Egyptian visual artist receives Spanish Contemporary Art award
Ahram Online, Monday 24 Dec 2012
Iman Eissa, a contemporary visual artist from Egypt, won the first Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art award valued at 50,000 Euros


A unanimous decision by the jury of the Fundació HAN NEFKENS Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) grants Egyptian artist Iman Issa this year’s Contemporary Art Award, which aims to boost the career of rising artists and foster international, contemporary artistic creativity.

According to MACBA, the jury unanimously awards this Egyptian artist for "the critical maturity of her work, not so common in the artists of her generation."

Iman Issa was born in 1979 in Cairo and works between her hometown and New York. She is a multidisciplinary artist, working with photography, video and installation art.

She participated in a number of local and global exhibitions in recent years, including; PhotoCairo 5 in Cairo, The Ungovernables, New Museum, New York (2012); Seeing is Believing, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin (2011); and Propaganda by Monuments, Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo (2011). Issa also delves in video art and her work has screened at worldwide venues including the Tate Modern in London, Art Dubai, and Transmediale, Berlin.

MACBA’s Contemporary Art Award is granted after ten scouts from all over the world each select three artists from their geographical areas and, based on the initial list of 30 artists, the Award Committee picks 10 finalists, which the jury reviews to select the winner.

"We are sure that the granting of this award will very positively impinge on a key moment of her career. It also entails a challenge for her artistic practice in terms of rigor and objectivity," the jury members said of Iman Issa’s win.

The award is a total amount of 50,000 Euros, 30,000 Euros of which are devoted to the production of a project in the city of Barcelona in 2013.

The Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) is a Spanish public entity dedicated to the diffusion of contemporary art and cultural practices.

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