First BD architect Marina Tabassum shortlisted for Jameel Prize

Bangladesh architect Marina Tabassum has been shortlisted for the Jameel Prize while her works will be exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London at the end of this year.

The V&A recently announced the shortlist for Jameel Prize 5, the international prize for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic tradition.  

The aim of Jameel Prize is to explore the relationship between Islamic traditions of art, craft and design and contemporary work as part of a wider debate about Islamic culture and its role today.

Eight finalists including Marina Tabassum have been shortlisted for £25,000 (around Tk 28, 89,198) prize which is awarded every two years.

Other finalists are - Kamrooz Aram, Hayv Kahraman, Hala Kaiksow, Mehdi Moutashar, Naqsh, Younes Rahmoun and Wardha Shabbir.

The Jameel Prize was founded in partnership with Art Jameel and the first award was made in 2009. The Prize returns to the V&A on June 27, 2018 when the winner of the fifth edition will be announced.

The Art Jameel is currently also partnering with Dhaka Art Summit and loaning work from the Art Jameel collection to this fourth edition.

The exhibition, showcasing the work of the eight shortlisted artists and designers will be held from June 28 until November 25, 2018.

A panel of judges chaired by V&A Director Tristram Hunt selected the shortlist among the nearly 400 nominations from around the world while for the first time, the shortlist featured work from Bangladesh, Bahrain and Jordan.

Marina Tabassum, the first architect shortlisted for the Jameel Prize, is the founder of Marina Tabassum Architects. She graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1995. 

The same year, with Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, she founded URBANA, an architecture practice based in Dhaka. In 1997, her second year in practice, the firm won a prestigious national competition to design the Independence Monument of Bangladesh and the Liberation War Museum.

Tabassum ended her ten-year partnership in URBANA to establish MTA (Marina Tabassum Architects). In 2005, MTA began its journey in the quest to establish a language of architecture that is contemporary to the world yet rooted to the place.

Marina Tabassum is the academic director of the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements. She has conducted design studios at BRAC University since 2005. She taught an Advanced Design Studio as the visiting professor at the University of Texas.

Her project 'Bait Ur Rouf mosque' in Dhaka won the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016.

Source: unb