Kuwaiti artists win inaugural Art Jameel commission in Dubai

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Alia Farid and Aseel AlYacoub win Art Jameel commission | Kuwaiti artists Alia Farid and Aseel AlYacoub have been selected to create an installation called Contrary Life: a Botanical Light Garden Devoted to Trees for the opening of the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai this winter. Their proposal to produce an immersive light installation to form a botanical garden of flora and fauna was drawn up in response to seven desert-themed courtyards designed for the centre by the landscape architect Anouk Vogel.

Arcadia Missa gallery relocates to Soho | London’s Arcadia Missa gallery today announced that it is moving from Peckham to Soho, prompted in part by concerns about gentrification of its current home in south London. The space has been conscious of its role in the area since it opened in 2011. The gallery’s founder Rósza Farkas, who grew up in Peckham, explained the decision in a post on Artmirror today, writing ‘I am against gentrification, and this has left me constantly conflicted in my position as a gallery owner,’and giving details of the final exhibition in Peckham, which will be Totally Different Animals by Gaby Sahhar and Rosie Grace Ward, and opens on 2 March.

Imprisoned artist in Equatorial Guinea on trial today | The trial for Nsé Ramón Esono Ebalé began today in Equatorial Guinea. Esono Ebalé was arrested last September on the grounds that he had been handling counterfeit money. However, his human rights organisations are treating the charges as a pretext, and the arrests as motivated by the artist’s cartoons depicting government officials stealing public money.

Dalí expert supports authentication of unknown painting | hitherto unknown painting Untitled (1932), which is currently on display at the Heather James Fine Art gallery in New York, has been authenticated as a Salvador Dalí by an expert on the artist, reports artnet News. Nicolas Descharnes aided the verification of The Intrauterine Birth of Salvador Dalí (c. 1921) in 2014, and recently conducted several tests and much research on the new discovery before confirming its authenticity. Untitled (1932) is signed ‘Gala Salvador Dalí’ in tribute of the artist’s wife, and includes a pole jutting out of a window in a comparatively vast wall. The work was previously in a private collection for more than 75 years.