Keynotes

Emily Jacir

Emily Jacir’s work spans a diverse range of media and strategies including film, photography, social interventions, installation, performance, video, writing and sound. Jacir has shown extensively throughout Europe, the Americas and the Middle East since 1994. Solo exhibitions include Whitechapel Gallery, London (2015); Darat il Funun, Amman (2014); Beirut Art Center (2010), Guggenheim Museum, New York (2009), Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen (2008). Jacir participated in dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); the 51st (2005), 52nd (2007), 53rd (2009), 54th (2011) and 55th (2013) Biennale di Venezia; the 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); Sharjah Biennial 7 (2005); and the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003). Awards include a Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); a Prince Claus Award from the Prince Claus Fund in The Hague (2007); the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum (2008); and the Alpert Award (2011) from the Herb Alpert Foundation. In 2003, belongings was published by O.K Books, a monograph on a selection of Jacir’s work from 1998 – 2003. Her second monograph (2008) was published by Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst Nurnberg and in 2012 Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln published ex libris. Select juries that Jacir has served on include Visions du Reel (2014), Berlinale Shorts International Jury (2012), the CinemaXXI Jury Rome Film Festival (2012), and Cda-Projects Grant for Artistic Research and Production, Istanbul. She is a professor at the vanguard International Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah since it opened in 2006 and she served on its Academic Board from (2006–2012). Jacir led the first year of the Home Workspace Program in Beirut and created the curriculum and programming (2011-2012), she also served on its Curricular Committee from 2010-2011. Between 1999 – 2002 she curated several Arab and Palestinian Film programs in NYC with Alwan for the Arts. She conceived of and co-curated the first Palestine International Video Festival in Ramallah in 2002. She also curated a selection of shorts; “Palestinian Revolution Cinema (1968 -1982)” which went on tour in 2007. She is on the advisory council for Civitella Ranieri. She currently lives around the Mediterranean.

Rick Lowe

Rick Lowe is an artist who resides in Houston, Texas. His formal training is in the visual arts. Over the past twenty years he has worked both inside and outside of art world institutions by participating in exhibitions and developing community based art projects. In 1993, Rick founded Project Row Houses, an arts and cultural community located in a historically significant and culturally charged neighborhood in Houston, Texas. In 2006, he spearheaded Transforma Projects in New Orleans, a collaborative effort to engage artists and creativity in the rebuilding of the City after hurricane Katrina. His exhibitions include; Phoenix Art Museum, Contemporary arts Museum, Houston, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, New York, Kwangji Bienale, Kwangji, Korea, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Glassell School, Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Kumamoto State Museum, Kumamoto, Japan, Venice Architecture Bienale. Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy, Nasher Scuplture Center, Dallas, TX. Community building projects include; Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas; Watts House Project, Los Angeles, CA; Arts Plan for Rem Koolhaus designed Seattle Public Library with Jessica Cusick; Borough Project for Spoleto Festival with Suzanne Lacy, Charleston, SC; Delray Beach Cultural Loop, Delray Beach, Florida, a project for the Seattle Art Museum in their new Olympic Sculpture Park with David Adjaye. Among Rick’s honors are; Rudy Bruner Awards in Urban Excellence; AIA Keystone Award, the Heinz Award in the arts and humanities; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Governors Award; Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, Mel King Fellow at MIT; Skandalaris Award for Excellence in Art Architecture, U.S. Artists Booth Fellow, and the Creative Time Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change. President Barack Obama appointed Rick to the National Council on the Arts in 2013.