Louvre Abu Dhabi names jury for its $50,000 Richard Mille Art Prize

The museum's first award for contemporary art will select four to six artists to exhibit, out of whom one winner will be picked

Louvre Abu Dhabi will exhibit the artists selected for the Richard Mille Art Prize at the museum. Hufton + Crow

Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Richard Mille Art Prize, the museum’s first award for contemporary art, has announced its jury selection. Produced in partnership with the Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille, the annual prize carries $50,000 for the winning artist.

The jury members are Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa, the well-known Emirati royal patron who founded the art platform UAE Unlimited; Christine Macel, chief curator at the Musee national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou; the Lebanese architect Hala Warde, who worked with Jean Nouvel on the design for Louvre Abu Dhabi; and Souraya Noujaim, Louvre Abu Dhabi’s scientific, curatorial and collections management director.

The jury will select four to six artists based in the UAE, who will show works in the exhibition titled Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021 from November to March at the museum. One of those artists will then win the Richard Mille Art Prize.

The project shows the museum focusing on contemporary art from the UAE as well as historical art and artefacts, which make up the majority of Louvre Abu Dhabi's collection and loans.

“Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021 breathes new life into the role of the museum by not merely celebrating the past, but rooting and contextualising contemporary art in its present setting through interactions and links with contemporary artists,” said Noujaim. “We are happy to launch this new chapter thanks in collaboration with Richard Mille, marking Louvre Abu Dhabi’s continued extension into contemporary art and highlighting our ever-present dedication to local artistic talent.”

The inaugural year’s theme will be Memory, Time and Territory, timed with the 50th anniversary of the UAE’s federation. The proposals, in the form of new or existing art works, are available to submit via open call.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021 will run from November 16 to March 27, 2022