Khazindar was previously curator of contemporary art and photography at the institute’s museum, with responsibility for its permanent modern art collection.

Born to Saudi parents in the US in 1959, Khazindar studied comparative literature at the American University of Paris and then contemporary and modern history at the Sorbonne. A specialist in modern and contemporary plastic arts, she also has been involved in organizing numerous exhibitions at the institute and of objects from its collection elsewhere.

A number of exhibitions she organized at the institute have proved highly popular with both the press and public alike.

These have included “Views from Contemporary Arab Photographers,” which opened in 2005,  “Modernité Plurielle” (Multiple Modernisms, 2007-8), featuring Arab contemporary art, “Umm Kalthoum, the Fourth Pyramid” (2008) and “Palestine: Creation in all its Forms” (2009), which brought together 20 contemporary Palestinian  artists.

Khazindar has played an active role in the contemporary art scene within the Kingdom. She is vice president and one of the founders of Al-Mansouria Foundation, an organization that promotes contemporary art and artists in Saudi Arabia. She also has championed the use of art in the public and commercial arenas in the Kingdom.

Last year she was appointed as co-curator of the first Saudi pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, the Venice arts festival that this year runs from June 4 to Nov. 27. She has had a number of works published including one in English, French and Arabic on the Egyptian sculptor Adam Henein. Several articles written by her have also appeared in Arab News.

The Institut du Monde Arabe (the Arab World Institute) is the leading Arab cultural entity in the West. It was set up in 1980 following the decision by France and a number of Arab states to create an Arab research and information center that could also showcase Arab arts and culture.