We are delighted to introduce our team of international curators for the 16th edition of Art Dubai. Art Dubai Modern is curated by Paris-based contemporary art expert Mouna Mekouar and Italian art historian Lorenzo Giusti; Bawwaba is curated by the Bangkok-based Vipash Purichanont; and the second edition of Art Dubai Digital is curated by Singapore-based digital art specialist Clara Che Wei Peh.
MOUNA MEKOUAR
Mouna Mekouar is an independent curator and art critic based in Paris and Marrakesh.
In 2008-2010 she held a curatorial position at Centre Pompidou- Metz, and in 2012-2014 at Palais de Tokyo. As an associate curator Mouna collaborated on numerous exhibitions at Centre Pompidou- Metz such as“Chefs d’œuvres?” in 2011 and “Formes Simples in 2015. She also undertook a number of curatorial assignments for various cultural institutions in France such as Musée du Quai Branly for “Biennale of Images of the World” and Jeu de Paume, for the exhibition “Roger Parry at Hôtel de Sully”.
In 2016 she curated Tino Sehgal’s solo exhibition that unfolded on the Jemâa el-Fna in Marrakech, and participated in such major art appointments as the 11th edition of the Shanghai Biennial which was curated by Raqs Media Collective.
Among her curatorial projects are: a group show “Luogo e Segni” at Punta della Dogana in Venice (2019); a show with Christo entitled “Femmes 1962-1968” (2019) and “Garden of Memory” (2018) featuring Etel Adnan, Simone Fattal and Bob Wilson at mYSLm, Marrakech; Phillipe Parreno‘s Carte Blanche “Anywhere, anywhere out of the world” at Palais de Tokyo (2013). One of Mouna’s latest projects which she co-curated with Stephan Janson and Madison Cox is “Yves Saint Laurent aux Musées”, which opened in early 2022 across 5 main museums in Paris.
She has numerous published essays and has contributed to journals such as ArtPress, Revue de l’art, Études photographiques.
LORENZO GIUSTI
Lorenzo Giusti is an Italian art historian and curator. Currently he is the director of GAMeC in Bergamo. From 2012 to 2017 he served as director of the MAN Museum in Nuoro. He has curated solo exhibitions, in Italy and abroad, collaborating with numerous artists from different generations and backgrounds, including Jenny Holzer, Anri Sala, Gary Kuehn, Thea Djordjadze, Roman Signer, Francesco Gennari, Nina Canell and many others. He has also curated group shows – like the recent “The Trilogy of Matter” at GAMeC – and important retrospectives, including two major exhibitions dedicated to Maria Lai and Regina Cascolo Bracchi.
Lorenzo has collaborated in different ways with public and private institutions and organizations such as Venice Biennale, Artissima Turin, Vienna Curated by Festival, Palazzo Grassi-Punta della Dogana in Venice, OGR Turin, Shenzhen Animation Biennale, FRAC Corse, Triennale Milano, Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and others. He is the creator and co-editor of the digital platform Radio GAMeC. His special interests lie in the relationship between historical avant-gardes and contemporary languages as well as between ecological thinking and the contemporary arts.
VIPASH PURICHANONT
Vipash Purichanont is an independent curator, co-founder of “Waiting You Curator Lab”, and a lecturer at Silpakorn University in Bangkok.
He received his doctoral degree in Curatorial/Knowledge from Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London. Prior to that, he obtained a dual MA in Art History, Theory and Criticism, and Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA). Purichanont is shortlisted for the ICI Gerrit Lansing Independent Vision Curatorial Award in 2019.
His previous curatorial projects include “Kamin Lertchaipraset: 31st Century Museum of Contemporary Spirit” at Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of in Chicago (2011), the first Thailand Biennale in Krabi (2018); “Concept Context Contestation: Art and the Collective in Southeast Asia” at Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (2014); “Couldn’t Care Less: Cross-Cultural Live Art Project” at Deptford Lounge in Southeast London (2015); and “Metaphors: An Evening of Sound and Moving Image” with Kick the Machine at BangkokCityCity Gallery (2017); and “Mella Jarrsmar: The Size of Rice” at A+ Work of Art in Kuala Lumpur (2021). He was an assistant curator and a co-curator for Thailand Biennale, Krabi 2018 and Thailand Biennale, Korar 2021 retrospectively. Purichanont was also one of the curators of Singapore Biennale 2019.
Most of Purichanont’s theoretical work is focused on notions of collectivity and community as well as caring and sharing. Although most of his curatorial projects are structured around Southeast Asia, his main objective is to initiate a meaningful conversation between the region and the globe.
CLARA CHE WEI PEH
Clara Che Wei Peh is a curator, educator and arts writer based in Singapore. She is the Art Lead and Curator at Appetite, a transdisciplinary site focused on research and experimentation. In 2021, Clara also founded NFT Asia, a digitally native artist collective in the Web 3.0 ecosystem. The collective focuses on developing deeper networks and support structures for Asian artists and carving out spaces for mutual learning and discourse. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Julius Bear Next Generation Art Prize and the 13 – 19 Art Prize.
Her recent curated projects include: “Right Click + Save”, Le Freeport, Singapore (2021); “A Room of One’s Own”, Superchief Gallery, New York (2022); “STAGING: MAPPLETHORPE”, Appetite, Singapore (2022), among others. She was an Adjunct Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts and has conducted workshops and lectures for the National Gallery Singapore, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Nanyang Technological University, Yale-NUS College, Campus Art Dubai, among others. Her writings have been published in Hyperallergic, Outland, Yishu: Journal of Chinese Contemporary Art, Asian Art Biennale Publication, and more.
She holds a BA in Economics from Yale-NUS College and an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her practice examines the intersections of art, money, and emerging technologies, with a focus on Asian contemporary art.
