One of the largest platforms for South Asian Art returns as the Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) will present the third edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) from 5 February to 8 February 2016 in collaboration with the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) led by Liaquat Ali Lucky.

A pioneering research and exhibition platform for South Asian art, the event brings together artists, curators, museums, scholars, and visitors from across Bangladesh and the world to discover institutional-quality works in a non-commercial environment.

On the occasion of the third edition of the DAS, a press conference was held at the auditorium of National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Thursday. DAS director Nadia Samdani, BSA director general Liaquat Ali Lucky; Dhaka Art Summit Organising Committee member Gousul Alam Shaon, and curator for Bangladeshi Contemporary Art Exhibition, DAS Muniruzzaman were present at the event.

The 2014 edition welcomed over 70,000 visitors over three days and registered as one of the most important events in the South Asia region, said the organisers. Projects from DAS 2014 have since travelled to the Berlin Biennale, the Queens Museum, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and the Kunsthalle Basel. SAF is a donor for the 56th International Biennale di Venezia, supporting Naeem Mohaiemen and Raqs Media Collective who both featured in DAS 2014.

SAF welcomes the 2016 Artistic Team appointed by the foundation’s artistic director, Diana Campbell Betancourt, who will again curate the solo projects, public art project and the talks programme. Tate Modern’s Nada Raza will explore the influence of sci-fi and retro-futurism in South Asia across generations. Aurelien Lemonier will curate an exhibition on Bangladeshi architecture as part of a wider research project for the Centre Pompidou. Shanay Jhaveri will curate a film programme and Nikhil Chopra and Madhavi Gore will curate the performance programme and conduct educational workshops with Bangladeshi performance artists. The Summit will also include an exhibition of Bangladeshi art curated by the founder of Gallery Chitrak, Mohammad Muniruzzaman.

The third edition will also include several new programmes such as the non-commercial Rewind section, highlighting practices of South Asian artists active before 1980 and advised by a team from the Rubin Museum (NY),Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong) and the Guggenheim (NY). The Summit will also feature 20 international writers in Critical Writing Ensembles that explore forms of experimental writing in South Asia and the rest of the world and help Bangladeshi art writers to develop their skills. Our speaker panel will consist of 35 speakers from 15 different countries including Bangladesh.

SAF has again partnered with the Delfina Foundation to award an outstanding young Bangladeshi artist the opportunity to attend a three-month residency in London as part of the Samdani Art Award. Ten finalists will be selected from an open call, and their work will be exhibited in a show curated by Daniel Baumann (Director, Kunsthalle Zurich) in collaboration with ProHelvetia-Swiss Arts Council.

The jury panel for Samdani Art Award 2016 is comprised of Caroline Bourgeois (Curator, Pinault Collection), Cosmin Costinas (Director, Para/Site), Catherine David (Deputy Director, Centre Pompidou), Massimiliano Gioni (Artistic Director, New Museum), and chaired by Aaron Cezar (Director, Delfina Foundation). 

The 2014 Samdani Art Award winner was Ayesha Sultana.