Rajeeb Samdani

Last updated

Rajeeb Samdani
Rajeeb Samdani New.jpg
Born (1974-03-28) 28 March 1974 (age 50)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
NationalityBangladeshi
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseNadia Samdani

Rajeeb Samdani (born 28 March 1974)[ citation needed ] is a Bangladeshi industrialist and art collector. As of 2021, he is the managing director of Golden Harvest Group, a Bangladeshi conglomerate, and the founder and trustee of Samdani Art Foundation which produces the Dhaka Art Summit. [1]

Contents

He is the founding committee member and co-chair of the South Asian Acquisition Committee at the Tate in the United Kingdom. [2] He is a member of Tate's International Council and founding members of Harvard University Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute's Arts Advisory Council in the United States. [3]

Career

Samdani enrolled at North South University, but never completed his degree. [4] He started his career as a commodity broker with Stemcor at age 23. [5] In 1999, he founded Golden Harvest InfoTech Limited. As the managing director of Golden Harvest Group he expanded the conglomerate beyond information technology into food, logistics, insurance, and real estate. [4] [6]

Samdani is a trustee and secretary general of the Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, and founder of the Alvina Samdani Trust and Taher Ahmed Choudhury Charitable Hospital. [4]

Along with his wife Nadia Samdani, Rajeeb Samdani has collected over 2,000 artworks. [7]

Art foundation

Samdani Art Foundation was established in 2011 by Rajeeb Samdani and his wife Nadia Samdani. The foundation is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and supports country's contemporary art and architecture. [8] Through the foundation, Samdani funded the Kunsthalle Basel's first exhibition of a South Asian artist, Naeem Mohaiemen in 2014. [9] The foundation is a donor for the 56th International Biennale di Venezia, supporting the projects of artists Naeem Mohaiemen and Raqs Media Collective in the main Biennale exhibition: All the World's Futures. [10] Bangladeshi-British artist Rana Begum's first major institutional solo exhibition at Parasol Unit, London was also supported through Samdani Art Foundation in 2016. [11] They also support Bangladeshi artists to produce works for exhibitions. Some of the supported exhibitions are the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014, Shanghai Biennale 2016, and Kunsthalle Zurich. [12] [13] [14] The foundation supports emerging artists and architects with the biannual Samdani Art and Samdani Architecture awards. [15] [16] Another program of the foundation, The Samdani Artist-Led Initiatives Forum launched on 13 April 2017 supports the work of Bangladesh's independently established and self-funded art collectives and initiatives. [17]

The Samdanis have organised the Dhaka Art Summit, a non-profit event funded by Samdani Art Foundation from 2012. It attracted more than 50,000 visitors its first year. [18] [19] Dhaka Art Summit takes place in every two years at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in collaboration with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. [20] The 5th edition of the Dhaka Art Summit took place from 7 to 15 February 2020 and drew 477,000 visitors. [21]

Their new initiative is the Srihatta—Samdani Art Centre and Sculpture Park, which is the forthcoming permanent art space established under the Samdani Art Foundation. [22] Srihatta will be the first permanent dedicated space for the Foundation's programming and exhibition activities. The centre is designed by Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, who won the Agha Khan Award in 2016. This is also the country's first sculpture park and dedicated art space for international modern and contemporary art. [23]

Awards and recognition

The Samdanis are known for their local and international art collection. [6] [24] Works from their collection have travelled to major exhibitions, such as the Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2014); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2016); documenta 14 (2017); and Shanghai Biennale (2017). [8] [25]

In 2017, Samdani and his wife received the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award for founding the Samdani Art Foundation and the Dhaka Art Summit. [26] They were recognized on the Top 200 Collectors list by ARTnews from 2015 to 2020, [4] The World's Top 100 Art Collectors 2016 by Artnet News . [27] and the Power 100 list from 2015 through 2022 by ArtReview . [4] [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shahabuddin Ahmed (artist)</span> Bangladeshi painter

Shahabuddin Ahmed is a Bangladeshi painter. He was awarded the Chevalier De L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres by the Ministry of Cultural Affair and Communication of France in 2014. He was the recipient of Independence Day Award by the Government of Bangladesh in 2000. His paintings are displayed in galleries like Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland, Municipal Museum of Bourg-en-Bresse, France, Seoul Olympic Museum, South Korea, the National Taiwan Museum and Bangladesh National Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafiq Azam</span> Bangladeshi architect

Muhammad Rafiq Azam is a Bangladeshi architect who is principal architect at Shatotto Architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abul Khair Litu</span>

Abul Khair Litu is a Bangladeshi industrialist and entrepreneur. He is known for his involvement in the promotion of the country's culture, art, music, theatre and literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riyas Komu</span> Indian Multimedia artist

Riyas Komu is an Indian multimedia artist and curator based in Mumbai. He has invested his time in art education and developing art infrastructure in India. Komu's works are inspired by social conflicts and political movements and topics like migration and displacement. His hyper-realistic oil portraits of people resemble socialist-realist propaganda art, with one of his portraits titled Why Everybody should Look Like Mao.

Naeem Mohaiemen uses film, photography, installation, and essays to research South Asia's postcolonial markers. His projects on the 1970s revolutionary left explored the role of misrecognition within global solidarity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kochi-Muziris Biennale</span> International art exhibition held in Indian city, Kochi

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an international exhibition of contemporary art held in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It is the largest art exhibition in the country and the biggest contemporary art festival in Asia. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation with support from the Government of Kerala. The concept of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale was ideated and executed by Venu Vasudevan, IAS, who was the Government of Kerala's cultural secretary. The exhibition is set across Kochi, with shows being held in existing galleries, halls, and site-specific installations in public spaces, heritage buildings and vacant structures.

Dhaka Art Summit is an art summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is organised by Samdani Art Foundation, a non- profit art infrastructure development organisation founded by Nadia Samdani. and Rajeeb Samdani in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samdani Art Foundation</span> Private art foundation

The Samdani Art Foundation is a private art foundation founded in 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh that aims to increase artistic engagement between the art and architecture of Bangladesh and the rest of the world. It is best known for producing the bi-annual Dhaka Art Summit, which is the highest daily visited contemporary art exhibition in the world, welcoming over 477,000 visitors in its fifth edition in February 2020. It completed its sixth edition in 2023. The foundation produces education programmes and exhibitions across the year in collaboration with Bangladeshi and international institutions and is one of the most active art institutions in South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladeshi art</span>

Bangladeshi art is a form of visual arts that has been practiced throughout the land of what is now known as Bangladesh. Bangladeshi art has a perennial history which originated more than two thousand years ago and is practiced even to this date. Among the various forms of Bangladeshi art, photography, architecture, sculpture and painting are the most notable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hashem Khan (artist)</span> Bangladeshi painter (born 1941)

Hashem Khan is a Bangladeshi painter. His paintings mostly focus rural life of Bangladesh. He has important contribution to enrich Bangladeshi art and culture. Hashem Khan participated in Bangladesh liberation war and his many artworks on the war. He is the Chairman of Bangladesh National Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firoz Mahmud</span>

Firoz Mahmud is a Bangladeshi visual artist based in Japan. He was the first Bangladeshi fellow artist in research at Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Mahmud's work has been exhibited at the following biennales: Sharjah Biennale, the first Bangkok Art Biennale, at the Dhaka Art Summit, Setouchi Triennale (BDP), the first Aichi Triennial, the Congo Biennale, the first Lahore Biennale, the Cairo Biennale, the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, and the Asian Biennale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delfina Foundation</span>

The Delfina Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming.

Tayeba Begum Lipi is a Bangladeshi artist and the co-founder and trustee of Britto Arts Trust. She received a Grand Prize at the 11th Asian Art Biennale, Bangladesh 2004. Lipi is a multimedia artist who has engaged in paintings, prints, installations and videos. Her works have been featured in notable group exhibitions, including the 54th Venice Biennale (2011) and Colombo Art Biennale (2012). She was also the commissioner for the Bangladesh Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011).


Anne Barlow is a curator and director in the field of international contemporary art, and is currently Director of Tate St Ives, Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018. There she directs and oversees the artistic vision and programme, including temporary exhibitions, collection displays, artist residencies, new commissions, and a learning and research programme. At Tate St Ives, Barlow has curated solo exhibitions of work by artists including: Outi Pieski (2024); Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (2023); Burçak Bingöl (2022); Prabhakar Pachpute (2022); Thảo Nguyên Phan (2022); Petrit Halilaj (2021); Haegue Yang (2020); Otobong Nkanga (2019); Huguette Caland (2019); Amie Siegel (2018) and Rana Begum (2018). She was also co-curator of "Naum Gabo: Constructions for Real Life" (2020) and collaborating curator with Castello di Rivoli, Turin for Anna Boghiguian at Tate St Ives (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Campbell Betancourt</span> American curator

Diana Campbell Betancourt is an American curator working in South and Southeast Asia, primarily Bangladesh and the Philippines. Currently she is the artistic director of Dhaka-based Samdani Art Foundation and chief curator of the Dhaka Art Summit. Formerly based in Mumbai for six years, she facilitated inter-regional South Asia dialog through her exhibitions and public programmes.

Mithu Sen is an Indian conceptual artist. Born in West Bengal in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadia Samdani</span> British born Bangladeshi businesswoman

Nadia Samdani is a British born Bangladeshi businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. She is involved in developing platforms for art and culture in Bangladesh. Along with her husband Rajeeb Samdani, she is the co-founder of Samdani Art Foundation and its headline event the Dhaka Art Summit, which she also leads as its director. She serves as the Vice President of the Alliance Française de Dhaka.

Shubigi Rao is an Indian-born Singaporean contemporary artist and writer known for her long-term, multidisciplinary projects and installation works that often use books, etchings, drawings, video, and archives. Her interests include archaeology, libraries, neuroscience, histories and lies, literature and violence, and natural history. Rao has exhibited internationally, presenting work at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, 10th AsiaPacific Triennial in 2021, 10th Taipei Biennial in 2016, the 3rd Pune Biennale in 2017, the 2nd Singapore Biennale in 2008, as well as the 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2018.

Golden Harvest Group is a Bangladeshi diversified conglomerate based in Dhaka. Rajeeb Samdani is the conglomerate’s managing director while Mohius Samad Choudhury is the main director.

References

  1. ↑ "Master strokes Dhaka Art Summit in April". The Daily Star. 7 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Bangladeshi Rajeeb Samdani appointed founding member". The Daily Star. 7 November 2012.
  3. ↑ "Founding members form South Asian Arts Council". Harvard University South Asian Arts Council. 9 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Alom, Zahangir (18 February 2021). "Rajeeb Samdani: Harvesting Bangladesh's potential in art and business". The Business Standard.
  5. ↑ "Rajeeb Samdani". 21 Anniversary Supplement. The Daily Star. 2012.
  6. 1 2 Shah, Gayatri Rangachari (4 December 2013). "Putting Bangladesh on the Arts Map". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Harris, Gareth (6 February 2018). "Breaking New Ground for Contemporary Art in Bangladesh". Sothebys.
  8. 1 2 "Promoting South Asian art, artists". New Age. 13 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Prisoner of Shothik Itihash". Kunsthalle Basel.
  10. ↑ Harris, Gareth (1 May 2015). "Foundations set the pace in Venice". Financial Times.
  11. ↑ "Rana Begum: The Space Between". Parasol Unit.
  12. ↑ "Artist Project Support". Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016.
  13. ↑ "Power Station of Art". Archived from the original on 27 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Speak Lokal". Kunsthalle Zurich. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Samdani Architecture Award Winner Announced". The Daily Star. 19 September 2018.
  16. ↑ Alom, Zahangir (4 February 2018). "Bangladeshi Art and Architecture Go Global". The Daily Star.
  17. ↑ "Re-Examinations on the Function of Art: Dhaka Art Summit 2018". The Artling. 5 February 2018. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019.
  18. ↑ Reaz, Shaer (13 February 2014). "Where Lines Went for Walks". The Daily Star.
  19. ↑ Nag, Ashoke (5 November 2013). "Samdani Art Foundation to stage second edition of Dhaka Art Summit". The Economic Times.
  20. ↑ Pathak, Nilima (31 January 2018). "300 artists, 10 exhibitions at Dhaka Art Summit". Gulf News.
  21. ↑ "Mulling over Art: Bangladesh's Dhaka Art Summit, growing platform for former colonial subjects". The Mast. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020.
  22. ↑ "This billionaire couple started Dhaka Art Summit to bring Bangladesh to the international arts scene". The Peak. 28 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "Samdani Art Foundation Unveils Plans for First Permanent Space". ARTnews. 12 May 2017.
  24. ↑ Shah, Ashiesh (12 January 2014). "Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani". dna.
  25. ↑ "Our Team". Samdani Art Foundation.
  26. ↑ Shaikh, Ayesha (17 September 2017). "Montblanc De La Culture Arts Patronage Award Presented In Dubai". Harpers Bazaar Arabia.
  27. ↑ "The artnet News Index: The World's Top 100 Art Collectors for 2016, Part Two". Artnet News. 15 June 2016.
  28. ↑ "Power 100". ArtReview.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.