Art Basel Awards Summit

What should art institutions become?

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Fatima Bintou Rassoul SY, Director of Programs, RAW Material Company, Dakar Sophia Belsheim, Director of Art + Practice, Los Angeles Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel, Dubai Moderator: Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Hong Kong
Never has so much been expected from cultural organizations. They must be innovative and inclusive, avant-garde and accessible, locally embedded yet globally networked. While art institutions are present in mainstream culture like never before, they are also grappling with momentous shifts – political, societal, and technological.
In this panel, Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director at M+ in Hong Kong, engages with three leaders reshaping the institutional paradigm: Fatima Bintou Rassoul SY, Director of Programs at Dakar’s RAW Material Company; Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel in Dubai; and Sophia Belsheim, Director of Art + Practice, a community-driven arts space in Los Angeles. They examine questions including: Can museums dismantle inherited hierarchies without losing coherence? Is adaptability a virtue or a trap? How might curators and directors reimagine their roles, not as gatekeepers, but as champions of dialogue and risk-taking? This session reflects on how institutions might shed old skins to become something more vital, responsive – and programmatically open.
Suhanya Raffel is the museum director of M+ in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Since her appointment in 2016, she has overseen all museum activities at M+, including acquisitions, programming, collections care, development, research, institutional collaborations, and museum operations. Raffel has defined the museum’s mission, broadening its international reach and championing its deep connection with the local community. Before joining M+, Raffel was the director of collections and then deputy director at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2013–2016). She has held many senior curatorial positions, including deputy director of curatorial and collection development from 2010 and acting director from 2012 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (1994–2013). There, she was instrumental in building the contemporary Asia Pacific collection and led its Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.
Fatima Bintou Rassoul SY is the director of programs at Dakar’s RAW Material Company, a vibrant center for art, knowledge, and society based in Dakar, Senegal, nominated in the Art Basel Awards’ Museum and Institution category. Founded by the late Koyo Kouoh in 2008 and established as a physical space in 2011, RAW was born from a deep and urgent need: to create a platform for critical reflection on artistic practice and its vital connection to contemporary life. It stands today as a home for exploring, discussing, and expanding art as a powerful generator of knowledge and catalyst for social transformation.
Independent in spirit and global in perspective, RAW plays a key role in reshaping the place of art in society – within Dakar, across the African continent, and in dialogue with a wide network of international allies. Its ambitious programming spans curatorial projects, residencies, exhibitions, symposia, and knowledge production. Through the RAW Académie and its commitment to building an archive of theory and criticism, RAW also serves as a hub for artistic education and intellectual growth. With a transdisciplinary approach that draws from literature, film, architecture, politics, fashion, cuisine, and diasporic cultures, RAW nurtures a dynamic ecosystem where artistic and intellectual creativity can thrive.&nbsp;
Sophia Belsheim is the director of Art + Practice (A+P), a nonprofit arts organization based in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, nominated in the Art Basel Awards’ Museum and Institution category. Committed to supporting the educational needs of transition-age foster youth and refugee children while providing South Los Angeles with access to museum-curated contemporary art, Art + Practice was founded by artist Mark Bradford, activist Allan DiCastro, and philanthropist Eileen Harris Norton in 2013. Since then, A+P has redefined community engagement within contemporary art spaces. In addition to her leadership at A+P, Belsheim serves as the long-term collection manager for Harris Norton and recently oversaw the publication of All These Liberations: Women Artists from the Eileen Harris Norton Collection (Yale University Press, 2024), edited by Taylor Renee Aldridge.
Antonia Carver is the director of Art Jameel. Nominated in the Art Basel Awards’ Museum and Institution category, the Jameel Arts Centre, known as Dubai’s hub for contemporary art and ideas, is an independent institution dedicated to exhibition-making, commissions, learning, and research. Opened in 2018, the center is founded and supported by Art Jameel, one of the most significant non-governmental, public arts organizations in the Middle East, and grounded in a dynamic understanding of the arts as fundamental to life and accessible to all.

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