New Art Exchange (NAE) is delighted to announce that its CEO and Director, Skinder Hundal, has been awarded an MBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his contribution to visual arts
New Art Exchange (NAE) is delighted to announce that its CEO and Director, Skinder Hundal, has been awarded an MBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his contribution to visual arts.
Having led NAE since its establishment in 2008, Hundal has successfully driven the organisation through a significant period of growth and development, achieving a strong reputation for creating high quality adventurous art, and bringing international culturally diverse art to the UK.
Upon receiving his MBE in the Queen’s Honours, Skinder Hundal comments: “The work we do at New Art Exchange is, for me, at the heart of what connects communities, cultures and also geographies from the micro local to the macro global. When the re-imagination of contemporary contexts through art works and cultural events happen well, they offer new truths and perspectives, often missing in the day to day of life. These re-imaginations bring value to our lives, impacting on how we think and act, consolidating histories, some of which are awkward to digest and missing in the main narratives, bringing vibrant futurisms into the very moment we step out to face each day, positively recreating ourselves for the good of our planet.”
Hundal continues: “It is a privilege to work in the arts, especially with an organisation that was born from roots communities in an inner-city, multi ethnic, working class neighbourhood. As much as we have created our own systems here at NAE, which rebel against the status quo, we have also operated alongside existing structures, the very structures that we also challenge and help to shape and define for a more inclusive society.”
Hundal’s collaborative approach has shaped NAE’s programming, constantly cultivating new dialogues and generating fresh ideas. A long-time collaborator of the gallery, Ghanaian-British writer, journalist and broadcaster, Ekow Eshun, has
curated the current exhibition, The Path (until 23 June). A solo show by acclaimed Moroccan-British photographer Hassan Hajjaj, it pays testament to the diasporic dispersion of people of African descent around the globe.
In a partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM), Hundal helped set up a commission by the British artist John Akomfrah, titled Mimesis: African Soldier. Combining newly created film, a powerful sound score and historic footage,
Akomfrah’s multi-screen installation remembers the millions of Africans who served in the First World War. Following its presentation at IWM, Mimesis: African Soldier will be shown at NAE from September – December 2019.
One of the most recent projects Hundal has been involved in is NAE Open – an open platform for artists to apply and exhibit their work. Beyond the public exhibition itself, which will run from 13 July until 8 September, NAE Open will provide an accolade of prizes including cash awards and developmental opportunities. In addition, a panel of prestigious judges will view each submission creating the opportunity for artists to expose their practice to arts professionals and organisations they may not have been able to engage with. The judges will select the main exhibition prize, with visitors to the exhibition voting for the Public Choice winner and NAE selecting the NAE Exhibition Prize.
Hundal has helped position NAE as a key contemporary art space in the UK and promote its commitment to stimulating new perspectives about the value of diversity in art and society.
Skinder Hundal is CEO/Director of NAE, since the establishment of the venue in September 2008 , positispaceoning NAE as a key contemporary art in the UK. He has led on and delivered complex, large-scale projects, including the historic EM15 Midland’s Pavilion at the 56th edition Venice Biennale 2015 – with Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf; Culture Cloud, a flagship NESTA Digital Arts R&D project; British Art Show 7 – Nottingham; Ted Global talks with Hetain Patel / Aakash Odedra; represented cutting edge narratives on Google Cultural Institute with Speed Sisters (Tanya Habjouqa) and designed and delivered the NAE Here There & Everywhere international programme creating significant international exchanges between the UK and South Asia, South Korea, key African cities, the Middle East, North America, South Italy and Sicily. Skinder, also as part of the Arts Council Re-Imagine India programme, instigated and delivered with artist / curator Sooree Pillay a multi-city partnership connecting major UK and India art scenes with residencies, conferences, talent development projects, exhibitions and technology biennials. The partnership in South Korea, Seoul featured the Real DMZ exhibition at NAE and the co-commission with 1418Now produced the film Mimesis: African Soldier by John Akomfrah commemorating 100 years of WW1 launching at Imperial War Museum as part of NAE’s major art ecology programme connecting key cities and arts hubs across Africa and the UK.
