The winning submission for the annual Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award has been announced.
Dunescape, a sculptural installation that merges modernist architecture with the natural beauty of the desert and explores the relationship between urban development and the natural world is the selected project to be brought to fruition between now and April when it is unveiled.
Its designer, Anna Kurkova, is an NYU Abu Dhabi alumna and current graduate student at La Sorbonne.
She will now get to work on the installation.
Professor Eric Fouache, vice chancellor at Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi says: "We are very proud of our students who demonstrate talent and limitless capacities on many different levels. Thus, The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award is a great innovative platform that provides students with an opportunity to further explore their creativity potential. It is such a pleasure for us to be represented in this award by one of our own, the very talented master’s student Anna Kurkova who is enrolled in the History of Art & Museum studies program."
Hoda Al Khamis-Kanoo, the founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) added to that statement saying that since its launch in 2013, The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award has firmly established itself as a platform for nurturing the practice of promising young UAE-based artists. "Year after year, it has challenged emerging artists to push the boundaries of artistic expression and intellectual exploration in the most fascinating directions," she says. "The applications received for the Award’s fifth edition this year were extremely impressive in terms of both concept and vision. I congratulate all those who were shortlisted and look forward to following the development of Anna Kurkova’s sculptural installation, Dunescape."

Source: The National