The Armory Show and Edge of Arabia are teaming up for this year’s sixth edition of Armory Focus, a specially curated section devoted to a highlighted region of the world. Get ready for “Focus: Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean,” or, if that’s too much of a tongue twister, “Focus: MENAM.” Omar Kholeif, curator at the Whitechapel Gallery in London has been tapped to curate the section.
The collaboration with Edge of Arabia, a non-profit dedicated to education and the arts between the Middle East and elsewhere, is the kickoff Edge of Arabia’s three-year cultural tour across the U.S. with Art Jameel, which will act as an education partner for the “Focus Symposium.” The first part of the tour will begin at The Armory Show’s “Focus” section, and continue on afterward in an attempt to “connect artists, bridge communities and inspire renewed collaboration across borders,” according to The Armory Show’s press release.
“This year’s focus initiative will help shine light on a thriving part of the contemporary art world which to date has achieved only limited visibility in the American market, despite its increasingly sophisticated commercial and institutional developments and the wealth of artistic talent within it,” said The Armory Show’s executive director Noah Horowitz in a statement.
Parts of the region were included in the New Museum’s recent exhibition “Here and Elsewhere,” a major group show of artists who make work within and about the Arab world, making “Focus: MENAM”’s timing all the more noteworthy.
Mr. Kholeif, who was previously artistic director of the Arab British Centre in London and founding director of the U.K.’s Arab Film Festival, said, “the concept of the Global South has increasingly started to proliferate in the art world—in museums, the marketplace, and in criticism.” In addition to “Focus: MENAM” he’s got a lot on his plate for 2015, including curating the Cyrus Pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale and the Abraaj Group Art Prize and Art Dubai.
