Islamic Arts Biennale: Everything You Need To Know About The Upcoming Art Fair in KSA
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation is bringing together Islamic communities from around the world through art
In honour of celebrating the creativity of Islamic culture, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation has announced that the first-ever Islamic Arts Biennale will take place at the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah from January 23 to April 23 2023. The ethos behind the event is to promote innovation whilst maintaining tradition and preserving skills with a focus on discovering the connection between spirituality and aesthetic.
The theme for the upcoming biennale is Awwal Bayt, which translates to First House. The term holds great significance to Muslims as it is used in the Qur’an to represent the Ka’bah in Mecca, one of the most sacred sights in Islam. With a large diasporic community, the theme hopes to create a discussion on how the Ka’bah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina allows Muslims to build a sense of home and feeling of belonging wherever they are through their spirituality.
The biennale aims to encourage dialogue between Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home of the two holiest sites – Mecca and Medina – and global communities by inviting international artists and bringing together different art forms and this is reflected in the curatorial team that will supervise the event.
The team includes Dr Saad Alrashed, a prominent Saudi scholar and archeologist; Dr Omniya Barr, a Barakat Trust Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Dr Julian Rabu, the Director Emeritus of the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and Sumayya Vally who is the co-founder of Counterspace, an experimental architecture and research firm.
On the first of its kind biennale, His Highness Prince Badr bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture of Saudi Arabia, expressed, “Cultural and artistic exchange are essential in this period of unprecedented growth and development in the creative community in Saudi Arabia. The Diriyah Biennale Foundation is at the forefront of this cultural awakening and flourishing art scene. Our contemporary edition closed in March after attracting critical acclaim, and the Islamic Arts Biennale represents our next chapter.”
Aya Al-Bakree, CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, conveyed, “It is a great honour to announce our Islamic Arts Biennale, the first of its kind. It follows another historic moment, when the Diriyah Biennale Foundation presented Saudi Arabia’s highly praised first contemporary art biennale under the title “Feeling the Stones”. Our Islamic Arts edition will once again work with leading practitioners and curators to present a contextual display of artworks and installations curated thematically. It will enable broad audiences to experience and learn about Islamic civilizations and their ongoing legacies within the arena of arts.”
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation was founded in 2020 by the Ministry of Culture on the premise of cultivating creativity, emphasising the beauty in culture and supporting the growing local art scene. It also marked the beginning of Saudi Arabia’s relationship with international contemporary art. The biennale took place in December 2021 at the JAX District in Diriyah and hosted over 60 recognised local and international artists.
Images supplied