Misk Art Grant

The Grant’s 2021 edition widens its geographic borders to include artists and designers from the Middle East and North Africa alongside Saudi nationals. Applicants are invited to submit proposals as groups or individual artists practicing visual art, painting, sculpture, photography, or multidisciplinary art.

Additionally, the Institute has doubled the Grant funds to 1,000,000 Saudi Riyals (USD 266,632). The chosen theme for the Grant’s second edition is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

As our globalization efforts increase and begin to adopt new technologies and infrastructures, resulting in dramatic structural and cultural changes, we continue to learn, grow, and undergo rapid developments. As we move past western orientalist fantasies, the Arab region has morphed into reconstructed urban cities while looking for the balance between cultural homogeny and a holistic reconstruction of identity representation. In this sense, we have not told our full story yet, we are incomplete, ongoing, and the possibilities are endless. Prompting the question, are we still "under construction"?

The second annual Misk Art Grant's theme, 'Under Construction', derives from the symbolic state of Arab society as emerging cultural hubs concerned with perspective. In particular, how identity is perceived as an emblem of growth, continuity, and endless iterations of cultural representations throughout history. Artists and designers from the Middle East and North Africa are invited to address the theme as a process of displacement, repetition, distortion, and incompleteness in a time of synthesis, understanding, and promise for the future. As we attempt to reconfigure our identity within the Arab world's diverse framework, how can you reconstruct the understanding of your identity to encompass the notion of being ongoing or ‘under construction’?

Visual artists working in traditional arts, applied arts, film, typography, architecture, textile design, furniture-making, stained glass, woodworking, metalworking, or other multidisciplinary art practice.

Criteria:

• At least 1 years’ experience working professionally in the arts - this includes group and solo exhibitions as well as pursuing art sector opportunities.
• Committed to the deadline given by the Institute.
• Committed to participate in committee meetings and one-to-one mentorship sessions.

1. The proposal must be exclusive to Misk Art Institute and Misk Art Grant.
2. The artwork must be original and convey the 2021 theme UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
3. The proposed creative project can be actualized.
4. The artwork must be sustainable and not ephemeral as it will be displayed several times.
5. The artwork must be produced within the duration of the grant, 4-5 months.
6. The proposal must include approximate cost/budget breakdown that includes fees, material fees, and time frame for production.
7. Incomplete proposals will not be accepted.

MAI accepts proposals in complete confidence and acknowledges that the information contained therein shall be shared and reviewed strictly by MAI and the appointed Misk Art Grant committee.