The fourth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) will be held from February 2 to 10.

Samdani Art Foundation will arrange the event highlighting the dynamic evolution of art in contemporary South Asia and reviving historical inter-Asian modes of exchange, reports the UNB.

DAS 2018 will feature both an opening celebration weekend (February 2–4) and a closing Scholars’ Weekend (February 8–10) for the first time with several tiers of new programmes slated for both.

Rajeeb Samdani, a key organiser, told UNB ‘Our team is working round the clock. Dhaka Art Summit 2014 had featured artists like Rana Begum, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Shumon Ahmed, Shazia Sikander, Mithu Sen. This is just to name a few. DSA is bigger and better. We look forward to giving everyone a visual treat once again.’

Mentioning it the world’s largest platform for South Asian Art which is an international non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia, he said ‘The preparation is almost done. A pre-event discussion with me, the trustee and founder of Samdani Art Foundation and also the founder of Dhaka Art Summit will be held tomorrow to inform the ins and out of the Summit’s preparation .’

The organiser said that DAS is unique in its ability to be a true hub for art and architecture related to South Asia. Expanding on the success of past editions, DAS 2018 will extend its duration of exhibitions and programmes to nine days, and will, for the first time, widen its focus to create new connections between South, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean belt.

They informed that over three hundred artists will exhibit across ten curated exhibitions while over one hundred and twenty speakers from all over the world will participate in sixteen-panel discussions and two symposiums that strive to ground future developments of art in South Asia within the region’s rich, yet lesser-known, past.

DAS 2018 will be held in a public-private partnership with the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, the country’s National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, with the support of the cultural affairs and information ministry, the National Tourism Board, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), and in association with the Bangladesh National Museum.

This will be the third Summit led by Samdani Art Foundation Artistic Director, Diana Campbell Betancourt, who returns as the Chief Curator of DAS2018.