Connecting people through art 

We are thrilled to announce that Panos Aprahamian (1986, Lebanon) is the recipient of the Han Nefkens Foundation - Museu Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2024, in collaboration with NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore; WIELS Brussels; Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila; Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai and Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina (MADRE), Naples.

Panos Aprahamian was selected as the recipient of the grant by a jury chaired by Mr. Han Nefkens and composed of Joselina Cruz: Director at MCAD, Manila; Eva Fabbris, Director of MADRE, Naples; Dirk Snauwaert Director of WIELS, Brussels; Karin Oen, Director of NTU CCA, Singapore; Imma Prieto, Director at Museu Tàpies and Nora Razian, Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions at Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, in the presence of Hilde Teerlinck, Director of the Han Nefkens Foundation and Alessandra Biscaro, Coordinator of the Han Nefkens Foundation.

Jury statement: We are pleased to announce Panos Aprahamian (1986, Lebanon) as winner of the Han Nefkens Foundation- Museu Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2024 for his sophisticated exploration of the spectral presence of the past and future. Linked to his roots, Aprahamian has developed a uniquely personal visual language to create a compelling body of work through a combination of awe-inspiring imagery and sound and transhistoricity. His work is multilayered with meaning, evoking concurrently a familiar and unfamiliar sense of place and time, opening different possibilities for reflection on our contemporaneity. We look forward to seeing Aprahamian further explore his practice through new relationships with artists and curators."

Panos Aprahamian: "I want to thank everyone involved in the Han Nefkens Foundation— Museu Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2024. Your belief in my work means a lot. This grant not only supports the further development of my practice and the production of a new piece, but it also gives me the opportunity to share it in diverse spaces and collaborate with various institutions and curators worldwide.

For many of our planet's inhabitants, the apocalypse is not a future possibility but rather a historical reality. This is especially true for much of the developing south, the post-industrial north, and the nonhuman world. These realities inform my artistic practice, which exists at the intersection of historical struggles and speculative futures. I am excited about the opportunity to share my ideas and participate in global conversations, and I am eager to learn from our shared dialogue."

The Han Nefkens Foundation – Museu Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2024 aims to be a tool for increasing contemporary artistic production in the video art field and is directed at emerging visual artists living in the territory of Central/West Asia. The artists have established a solid trajectory but have not had the opportunity to exhibit extensively: this production grant should serve as an important source of support and boost in their career.

Aprahamian will receive $15,000 from the Han Nefkens Foundation to support the production of a new, limited-edition video artwork, which will be presented from 2026 with each institution collaborating in this grant.

The artist shortlist for the grant included Panos Aprahamian (b. 1986, Lebanon); Nooshin Askari (b. 1989, Iran); Baris Dogrusoz (b. 1978, Turkey); Marianne Fahmy (b. 1992, Egypt); Shadi Harouni (b. 1985, Iran); Dina Mimi (b. 1994, Palestine); Bahar Noorizadeh (b. 1988, Iran).

The Foundation and the partner institutions are grateful to the invaluable support of an international panel of experts: Bilal Akkouche, Alia Ayman, Asma Barchiche, Anne Davidian, Maya El Khalil, Natasha Gasparian, Rahul Gudipudi, Luma Hamdam, Adam HajYahia, Martha Kirszenbaum, and Mari Spirito.

Panos Aprahamian (b. 1986) is a media artist, filmmaker, and writer from Beirut, Lebanon. He received the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree in Cinematic Arts from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, University of Balamand (2008), and an MA with distinction in Documentary Film from the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, where he studied as a Caspian Arts Scholar. His practice explores the spectral presence of the past and the future in human and nonhuman bodies, sacrificial landscapes, cultural practices, and social relations. He was a Home Workspace Program fellow at Ashkal Alwan in 2017/18 and an instructor in the Fine Arts & Art History Department and the Media Studies Program at the American University of Beirut between 2019 and 2021. His film essays' Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely' and 'This Haunting Memory That Is Not My Own' earned the Ecumenical Prize at the 68th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the Jury Award at the 7th FestivalInternacional Signos da Noite, respectively. In 2024, he received the Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence from the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.