The Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) has launched the second Davidoff Limited Art Edition, featuring commissioned video work by artist Olivia McGilchrist.
The DAI will offer an exclusive preview of the single-channel video, titled From many sides, at the Moving Image Art Fair in New York City on 3 – 6 March.
The Limited Art Edition 2016 will be produced in an edition of 7,000 and will include the digital work of video art on carrier media with custom-made cigars designed specifically for the project. A limited run of Collectors Editions is also being released. These will include one of 16 numbered editions of the commissioned video, a still image from the video, and a signed certificate by the artist.
From many sides: a still from the Davidoff Limited Art Edition 2016 |
The work of Jamaican-French artist and videographer McGilchrist is rooted in a Caribbean centred, multi-media art practice, said to couple new technology with local platforms to explore contemporary cultural connections from the African Diaspora. “By interweaving moving images and sounds, the artist suffuses the natural world with new meanings and colours that capture profound narratives about the history of the Caribbean,” DAI stated.
McGilchrist, who was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe when she was three, said: “My recent creative practice is deeply inspired by a longing to reconnect with my birth land as well as the cultural space of the Caribbean.”
Davidoff has an established history of engaging artists and designers for special editions. Launched in 2012, the DAI was established to support contemporary art and artists in the Caribbean, strengthen art organisations in the Dominican Republic, share knowledge and expertise about contemporary art, and foster cultural engagement between the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
Olivia McGilchrist: her work is based on a Caribbean-centred multi-media art practice which combines new technology with local sights and sounds |
Its first Limited Art Edition cigar box, launched in 2014, featured the work of Cuban-born artist Quisqueya HenrÃquez.
Oettinger Davidoff CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard said: “Davidoff is continuously looking for new ways to engage with and support contemporary art. The Limited Art Edition supports the DAI’s mission of familiarising the international audience with artists from the Caribbean and it helps fund the DAI at the same time.
“Olivia’s video work is a fascinating visual blend of regionally specific elements. Because crafting and blending are the same values at the heart of everything we do, we feel that Davidoff is perfectly matched with this extraordinary artist.”
After the premiere in New York, a preview and artist introduction will take place during Art Basel in Hong Kong from 24 – 26 March. Both the Limited Art Edition 2016 and Collectors Edition will be unveiled in June 2016 during Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland.
The 2016 Davidoff Limited Art Editions and Collectors Editions will be available at Davidoff flagship stores in the USA, Europe and Asia from June. A percentage of the proceeds from all special art editions will be dedicated to sustaining the DAI, Davidoff stated.
Above and below are stills from the work of Jamaican-French artist Olivia McGilchrist |
