The Townhouse gallery is holding an international, contemporary art sale in the form of a live auction on Saturday 6th June 2009. Over thirty renowned artists, many from the Middle East region and with strong connections to the gallery, have donated works that will be exhibited in the Townhouse Factory space for a week in the run up to the auction.
From 7pm guests will be invited to view work and then from 8pm have the opportunity to place their bids. Those unable to attend in person can ask the gallery to bid on their behalf.
All funds raised will go towards the gallery and its outreach program which offers free workshops to adults and children, including those with special needs and from under-served communities.
All art works and details of participating artists can be viewed online from May 15th.
Auction entrance cards are 150 EGP (100EGP for Townhouse Friends) including a catalogue and bidding registration. These can be purchased by contacting fundraising@thetownhousegallery.com. Likewise, for those who would like to bid by proxy please contact the gallery directly on the above email address.
Participating Artists:
Adam Henein, Ahmed Askalany, Amre Heiba, Ala’ Younis, Anna Boghighuian, Ayman el Semary, Chant Avedissian, Damon Kowarsky, Doa Aly, Esmat Daoustachi, Essam Marouf, Farouk Hosny, George Bahgory, Huda Lutfi, John Jurayj, Khaled Hafez, Lamia Joreige, Lara Baladi, Lise Allam, Maha Maamoun, Marianne Eigenheer, Mohamed Sharkawy, Mona Hatoum, Nazli Madkour, Nermine Hammam, Rana El Nemr, Sabah Naim, Shady el Noshokaty, Swoon, Susan Hefuna, Tarek el Komi, Wael Shawky, Waheeda Malullah, Yiannis Hadjilaslanis.
BIDOUN VIDEO LOUNGE

Bidoun Lounge during set-up, photo by Katrin Greiling

Basim Magdy, Maybe There is a Message, 2008, video on DVD, 6 min. 55 sec.
Bidoun once again hosted the video lounge, a space for video, talks and performances. The lounge was co-designed by Traffic, with typography by the Khatt Foundation, and kindly supported by the Emirates Foundation. Programs included FLOWERS (curated by Bidoun), ME AND HER AND OUR PUNCTUATION MARKS (curated by Christine Tohme), and THE MESSAGE (curated by Sylvia Kouvali).
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YTO BARRADA AT BASTAKIYA

Yto Barrada, The Magician, 2003, Video, 18 min.
Bidoun Projects presented a screening of Yto Barrada’s 2003 film The Magician at the Bastakiya Art Fair.
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THE INHABITANTS OF IMAGES: RABIH MROUE


Photos by Katrin Greiling
The Inhabitants of Images, a new performance by the celebrated artist/actor Rabih Mroué, co-produced by Bidoun, Ashkal Alwan and Tanzquartier Wien, was presented in the Bidoun Lounge.
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FLOWERS POSTERS



Limited edition FLOWERS posters by Yto Barrada, Babak Radboy and Shirana Shahbazi, commissioned by Bidoun and co-produced with the Dubai-based boutique S*uce.
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BIDOUN PARTY!


Bidoun and The Third Line hosted a celebration of Sharjah Biennial 9 and Art Dubai week 2009 at the Golf Park at the Hyatt Regency Dubai, featuring Un-drum / strategies of surviving noise, a sound performance by Tarek Atoui (produced by Sharjah Biennial 9).
April 18, 2009
March 15-31, 2008
At the Creek Art Fair, Bastakiya, Dubai

At the CAF, Bidoun Projects presented a seminal film by Istanbul-based artist Emre Hüner, comprised of exquisitely drawn and animated landscapes that form fantastical future-retro worlds.
March 15, 2008
March 19-22, 2008
At Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah
Touring to the Palestine Art Academy, Ramallah, Palestine (July 2008); Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK (August 6, 2008).

At Art Dubai 2008, Bidoun curated and commissioned programs of artists film for a bespoke cinema and a video lounge. Film programs curated by Bidoun, Nav Haq and Tirdad Zolghadr feature work by 20 artists, making up the largest show of video art staged in the Gulf to date. Participating artists include Haluk Akakce, Ziad Antar, Yasmeen Al Awadi, Loulou Cherinet, Chris Evans, Shahab Fotouhi, Matthew Grover, Iman Issan, Nadine Khan, David Maljkovic, Shahyrar Nashat, Rosalind Nashashibi, Yoshua Okon, Hossam El Sawah, Anna Witt, Akram Zaatari.
Located in the Art Park at Art Dubai, the Bidoun Lounge and Cinema was co-designed by local gallery Traffic and Arabic-English typography specialists the Khatt Foundation. The project was kindly supported by the Emirates Foundation.
March 8-10, 2007
Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

At the DIFC Gulf Art Fair in 2007, Bidoun designed an outdoor lounge on Fort Island at Madinat Jumeirah, showing work by Susan Hefuna, Ala Ebtekar, and Amir H Fallah, and a specially commissioned series of cushions by Dubai-based artists Nadine Kanso, Loreta Bilinskaite, Haig Aivazian, Amna Al Zaabi and Raghda Bukhash.
A booth screened two rolling programmes of video, curated by Bidoun and the Third Line, that included work by Akram Zaatari, Wael Shawky, Ahmet Ogut, Iman Issa and Solmaz Shahbazi, among others. A library included a selection of rare books and magazines on contemporary Arab and Iranian art. Bidoun co-hosted the Collectors’ Night on the opening evening of the fair with Bloomberg.
Sponsored by Bloomberg
With thanks to The Third Line and 9714.
March 5, 2007
March 29-April 15, 2006
Counter Gallery, London, and touring to The Galleries Show, Extracity, Antwerp, April 20-25, 2006
A series of week-long exhibitions curated by Bidoun in which artists were given carte blanche not only in terms of content, but are also free to behave as artists or curators in absentia.
Week 1: Shirin Aliabadi & Farhad Moshiri: OPERATION SUPERMARKET
A series of posters alongside a small number of supermarket commodities, mixing, in the words of the artists, “poetry with detergent”. The emphasis here is on the commodification of mainstream media traits of the Middle East, but also on a wry parody of the mythical hopes that are still pinned on the commodity itself as a capitalist agent for change.

Week 2: Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige: THE LOST FILM
An absorbing travel narrative recounting the search for a lost film document, alongside an extract from a video by filmmaker and researcher Akram Zaatari, This Day, which peruses persistent Orientalist patterns through the history of desert photography.

Week 3: Faouzi Rouissi
A writer born in Algiers and barely known in the West, Rouissi is appreciated in local circles for his outspoken style and undaunted prose. Living in exile in Paris since 1994, Rouissi travels widely, publishing a wide array of publications ranging from travel guidebooks to critical anthologies of land art, all in his native Kabyli. Here, Rouissi proposes a selection of paintings and drawings focusing on what he terms “the contagious poetics of envy”. His selection includes a work by the SHAHRZAD collective, from the series I Love You But I Don’t Trust You Anymore (2004), plus painter Rachid Izdaman’s Victimes d’extrêmes remords (2005), and photographic works by Solmaz Shahbazi.
With thanks to Carl Freedman and Jo Stella-Sawicka from Counter Gallery.
March 23, 2006