Alserkal Avenue Presents ‘Not as far as it seems’, the second edition of the Safina Radio Project, as part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016

February 5 to 8, 2016

Photo Courtesy Anabelle De Gersigny, Safina Radio Project site

Commissioned by Alserkal Avenue and directed by independent curator Anabelle de Gersigny, the Safina Radio Projects are itinerant online broadcasting platforms, each edition acting as a roving stage for conversation and performance, working alongside contemporary art events. The project adopts radio as a format for exploring subjects and concepts that relate to the aesthetic, social, cultural and political.

Following the success of the launch of Safina Radio Project at the 56th Venice Biennial in 2015, the second edition of the project, titled “Not as far as it seems,” responds to the practices, curatorial premises and works exhibited at Dhaka Art Summit 2016, exploring common grounds within historical contexts, providing a cross section of origins and their interpretations.

From 5–8 February, Safina Radio Project will broadcast conversations and
performative pieces created with artists, writers and curators during their time at the summit, drawing on their encounters with the city in forms of literature, architecture, art and music.

The Safina Radio Project builds on Alserkal Avenue Programming’s position to support performance, social practice and public-forms of art by artists, curators and creative talents in the region. Alserkal Avenue Programming’s inaugural season (2015-2016) interrogates concepts of belonging and home that are particular to people living in this part of the world. Safina Radio Project at the Dhaka Art Summit, expands this platform of discussion providing a unifying public forum amidst Dhaka Art Summit to engage with these questions and concerns.

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Founder of Alserkal Avenue, comments, “The idea of the homegrown is not to limit the initiatives and ideas to Dubai, but rather to provide a springboard for these ideas beyond our regional boarders.”

Participants include:
Ayesha Sultana, Beatrix Ruf, Belinder Dhanoa, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Dayanita Singh, Dhaka Electronic Scene, Firoz Mahmud, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Iftikhar Dadi, Jana Prepeluh, Katya Garcia-Anton, Lynda Benglis, Maria Balshaw, Madhavi Gore, Mark Rappolt, Monica Narula, Munem Wasif, Mustafa Zaman, Nabil Rahman, Nada Raza, Nikhil Chopra, Quinn Latimer, Reetu Satta, Ronni Ahmed, Salima Hashmi, Sarker Protick, Shanay Jhaveri, Shumon Ahmed, Thomas Tavelli, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Zihan Karim

About Alserkal Avenue

Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant cultural district in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai, and is home to a community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers, home-grown and entrepreneur-led businesses, and community spaces across 500,000 sqft and 90 warehouses. Alserkal Avenue provides an essential platform for the development of the creative industries in the United Arab Emirates. As one of the region’s foremost destinations for contemporary art, and home to Dubai’s risk-takers, makers and wide-ranging creative communities, Alserkal Avenue provides cultural experiences for local, regional and international audiences through its extensive year-round programming. Alserkal Avenue is home to Concrete, a multi-disciplinary exhibitions space conceptualised and programmed by Alserkal, as well as the artist residency program of Alserkal’s non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation. Alserkal Avenue was established in 2008 by Alserkal following the visionary thinking of its founder, Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, who sought to cultivate a vibrant creative community and support cultural production in Dubai.

About Anabelle de Gersigny, Safina Radio Project Director

Anabelle works at Tashkeel, a non-profit studio site in Dubai, predominantly on programming, with a particular focus on developing residency and critical practice programmes. Previously, de Gersigny worked for TCA Abu Dhabi on the Saadiyat Cultural District initiatives including Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum from 2011 to 2013. De Gersigny was the founder and director of the Tram Depot, an artist run project space in London from 2005 to 2009 and has worked in various positions within contemporary art including research and editorial positions with Hauser & Wirth (London), Phaidon Press (London) and CAPHouse Studios (Japan). She has curated numerous art and design exhibitions and is a freelance writer and editor, working on publications, online platforms, magazines and directly with artists and designers.