The Montblanc Cultural Foundation, based in Hamburg, was founded in 1992 with a mission to promote innovative thinking through supporting the arts worldwide. Its core initiatives include the globally recognized Montblanc Arts Patronage Award and the Montblanc Art Collection. From 2016 until 2020, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath served as chairmen for two consecutive terms, leading the Foundation’s new strategic direction.
Montblanc Arts Patronage Award
The Montblanc Arts Patronage Award has to date honored close to 300 patrons in 25 countries and contributed around 5 million Euros towards the awarded organizations. Over the past years, the Foundation has expanded its geographic reach by recognizing patrons in South America, South Asia and the Middle East. The award acknowledges the essential role that patrons play in supporting the arts where it is most needed. It seeks to spotlight the patron’s organizations publicly, and to inspire others to follow their example. The recipients are nominated each year by an extensive network of 50 established cultural figures from around the world, and the final selection is made during the annual meeting of the Foundation’s Board and its Curatorium.
Montblanc Art Collection
Since 2002, the Foundation has supported more than 170 artists to produce new artworks for the Montblanc Art Collection through its Artist Commission Program. The Foundation enables young and emerging artists to produce new works within the context of a temporary exhibition, a biennale, or an art festival. It is geographically inclusive and open to all forms of contemporary artistic practices. Projects are nominated internally and connect to themes that are of relevance to the Foundation. The collection includes many artists who went on to become internationally renowned figures such as John Armleder, Monica Bonvicini, José León Cerillo, Thomas Demand, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Sylvie Fleury, Liam Gillick, Gary Hume, Fang Lijun, Thomas Ruff, Tom Sachs, Chiharu Shiota, Thomas Schütte, Cerith Wyn Evans, and Heimo Zobernig.
Most recently, the Montblanc Cultural Foundation supported the work of ruby onyinyechi amanze as part of the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo, Mercedes Dorame’s as part of the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. exhibition, Emmanuelle Lainé at the Hayward Gallery’ HENI Project Space, and of Katherine Nuñez and Issay Rodriguez at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
Curatorium
In 2017 the Foundation established its Curatorium, an international advisory board to strengthen the Foundation’s global network. The Curatorium and the Chairmen jointly decide each year on the recipients of the Foundation’s Arts Patronage Award, as well as the Montblanc Art Commissions. The members of the Curatorium are invited on a rotational basis. Its current members are Anne Barlow (Director, Tate St. Ives), Sunjung Kim (Director, Gwangju Biennale), Jean de Loisy (President, Palais de Tokyo), Franklin Sirmans (Director, Perez Art Museum), and Jochen Volz (Director, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paolo).
2021
Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Nuremberg, Germany
Guest Professorship, Design Theory Program. Academic year 2021/2022
Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
Dancing On A Volcano: Beirut’s Golden Sixties. October 8, 2021
Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, KSA
Lead Professors, Curatorial Collective Course. January – March, 2021
2020
2019
Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts (SAFA), Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
Lead Professors, Shanghai Curators Lab. November 4 – 30, 2019
Université Saint Joseph, School of Humanities, Beirut, Lebanon
Interrogating Notions of Modernism Within Histories of Modern Art in the Arab World. September 20 – 21, 2019
Istituto Europeo di Design, School of Visual Arts Venice, Italy
Contemporary Curating in a Global Context. April 11, 2019
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K20 Düsseldorf, Germany
Transmodernism: The Arab Context. February 20, 2019
Presented as part of the lecture series for the “Museum Global” project
2018
University of North Texas, College of Visual Art & Design Denton, USA
Insights into Curatorial Practices. November 28, 2018
Northwestern University, Department of Art History Evanston, USA
Ways of Seeing: Insights into Curating / Egyptian Surrealism: Art et Liberté. November 5, 2018
Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg Nürnberg, Germany
Curating in a Global Context. May 2, 2018
Savannah College of Art and Design, SCAD Museum of Art Savannah, USA
Ways of Seeing: Insights into Curating. February 22, 2018
Presented as part of deFINE ART
Södertörn University and Moderna Museet Stockholm, Sweden
Surrealism in Egypt: Modernism and the Art and Liberty Group. January 25, 2018
Presented at the conference “Narrating Home in Visual Arts Through an East West Divide”
University of Cambridge, Department of History of Art, Cambridge, UK
The Intersection of Proto-feminist Practices and Surrealism in Egypt (working title). June 2, 2018
Presented at the symposium “Subversive Intent & Beyond” Surrealism, Politics, Sexuality
2017
MESA (Middle East Studies Association) 51st Conference, Washington D.C., USA
Rethinking Surrealism: Art et Liberté (f. 1938), and the Subjective Realism of Ramses Younane (1913–1966). November 21, 2017
The University of Liverpool, School of Histories, Languages and Cultures, Liverpool, UK
The Art and Liberty: Towards A New Art-historical Definition of Surrealism. November 15, 2017
Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Surrealism in Egypt and the making of the exhibition Art et Liberté. November 2, 2017
Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
The Art et Liberté Group: Towards A New Art-historical Definition of Surrealism. February 15, 2017
Presented as part of the exhibition’s public programs
2016
Centre Pompidou – In collaboration with the Institut National d’Historie de l’Art (INHA), Paris, France
Art et Liberté: A New Definition of Surrealism. November 25, 2016
Presented at the conference “Art and Liberty (1938–1948) and modernity in Egypt” Beyond the post-colonial discourse
The Orient-Institute, Beirut, Lebanon
The Art and Liberty Group and the Reworking of Surrealism in Egypt. November 14, 2016
Presented at the conference “The Avant-Garde and Its Networks” Surrealism in Paris, North Africa and the Middle East from the 1930s
Sydney College of Art (SCA), Sydney, Australia
Tea with Nefertiti: or how the arts shape culture. May 12, 2016
University of North Texas, Denton, USA
Revisiting Surrealism: The Modernism of the Art and Liberty Group. February 23, 2016
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K20, Düsseldorf, Germany
Long Live Degenerate Art: The Art and Liberty Group and Surrealism’s Fight Against Fascism in Egypt. January 20, 2016
Presented at the conference “museum global” Multiple Perspectives on Art, 1904–1950
2015
2014
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
The Art and Liberty Group and Manifestations of Surrealism in Egypt 1939-1945. May 22, 2014
Presented at the conference “Postwar – Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945–1965”
University of North Texas, Denton, USA
On Representation: making exhibitions, creating narratives. February 27, 2014
Brown University, Department of Visual Art, Providence, USA
On Curating: methodologies and practices of curating. February 25, 2014
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Architecture, Cambridge, USA
Tea with Nefertiti: how the arts shape culture. February 24, 2014
2013
Université Saint Joseph, School of Humanities, Beirut, Lebanon
History of Modern Art in the Arab World 1880–1970. November 18 – 22, 2013
Institut National d’Historie de l’Art (INHA), Paris, France
Egyptian Surrealsim and the Dis-entangling of Art and Nationalism. June 26, 2013
Presented at the conference “L’Égypte en ses miroirs. Art, architecture et critique, à demeure et au-delà”
University of North Texas, Denton, USA
Tea with Nefertiti: the making of an exhibition. February 25, 2013
2020
Art Gallery at NYU Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Tracing Ways of Seeing: a roundtable about the exhibition Ways of Seeing. June 23, 2020
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, USA
de.FINEART, Panel on commissioning art. February, 20, 2020
Talking Galleries, Barcelona, Spain
The Market for Middle Eastern Art. January 21, 2020
2019
Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Panel discussion with artists Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Siska and Yuan Yuan. December 7, 2019
Artissima, Torino, Italy
Organizers, HUB Middle East: a series of panel discussions. October 31 – November 3, 2019
Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Screening and panel discussion around documentary: Mein Leben – Die Fotografin Sibylle Bergemann. October 3, 2019
Bonhams, London, UK
Paul Guiragossian: Displaying Modernity. April 28, 2019
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
Presentation of the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates. March 21, 2019
2018
Art Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Models of Patronage: The Montblanc Cultural Foundation. November 17, 2018
Seminário Internacional ARTE!Brasileiros, São Paolo, Brazil
Models of Patronage: The Montblanc Cultural Foundation. September 6, 2018
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
Modernity in the Gulf / MoMA’s Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents. March 19, 2018
2017
Code Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark
ArtReActs: Rethinking Museums Collecting & Displaying Strategies. September 1, 2017
Sommerfrische Kunst, Bad Gastein, Austria
Buona Sera Salon. July 30, 2017
Schmela Haus, Kunstasammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K20, Düsseldorf, Germany
The making of the exhibition “Art et Liberté. Umbruch, Krieg und Surrealismus in Ägypten (1938–1948)”. July 6, 2017
Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, KSA
Curatorial Practices and Shifting Grounds. May 6, 2017
Art Dubai, UAE
Art Dubai Modern Symposium: Women and Modernity. March 17, 2017
Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, KSA
Jeddah Art Week: al muntada – a series of moderated panels. February 2–4, 2017
2015
Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, USA
Tea with Nefertiti: how the arts shape culture. June 2, 2015
Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
4. Kölner Kunstversicherungsgespräch–Leihverkehr–Kunst on Tour. April 16, 2015
Art Basel, Art Salon, Hong Kong
Parallel Histories in Abstraction. March 15, 2015
Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore
Tea with Nefertiti: how the arts shape culture. March 10, 2015
2014
2013
2012
Dar Al- Ma’mun, Marrakech, Morocco
Art Practice and Research: Resources and Translations. December 12–13, 2012
Art Basel, Art Salon, Basel, Switzerland
The Arab Spring and Its Impact on Artists. June 14, 2012
The Arts and Patronage Summit, British Museum, London, UK
Collections and Collecting: how to make a difference, big or small. January 12, 2012
2010
Istanbul Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
Burn After Seeing: contemporary art in Iran. November 26, 2010
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
The Future of Tradition–The Tradition of Future. September 27, 2010
Sothebys, New York, USA
Art, Patronage and Collecting in Emerging Markets. May 5, 2010
Across Histories, ArteEast, The Swiss Institute, New York, USA
In Conversation with Artist Ghada Amer. March 25, 2010
Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
Encounters between the Modern and the Contemporary. December 17, 2010
Making Art: from process to political engagement. December 16, 2010
Presented at the AMCA Conference “Objects, Histories, and Methodologies”
Ongoing
The International Journal of Surrealism, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Academic Advisory Board
Friends Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Member of the Curatorium Advisory Board
Al Serkal Avenue Cultural District, Dubai, UAE
Members of Advisory Board (Ongoing)
Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA), Beirut, Lebanon
Members of Advisory Board
Jameel Prize, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Nominators
Saradar Collection, Beirut, Lebanon
Members of the Advisory Board
2020
2014
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