During our coverage of Frieze Week this year, Quiet Lunch had the honor of attending the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art‘s Inaugural Opening in New York City. Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani opened the IAIA in the Chinatown area of New York to raise awareness and challenge stereotypes of the Arab and Islamic worlds. Its first show features the work of four female artists, Dana Awartani, Monir Shahroudy Framanframaian, Zarina Hashmi and Nasreen Moahemdi.
All Photos by Eric Minh Swenson and Lilliana Lyons for Quiet Lunch.
Mubarak Al-Thani.
Mubarak Nasser Al-Thani & artist Gregory de la Haba.
Artist Zarina Hashmi.
Pia Austin Little & art dealer Toby Clarke.
Art Collector Paul Monroe.
Heather Harmon & Veronica Fernandez.
Karen Marta & curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
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- Artist Space Executive Director, Jay Sanders.
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- Amir Guberstein & Jordan Nassar.
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- Deepanjana Klein, Deepak Talwar & Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani.
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- Mohammed Afkani & Marie Canavan.
Michele Codoni, Touria El Glaoui & Mohammed Rashid Al- Thani.
Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani (Founder & Director of the Institute of Arab & Islamic Art) with his art advisor Veronica Fernandez.
Institute of Arab and Islamic Art | Exhibition I
May 4th – July 17th
3 Howard St.
About: EXHIBITION 1 seeks to examine how architecture and its geometries enters an artist’s consciousness, their vocabularies, and, in turn, their work.
With upbringings in Saudi Arabia, Iran, India and Pakistan, the artists in EXHIBITION 1 share the experience of living with Islamic architecture despite originating in vastly different places and environments and leading vastly different lives. How do we respond to the spaces we have experienced and how does that compare to the way we remember them? When memories are recollected, how are they told? How much do history, nostalgia, self-exile and solitude impact the way we visualize our memories? How and when do we share them?
Whilst the buildings that make up our architectural heritage often remain untouched throughout time, our individual personalities shape the way we perceive them, resulting in a diverse range of expressions. This exhibition explores these artists’ relationship to geometry within their respective vocabulary.
This New York City native breathes the concrete jungle. From be a stylist and clothing designer who’s pieces has graced the silhouettes of fashionistas and socialites alike, to running the streets to get the next story, Bim Star has made his name synonymous as the catalyst of the “urban-sophisticate” style in this new global world and has since strengthened his thumbprint in the industry.
Always in the know, and the go-to man for all things ala mode, we are happy to have Bim Star aboard this blazing ship as our CEO and webmaster.