Ithra Art Prize Jury
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is the Kingdom’s premier cultural and creative destination for talent development and cross-cultural experiences.
Ithra is committed to igniting cultural curiosity, stimulating knowledge exploration and inspiring creativity, while encouraging and supporting the development of original content. The Ithra Art Prize is proof of this undertaking to empower the creative landscape in the Kingdom and beyond.
The program celebrates contemporary art and artists and aims to fund and promote them, and to offer them a global platform. Launched in 2017, the Ithra Art Prize was awarded to Saudi and Saudi-based contemporary artists in collaboration with Art Dubai for its first three editions.
In its 4th edition the prize was unveiled with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation at the Kingdom’s inaugural Contemporary Art Biennale, and featured an expanded geographical footprint that included artists from or based in one of the 22 Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen). International artists from the rest of the world who have lived in these countries for at least 10 years are also eligible to apply.
The Ithra Art Prize is one of the most prominent art grants in the world, with the winner receiving $100,000 to bring their proposal to life. The prize invites established contemporary artists and art collectives to submit proposals via an annual open call judged by a global panel of experts – including artists, curators, academics and art historians. The 2023 winning artwork will be unveiled as part of Ithra’s 5th anniversary celebrations, and join Ithra’s permanent art collection. The open call launches on January 31 and closes on April 1. The winner will be announced mid-May.
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) has announced an esteemed panel of international art experts as the jury for the 5th edition of the Ithra Art Prize. The jury will evaluate submissions for the contemporary art prize, which is open to artists from or based in the 22 Arab countries, with the winner awarded a grant of $100,000 in commission of a singular work of art. The winning piece will be unveiled during Ithra’s 5th anniversary celebrations later this year.
The five-member Ithra Art Prize jury is comprised of contemporary art experts with diverse backgrounds, including academics, gallerists, curators and artists: Dr. Andrée Sfeir-Semler, Balqees Fakhro, Farah Abushullaih, Murtaza Vali and Dr. Ridha Moumni.
One of the most significant art prizes in the world, the Ithra Art Prize supports the development of the art industry in the Kingdom and beyond while fostering cross-cultural engagement through the exposure of talent from the Arab world on an international platform.
UAE-based Ayman Zedani was the inaugural winner with his spatial installation Mēm, while London-based Daniah Al Saleh won the second edition for Sawtam – a digital, audio-visual presentation based on the phonemes of the Arabic language.
Saudi-based won the third edition for his installation Rakhm, meaning “incubation”, and Berlin-based Tunisian-Ukrainian artist Nadia Kaabi-Linke won for E Pluribus Unum – A Modern Fossil, which takes a reflective look at the effects of the pandemic on the travel industry and how humanity measures progress and economic growth.
Ithra Art Prize
Date of winner announcement: 15 May 2023