RedBall Project: as part of UAE’s 40th National Day celebrations
Date uploaded: December 5, 2011
RedBall Project
In celebration of the UAE’s 40th National Day, The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City invited Artist Kurt Perschke’s world renowned RedBall Project to join the events taking place throughout the Emirate between 13th November and 2nd December 2011. A mobile sculptural intervention and world-class public art installation, RedBall Project is the first piece of its kind to ever be seen in Abu Dhabi - an ideal ambassador for contemporary art, and RedBall’s most exotic destination to date.
Redball’s exploration through the Emirate’s architectural marvels and diverse contexts has sparked much local response for those who have never seen art of this nature, a success for this year’s National Day celebrations. Director of communications at the Abu Dhabi municipality stated, "There's a special theme for National Day this year - the harmony of life in the UAE - and that's what I liked about this; it touches upon those things. It opens the door to conversation.”
Abu Dhabi will explore a variety of the Emirate’s architectural marvels throughout the National Day celebrations, select sites including the world renowned Sheikh Zayed Bridge by Zaha Hadid, Emirates Palace, Qasr Al Saraab, Abu Dhabi Art, and historical sites including Al Jahili Fort and the Al Ain Palace Museum, finishing with Zayed Sports Stadium. Drawings and collages from the development of the work are featured in an exhibition at the Emirates Palace.
As the artist states, "Art is about people. I utilize my opportunity as an artist to be a catalyst for new encounters every day. Through the magnetic, playful, and charismatic nature of the RedBall, this work has been able to access the imagination embedded in all of us. On the surface, the experience seems to be about the ball itself as an object, but the true power of the project is what it can create for those who experience it. It opens a doorway to imagine ‘what if’.
"I have witnessed it across continents, diverse age spans, cultures, and languages, always issuing an invitation. That invitation to engage, to collectively imagine, is the true essence of the RedBall Project. The larger arc of the project is how each city responds to that invitation and, over time, what the developing story reveals about our individual and cultural imagination."
From Abu Dhabi, RedBall will voyage down under to the city of Perth, Australia to take part in the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2012. Come summer it travels to England for a lead up to the London 2012 Olympics as part of the Cultural Olympiad, in conjunction with Dartington Trust, Torbay Council, and the South Bank Center.
To view RedBall Project’s full schedule of appearances in Abu Dhabi and to learn more about the project or contact the artist, please visit www.redballproject.com.
About the artist
Kurt Perschke’s public projects have earned him a national award from the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network. Perschke has worked with Contemporary Art Museums in Barcelona and St. Louis and participated in the Busan Biennale. His work is in institutional and private collections throughout the United States. Having lived in St. Louis, Vienna, Egypt, the Virgin Islands and his native city Chicago, Perschke is currently based in New York City.
About the National Day Celebration Committee
The National Day Celebration Committee (NDCC) was formed April 14th 2011 through the Executive Committee of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, chaired by HH Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. Its aim is to co-ordinate all the planned activities which to mark the UAE's 40th National day celebration taking place from 13 November 2011 through 2 December 2011.
