BMW ART MAKERS programme 2026 publicizes artist Lara Tabet and curator Yasmine Chemali as winners. A research-led creative collaboration providing new views on up to date imagery, marking the bicentenary of pictures from its invention by Nicéphore Niépce to its ongoing affect on up to date creative follow.

Paris/Munich. Artist Lara Tabet and curator Yasmine
Chemali have been named winners of the BMW ART MAKERS
programme to develop their mission “Le corps vitré”.
This creative mission is a brand new experiment and the results of their
collaboration. The programme will culminate in two unique
exhibitions at Les Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo, additional
strengthening BMW’s long-standing partnerships with each occasions.

The jury was composed of Pascal Beausse (Head of the Photography
Collection on the Centre National des Arts Plastiques), Florence
Bourgeois (Director of Paris Photo), Andreina de Bei (Photo Director
and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sciences et Avenir), Hervé Digne
(President of Poush-Manifesto), Chantal Nedjib (Founder of Image par
l’picture), Christoph Wiesner (Director of Rencontres d’Arles), and
Maryse Bataillard (Head of Corporate Communications and CSR at BMW
Group France).

The “Le corps vitré” mission.
“Le
corps vitré” is a analysis and inventive mission led by artist and
biologist Lara Tabet, in collaboration with exhibition curator Yasmine
Chemali, which will probably be developed as a part of the BMW ART MAKERS
programme. At the crossroads of artwork, biomedical sciences and
ecology, the mission explores the relationships between dwelling
beings, photographs and the atmosphere by means of an experimental course of
of bacteriography. Using microbiological samples taken from
aquatic environments situated on the interface between pure areas
and industrial infrastructure, Lara Tabet develops photographs ensuing
from the direct interplay between micro-organisms and photosensitive surfaces.

This protocol, on the crossroads of scientific analysis and creative
creation, makes the pictures the results of a co-production between the
artist and dwelling organisms, the place time, gentle and micro-ecosystems
grow to be lively brokers of type.
For the exhibition produced by BMW
ART MAKERS, these imprints of life are transposed into up to date
stained-glass home windows, making a transition from the organic to the
mineral, through the digital, and inscribing the pictures inside an extended,
extra enduring timescale. Combining pictures, glass and light-weight, Le
corps vitré questions the flexibility of photographs to make typically invisible
ecosystems seen and to grow to be a device for highlighting present
environmental points.

Upon the announcement of their appointment, artist Lara Tabet
and curator Yasmine Chemali acknowledged: “We are delighted
with this appointment, which recognises a long-standing collaboration
fuelled by a shared migratory journey from Beirut to the south of
France. On the event of the Bicentenary of Photography, we’re
delighted to have the ability to develop a mission that questions the
permeability of our bodies by means of a feminist strategy that decentres the
human scale whereas celebrating the hybrid nature of the photographic
medium, proper from its origins. The BMW ART MAKERS programme, which
emphasises collaborative work carried out by a duo, appears to us to be
the best context for bringing to fruition a curatorial and creative
mission that resonates with the challenges of life, picture and
up to date ecologies.”

The BMW ART MAKERS programme will make this mission
potential. 
“At BMW, we firmly imagine that arts
patronage is a vital supply of innovation and cultural
expression. This award, which helps each the artist and the
curator, illustrates our want to assist formidable and progressive
tasks that push the boundaries of up to date creation. For BMW,
this programme is way more than simply monetary assist: it’s a
dedication to selling range of expertise and actively taking part
within the creative dynamic, whereas fostering a fruitful dialogue between
artwork, science and society. By providing this framework of freedom and
sources, we allow artists to convey to life works that enrich our
view of the world and encourage future generations,” mentioned
Maryse Bataillard, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR, BMW
Group France.

More than 210 functions had been acquired for this new version.

Each yr, the tasks acquired through the name for
functions replicate the tendencies and subjects explored by artists. Out of
greater than 210 submissions, the 5 finalist duos chosen had been
required to offer an announcement of intent, a finances, a manufacturing
schedule, a set design proposal and portfolios of their earlier
work.
The tasks offered revealed all kinds of profiles
and works, with 63 per cent blended duos, 25 per cent feminine duos and 12
per cent male duos.
Nearly half of the duos had been French, with the
different half comprising worldwide artists and curators from extra
than 36 nations.

This yr’s submitted tasks deal with a wide range of themes, focusing
on the atmosphere, individuals, dwelling issues, reminiscence and historical past,
with a robust hyperlink to the bicentenary of pictures, which
evokes reflections on its heritage and evolution. They showcase a
broad number of practices, starting from conventional pictures to
up to date applied sciences corresponding to synthetic intelligence and
augmented actuality. The codecs mix pictures, sound,
video and set up, exploring each the photographic
medium and progressive narrative and spatial experiences. This version
confirms the deal with range and the evolution of visible practices.

The preliminary choice of tasks was made by a preliminary
jury of visible arts professionals comprising Fabrice
Laroche (Editor-in-chief of Fisheye Magazine), Maud Prangey (Image and
Contemporary Art Consultant, Marie Valat (Marie Valat Agency and Head
of Contemporary Art Exhibitions for Maison Auguste Comte), and
Emmanuelle Vieillard (Exhibition Curator on the Nicéphore Niépce Museum).

The preliminary jury chosen 5 nominated artist-curator
duos to be interviewed by the primary jury:

• Amr Alfiky (artist), Azu Nwagbogu (curator) with the mission
  Recuerdos del Mar: Memories of the Sea
• Marta Bogdanska (artist), Emmanuelle Halkin (curator) with the
  mission Animae
• Charlotte Charbonnel (artist), Léa Bismuth (curator) with the
  mission Paléorama
• Nicolas Lebeau (artist), Aden Vincendeau (curator) with the
  mission Silver Lining
• Lara Tabet (artist), Yasmine Chemali (curator) with the mission Le
  corps vitré

 

Biographies of the winners

Lara Tabet, artist.
Lara Tabet is a Lebanese
medical biologist and visible artist primarily based in Marseille, whose work
combines life sciences, expertise and visible arts. She makes use of
experimental pictures, bio-art, video, set up and sculpture
to rework scientific protocols into inventive instruments, exploring the
interactions between biology, expertise and the atmosphere. Trained
in medical pathology in Beirut and pictures in New York, she has
exhibited internationally and acquired a number of awards, together with the
Prince Claus Mentorship Award in 2022. A laureate of the European
STARTS for Water II programme, she has participated in varied artist
residencies and taught pictures in Beirut and Salzburg.

Yasmine Chemali, curator.
Trained in artwork
historical past, museology and heritage conservation on the École du Louvre
and EHESS, she has been creating a curatorial follow centered on
pictures, archives and up to date problems with illustration for
over ten years. She has directed the Fouad Debbas assortment,
specialising in 19^th and 20^th century
pictures, and was chargeable for the trendy and up to date artwork
collections on the Sursock Museum in Beirut (2014-2020). Since 2020,
she has been director of the Centre de la Photographie de Mougins,
created to advertise up to date pictures by means of exhibitions,
residencies and publications.

Her curatorial strategy highlights minority narratives and pictures as
instruments of energy and resistance, favouring understated shows
that encourage a delicate studying of the works. At the identical time, she
works as an impartial curator and participates in conferences, whereas
additionally sitting on the board of administrators of the SARADAR personal
assortment in Beirut.

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