Everything happens in threes, but five B’s are even better; Basel, Brooklyn, Beijing, Bogota and Berlin. Global Art Basel partner Oettinger Davidoff has come with another striking project since the introduction of their Davidoff Art initiative in 2012.
Jamaican video artist Olivia McGilchrist designed a limited edition cigar boxes for only 70’000 cigars within whole world. Each one features a unique still photo from her film ‘from many sides‘.
„My creative practice today bears on a deep yearning for a new link to my native country and the Caribbean’s cultural sphere,“ says the artist, who was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe at the age of three. „My education abroad provided me with the opportunity to learn the basis of new media and print technologies, yet I also had access to the local art centres and traditional, artistic practice upon returning to Jamaica. Due to both sides of my experience I strive to create works or art that – with the help of multi-media art practice – refers to the Caribbean and inverts biographic or social expectations.“
The Davidoff Art initiative supports contemporary art and artists in the Caribbean, strengthens art facilities in the Dominican Republic and fosters cultural exchange between the Caribbean and the rest of the world. It is a concern of the company to back cultural exchange where most of their production and employers are based. The initiative’s aim is to facilitate opportunities for and presence of art and culture in the region through the following four arrays:
Each year five Caribbean artists, curators or writers are invited to live and work in leading residencies in New York’s Brooklyn, Basel, Beijing, Berlin and Bogota, while five international artists or curators are nominated to reside in the Dominican Republic. The art grants supply diverse art projects and organisations, who support fine art in the Caribbean, while art dialogues encourage the exchange of information and ideas between artists, collectors, experts and newcomers. Contemporary Caribbean artists create special edition pieces with the company’s products as a signature creative platform.
