Lebanese artist Alaa Mansour is the recipient of the Han Nefkens Foundation—Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2023, in collaboration with NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore; WIELS Brussels; Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila; and Art Jameel, Dubai. The $15,000 grant will facilitate the production of a new video work, which she will have nine months to complete. The Han Nefkens Foundation will get a long-term loan of the produced artwork for presentation at the institutions collaborating on this grant.
Mansour stated: ‘Against the world of terror and despair emerges a call for liberation, an appeal to carry the earth with and through our bodies and souls, to defy and resist colonial capitalism and the right to power, under which millions of people have been decimated. I take this award as a word of trust and support. It will become a mean to continue working towards the liberation of the spaces of our imagination, our lands, and ultimately our futures. It is a gentle and encouraging push in the collective pursuit toward blowing the lid off the militarisation of the world and its image.’
The jury for the 2023 edition of the grant was chaired by Han Nefkens and included Ute Meta Bauer, founding director at NTU CCA Singapore; Joselina Cruz, director at Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila; Helena Kritis, curator of WIELS, Brussels; Magdalena Magiera, curator of outreach & education at NTU CCA; Imma Prieto, director at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona; Nora Razian, deputy director and Head of Exhibitions at Art Jameel, Dubai; and Dirk Snauwaert, director of WIELS.
