The Third Line is pleased to be participating in the 11th edition of Frieze London and will be exhibiting works by Sophia Al Maria, Rana Begum, Ala Ebtekar, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. The booth looks towards the themes of Science, Cosmos and Futurism to provide various interpretations in the practices of artists from the Middle Eastern region and diaspora. The works include concepts of sci-fi, space, imagined future timelines as well as sharp, ultramodern usage of the medium.
Sophia Al Maria, Bint Schrodinger (Schrodinger's Girl), 2013, Video still, Video installation on 3 cuboglass TV
Frieze London is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs and brings an international audience to the dynamic contemporary art world of the UK capital every October. The Third Line is pleased to be presenting its artists with more than 150 of the world's leading contemporary galleries.
The artists featured invite us to suspend our belief as they present a variety of alternate realities, histories or futures in an attempt to re-create or rediscover their current reality. Dealing with space, cosmos, architecture and landscape they explore the futuristic possibilities involved in living in an age of profound and unparalleled landscape change.
Sophia Al Maria coined the term Gulf Futurism that covers the rapid explosion of urban expansion, construction, futuristic plans, and over-hyped consumerism in the gulf nations. Her primary interests regard the isolation of individuals via technology and reactionary Islam, the corrosive elements of consumerism and industry and the erasure of history through the blinding approach of a future none of us is ready for. Sophia is an artist, filmmaker and writer and one of the newest artists that have been added to The Third Line roster.
Rana Begum works with metal sculptures coated with vibrant colours that push the relationship between colour, form and three-dimensional space. Taking inspiration from urban order and disorder, Rana creates surfaces and planes that are luscious and seductive. Rana has an established practice of working with minimalist aesthetic and urban physiognomies – each work demanding a level of interaction to be able to experience its entirety. Her practice explores how the slightest shifts in colour, shape, movement, and viewing angle can create complex and beautiful new alignments.
Ala Ebtekar has continually returned to his initial passion of drawing and painting and works with meticulous detail on pieces that inhabit a realm where the past and present collide in a perpetual dance of deconstructed and reconstructed time and space. He also continues to work with found materials, especially manuscripts. His works in the booth include collages where he has painted upon original first-edition book pages of Robert Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky novel, a sci-fi classic from the 50's.
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige continue their on-going research on The Lebanese Rocket Society, documenting significant space-age moments that took place in Lebanese history between 1960 to 1967. Joana and Khalil’s work aims to fight the oblivion in which the original space rocket project sank, even though it had been a recipient of great national pride and celebration in its initial years. The new body of work looks at how most of the photographers and cameramen who attended the launching of the rockets missed (nearly systematically) the decisive moment, the taking off. To the photographer’s immense frustration, all they managed to get was the smoke in the path of the rocket – which, the artists insist, actually focus more on the beauty of the image and the way it recreates that moment.
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian employs a vernacular visual language through the use of Iranian mirror-mosaics as medium that communicates with the viewer stories of cosmic reflection. With the detailed intricacies of the cut mirror and her acute sense of modern aesthetics, Monir creates three-dimensional sculptures that challenge the basis of contemporary compositions. In the work exhibited, Monir creates a geometrical formation resulting in a number of cosmic variations. The negative space created within this formation further manifests other geometric shapes thus creating yet another layer to the work through careful and precise placement.
About The Third Line
The Third Line is a Dubai based art gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern artists locally, regionally and internationally. The Third Line also hosts non-profit, alternative programs to increase interest and dialogue in the region.
The Third Line also publishes books by associated artists from the region. Books published to date include Presence by photographer Lamya Gargash (2008), In Absentia by Tarek Al-Ghoussein (2009), Cosmic Geometry, an extensive monograph on Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Karen Marta (2011), and most recently the self-titled treatise Huda Lutfi about the artist’s Cairo based practice.
Represented artists include: Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Arwa Abouon, Babak Golkar, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Farhad Moshiri, Fouad Elkoury, Golnaz Fathi, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Laleh Khorramian, Lamya Gargash, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Rana Begum, Sahand Hesamiyan, Sherin Guirguis, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Al-Ghoussein and Youssef Nabil.
Media Contact
Saira Ansari
PR & Media Coordinator
saira@thethirdline.com | +9714 3411 367
