The UK artist Idris Khan has secured a high-profile commission in the Middle East, winning a competition to design a permanent public monument for the new Memorial Park in Abu Dhabi.
Khan’s design—a series of large-scale metal panels, each propped up against the next—was sel ected by the government of Abu Dhabi. The monument will be placed near the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
A spokeswoman for Sean Kelly gallery, Khan’s US-based dealer, says: “Idris’s sculpture will be unveiled for UAE Commemoration Day on 30 November, a national remembrance ceremony involving rulers of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE, government officials and dignitaries from each Emirate, families of soldiers who have lost their lives in conflict, and representatives of the various branches of the UAE Armed Forces.” The Memorial Park is due to open to the public in December.
Khan has also been commissioned by the US governmental body, Art in Embassies, to create a new composite piece for the US embassy in Islamabad—a stamp painting incorporating English text and Arabic calligraphy—which is due to go on show later this year.