Samdani Art Foundation
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| Founder | Nadia Samdani & Rajeeb Samdani |
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| Website | samdani |
The Samdani Art Foundation is a private foundation based in Dhaka that aims to increase artistic engagement between Bangladesh and the rest of the world.
Founded in 2011 by collector couple Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, the foundation has enabled Bangladeshi artists to expand their creative horizons through production grants, residencies, education programs, and exhibitions. The Foundation produces the bi-annual Dhaka Art Summit , which is the world’s largest non-commercial platform for South Asian Art. The Foundation also collects art from all over the world, and the collection is available for Bangladeshi audiences to view (by appointment).
Founders Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani were recognized on the 2015 Top 200 Collectors list by Artnews. Recently, they also joined the International Council of the Tate Museum. Works from Documenta, the Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennale have a permanent home in Bangladesh. The collection contains works by emerging Bangladeshi artists such as Ayesha Sultana as well as established international artists such as Ceal Floyer, Ai Wei Wei, Anish Kapoor, and Pedro Reyes. The collection and foundation are run by American curator Diana Campbell Betancourt who is the Artistic Director of the foundation. Works from the Samdani Art Foundation collection are exhibited all over the world through loan requests at exhibitions such as the Kunsthalle Basel, Gwangju Biennial, and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum.
The Samdani Art Foundation collaborates with international institutions to increase scholarship and exhibition opportunities for South Asian Artists. The 2016 Dhaka Art Summit will include curators from the Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and Kunsthalle Zurich. The Samdanis sit on the international leadership council of the New Museum in New York and Mr. Samdani is the co-Chair of he Tate South Asia Acquisitions committee. The Samdani Art Foundation has supported international institutions such as the Kunsthalle Basel, the 2nd Kochi Biennale, and the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, however the Foundation is not a grant making body and generally works with curatorial collaborations on an institutional level. They also arrange seminars and workshops in Bangladesh.
Major Collection Areas of the Samdani Art Foundation include Bangladeshi Contemporary Artists, Bangladeshi Masters & Moderns, Indian Contemporary Artists, Pakistani Contemporary Artists as well as major artists of the Bengal School of Art. The Samdani Art Foundation is thus well on its way to become the leading purveyor of Bangladeshi art.
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