, the Art Basel Awards are the world's first global honours dedicated to recognising excellence across the contemporary art world. Each year, an International Jury of experts awards the Medals to individuals and organisations spanning the industry, whose practices and contributions shape the future of art.
Medalists are selected against four key pillars: vision and innovation, skill and execution, engagement, and broader impact. The Awards confer support in the form of honorariums alongside global networking, philanthropic initiatives, partnerships and high-profile commissions, designed to propel Medalists' work onto new platforms and initiate new networks. Medalists are recognised globally by Art Basel through year-round campaigns and initiatives, including the Art Basel Awards Summit, the annual thought leadership conference for the most influential figures in the global art world and neighbouring creative industries, held in Basel, Switzerland.
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel stages the world's premier art fairs for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Art Basel's engagement includes digital platforms including the Art Basel App and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, the Art Basel Awards, and the Art Basel Shop. Art Basel's Global Lead Partner is UBS. Known as one of Dubai's hubs for contemporary arts and ideas, Jameel Arts Centre presents curated solo and group exhibitions drawn from the Art Jameel Collection and through regional and international collaborations. The Centre is a 10,000-square-metre, three-storey, multi-disciplinary space designed by UK-based practice, Serie Architects.
The building is ornamented by seven gardens, designed by landscape architect Anouk Vogel, which reflect local and global desert biomes. Sitting alongside is the Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, designed by Waiwai and a collaboration between Art Jameel and Dubai Holding. Located by the creek in Dubai's Jaddaf Waterfront neighbourhood, the Jameel's galleries are complemented by the Jameel Library, an open-access research centre dedicated to artists and cultural movements in the Gulf States and beyond, project and commission spaces, a writer's studio, the artisan seasonal dining concept, Teible, and the Art Jameel Shop.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tourism Breaking News
13-06-2025
- Tourism Breaking News
Qatar Airways and Art Basel sign a landmark partnership to enrich global cultural engagement
Post Views: 32 Qatar Airways announced a new global partnership with Art Basel. This long-term alliance reinforces Qatar Airway's role as a global connector of people, places, and culture. As Art Basel's Premium Partner, Qatar Airways will support all of the fair's prestigious annual exhibitions – in Basel, Paris, Hong Kong, Miami, as well as its newly launched edition in Qatar. This partnership goes beyond sponsorship and aims to deepen the airline's connection with a culture- and art-forward global demographic through one of the world's most respected names in the art world. The collaboration also marks the exciting introduction of Art Basel into the Middle East, with a new edition launching February 2026 in Doha. This will be the fair's first presence in the region and highlights Qatar's growing stature as a regional arts and cultural hub as the nation continues to evolve as a destination that inspires and connects the world through its National Vision 2030 roadmap. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, said: 'Our long-term collaboration with Art Basel goes beyond being just a partnership – it is a strategic alignment between two globally respected brands and a statement on Qatar's contributions to cultural development and exchange around the globe. Art Basel represents the highest calibre of international artistry and sophistication, and its audience of artists, collectors, and cultural influencers reflects the premium customer base that we serve every day. We are proud to support a platform that shares our values and aspirations on a global scale and in connecting the region with art and ideas from all over the world.' Art Basel Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Noah Horowitz, said: 'We are honoured to partner with Qatar Airways, a premium brand synonymous for world-class hospitality experiences and luxury travel, and truly excited to bring the partnership to life across our global platform, starting in Basel this June. Having just launched our fifth fair in Qatar, we are delighted to join forces with one of the leading Qatari brands to create new experiences and journeys to inspire art lovers and travellers around the world.' Through this partnership, Qatar Airways continues to demonstrate its broader brand ambition to be more than just a carrier, but a catalyst for discovery, inspiration and cultural dialogue. Art Basel Qatar will be held in collaboration with QC+ and Qatar Sports Investments, reflecting the country's broader cultural vision and its ambition to host a thriving creative ecosystem. The inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar will be held in M7 creative hub and the Doha Design District in downtown Msheireb. Upcoming Art Basel Shows in 2025 Basel, 19-22 June 2025 Paris, 24-26 October 2025 Miami Beach, 5-7 December 2025 About Art Basel Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris, and Qatar. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel's engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms including the Art Basel App and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, the Art Basel Shop, and the Art Basel Awards. For further information, please visit
The National
12-06-2025
- The National
Weekly UAE museum and gallery guide: Young Emirati photographer gets first solo show
This week's exhibitions chart new geographies, both literally and metaphorically. From remote mountains and rural farmlands to imagined terrains, the featured shows reflect shifting grounds, whether beneath our feet or within our collective consciousness. Here are three exhibitions to see this week. Everyman's Mountain, by Omar Al Gurg at Lawrie Shabibi Emirati photographer and designer Omar Al Gurg is presenting his first solo show with Everyman's Mountain. The exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi features 24 archival prints from a six-day trek up Kilimanjaro in 2021. From misty forests and regenerating moorlands to the fragile icy summit, Al Gurg's work shows the mountain as a shifting ecosystem, shaped by nature and human activity. The exhibition is as much a personal odyssey as it is a broader environmental mediation, a tribute to nature's quiet transformations and our collective duty to preserve them. Monday to Saturday, 10am-6pm; until September 12; Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai The Peasant, the Scholar and the Engineer, by Asuncion Molinos Gordo at Jameel Arts Centre Spanish artist-researcher Asuncion Molinos Gordo's first major retrospective in West Asia surveys 15 years of her work on rural knowledge, land use and food systems. Gordo's work draws on anthropology and cultural studies. It reframes farmers as not only food producers, but also intellectuals and engineers. Their vernacular practices, she points out, may hold keys to sustainability. Works that are being featured in the exhibition include her famous World Agriculture Museum, which was first staged in Cairo in 2010 and won the Sharjah Biennial Prize in 2015. Another highlight is Como Soliamos, a 2020 rammed-earth installation echoing Andalusian and falaj irrigation techniques. Saturday to Monday, Wednesday to Thursday, 10am-8pm; Friday; noon-8pm; until September 28; Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai Unstable Grounds, at 421 Arts Campus In Unstable Grounds, the MFA graduate exhibition from NYU Abu Dhabi at 421, art becomes an act of placemaking – a wrestling with materials in search of meaning. The show is layered and searching, a constellation of practices that reveal not just what is shown, but also what resists visibility. The exhibition features the work of eight artists, exploring themes of the environment, displacement, memory and human connection, through installation, performance, video, sculpture and print.
Gulf Today
22-05-2025
- Gulf Today
Jameel Arts Centre Dubai wins Medal at first Art Basel Awards
Art Jameel, the organisation that supports artists and creative communities, has announced that its Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai is one of three institutions globally awarded a Medal in the inaugural year of the Art Basel Awards, which recognises those 'shaping the next generation of cutting-edge artistry'. A distinguished jury of leading museum directors awarded this 'gold standard for excellence' to those who 'defy categorisation and challenge conventions'. Alongside Art + Practice (Los Angeles, California) and RAW Material Company (Dakar, Senegal), Jameel Arts Centre was recognised in the Museums and Institutions category. 'From a nominee pool of the world's most influential voices and promising rising talents, an international jury of experts awards 36 medallists for their vanguard vision, skill and impact,' said the organisers of the Art Basel Awards, chaired by Vincenzo de Bellis, Chair, Art Basel Awards and Art Basel's Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms. The Medal will be presented on June 19 to Art Jameel Chair and Co-Founder Fady Jameel, at a premier reception during Art Basel's historic flagship fair in Basel, Switzerland, while Art Jameel Director Antonia Carver will present the work of Jameel Arts Centre at the Art Basel Awards Summit on June 20. Children's event at Jameel Arts Centre. Fady Jameel said: 'We are deeply honoured to receive this landmark award for Jameel Arts Centre – this recognition of our work is all the more meaningful in that it comes from the industry itself, and we thank the Art Basel Awards and the jury of highly influential, expert colleagues from around the world. At Art Jameel, our mantra is that the arts are fundamental to life and accessible to all: we are proud to serve as Dubai's contemporary arts museum and to contribute to the region and beyond – collecting, commissioning and exhibiting dynamic artists, providing research and learning programmes and access to contemporary arts and ideas, for everyone.' According to Vincenzo de Bellis, the Art Basel Awards are 'not a competition, but a beacon. They shine a light on those working with radical vision, skill, and commitment to building communities of practice and exchange.' This year's Art Basel Awards jury was challenged to spotlight visionaries creating new narratives, building alternative spaces, and pushing forward cultural conversation. The distinguished jury is composed of leaders from every continent around the world, including Hoor Al-Qasimi, President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation; Elena Filipovic, Director, Kunstmuseum Basel; Jessica Morgan, Nathalie de Gunzberg Director, Dia Art Foundation, New York; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine, London; Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP); Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Hong Kong; Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); and Philip Tinari, Director and Chief Executive, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing. The Art Basel Awards also pay tribute to jury member Koyo Kouoh (1967-2025), the highly influential Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Cape Town, and Curator, 61st International Art Exhibition (2026), La Biennale di Venezia. Antonia Carver, Director, Art Jameel. Later this year, the Medalists will pilot a peer-driven process, whereby they will vote to select up to 12 Gold Medalists from among themselves, representing the Art Basel Awards' highest honour and offering a new model of recognition, to be revealed in December 2025 during the Official Night of the Art Basel Awards in Miami Beach. Launched by Art Basel in 2025, the Art Basel Awards are the world's first global honours dedicated to recognising excellence across the contemporary art world. Each year, an International Jury of experts awards the Medals to individuals and organisations spanning the industry, whose practices and contributions shape the future of art. Medalists are selected against four key pillars: vision and innovation, skill and execution, engagement, and broader impact. The Awards confer support in the form of honorariums alongside global networking, philanthropic initiatives, partnerships and high-profile commissions, designed to propel Medalists' work onto new platforms and initiate new networks. Medalists are recognised globally by Art Basel through year-round campaigns and initiatives, including the Art Basel Awards Summit, the annual thought leadership conference for the most influential figures in the global art world and neighbouring creative industries, held in Basel, Switzerland. Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel stages the world's premier art fairs for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Art Basel's engagement includes digital platforms including the Art Basel App and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, the Art Basel Awards, and the Art Basel Shop. Art Basel's Global Lead Partner is UBS. Known as one of Dubai's hubs for contemporary arts and ideas, Jameel Arts Centre presents curated solo and group exhibitions drawn from the Art Jameel Collection and through regional and international collaborations. The Centre is a 10,000-square-metre, three-storey, multi-disciplinary space designed by UK-based practice, Serie Architects. The building is ornamented by seven gardens, designed by landscape architect Anouk Vogel, which reflect local and global desert biomes. Sitting alongside is the Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, designed by Waiwai and a collaboration between Art Jameel and Dubai Holding. Located by the creek in Dubai's Jaddaf Waterfront neighbourhood, the Jameel's galleries are complemented by the Jameel Library, an open-access research centre dedicated to artists and cultural movements in the Gulf States and beyond, project and commission spaces, a writer's studio, the artisan seasonal dining concept, Teible, and the Art Jameel Shop.
