Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award 2024 winning artwork revealed at Abu Dhabi Art

Sara Farha and Khaled Shalkha's Datecrete Bee Hotel explores bees' relationship with their environment using a new material

Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo and artists Sara Farha and Khaled Shalkha with Datecrete Bee Hotel. Photo: NYUAD

Artists Sara Farha and Khaled Shalkha, the winners of this year’s Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award, have had their winning work Datecrete Bee Hotel unveiled as part of Abu Dhabi Art.

Under the guidance of Christianna Bonin, assistant professor at the American University of Sharjah's college of architecture, art and design, the pair's winning submission integrates materials science with ecological awareness. The innovative element of the work is the use of a new building material called datecrete, which is made from date seeds and is free of concrete or resin. The artists are in the process of patenting the material.

Datecrete Bee Hotel will be on display during the event until Sunday, followed by an exhibition at NYUAD from November 26 to December 11, and concluding at Umm Al Emarat Park from December 12 to December 27.

"Abu Dhabi is at the threshold of a new chapter in public art, as we witness the Public Art Biennial launching now," says NYUAD Art Gallery executive director Maya Allison. "It's wonderful to see this flourishing, and to participate with our longstanding support of emerging talent in the field of public art. Datecrete Bee Hotel in particular offers a future-facing vision of public art as a participant in non-human ecosystems, in this case, the life of bees, and therefore plants.

"It reasserts our interconnectedness: species, structures, plants. We humans are living participants in the ecosystem, constructing buildings and public art, among which humans move and thrive, weaving a meaningful urban fabric."

This is the 12th year of the award, which runs in partnership with Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (Admaf), produced in collaboration with the NYUAD Art Gallery.

Admaf founder Huda AlKhamis-Kanoo congratulated the winners for their "outstanding project".

“Utilising date pits, the winners have created an innovative and sustainable building material – the first eco-friendly cement of its kind," she said. "By promoting environmental awareness and preserving natural resources and the local environment, the work epitomises the award's 2023–2024 vision, which is dedicated to the Year of Sustainability."

Farha is an architectural engineer and urban planner who is passionate about creating work that addresses needs, sensibilities and the environment.

Shalkha is a chemical engineer whose focus has been on culture, economy and policy. He is also a rapper with the stage name Kafv and released his first album Akshun in 2019.

The pair founded Datecrete Studio to focus on merging materials science, which refers to the composition of substances, with design.

Farha and Shalkha have been awarded $10,000 to complete their installation project over the next eight months and will be supported by the NYUAD Art Gallery team and their mentor Ms Bonin.

The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award, which has been held annually since 2013, serves as a launch pad for artists across the UAE. It is open to UAE students and recent graduates.